A question we often hear is, “How much is my personal injury claim worth?” The answer is typically complex and dependent upon several factors specific to a claim. However, understanding compensatory damages and which damages you can recover in Nebraska is the essential foundation for answering that question. Damages in personal injury cases are broken down into two categories — Economic damages and non-economic damages. Under Nebraska law, a plaintiff who is injured because of the negligence of another is entitled to collect the economic and non-economic damages caused by the negligent act. We’ve created a quick guide exploring these types of personal injury damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages, also known as special compensatory damages, are costs directly associated with your accident. Special damages are objective and have specific costs, or bills, associated with them. Examples of special damages include past reasonable medical bills, future reasonable medical bills, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, reasonable funeral costs, loss of use of property, reasonable value of the cost of repair or replacement of your vehicle, and reasonable cost of obtaining substitute domestic services. Your personal injury attorney will create a “specials” sheet for your case to compile the bills related to your injury and facilitate your reimbursement.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages, also known as general compensatory damages, are subjective and intangible—there are no itemized bills associated with them, so they are difficult to assign a monetary value to. General damages are what people often associate with pain and suffering. These types of damages may include past physical pain, past mental suffering and emotional distress, past inconvenience, past loss of society and companionship, past humiliation, future physical pain, future mental suffering and emotional distress, future inconvenience, future loss of society and companionship, future humiliation and injury to reputation. Additionally, under Nebraska law, a spouse of an injured party may also have a claim for loss of consortium, or the spousal services, society, companionship, affection, love, advice, guidance, and/or sexual relationship with the injured spouse.
As always, we recommend consulting an experienced personal injury claim lawyer to discuss your injury damages and personal injury compensation. To learn more about Dyer Law’s approach to personal injury law, visit https://dyer.law/practice-areas/personal-injury/ or call (402) 393-7529 for your free consultation.