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Pain and suffering – Compensatory damages

When you’re injured in an accident, you’ll have quite a few different stresses on your plate. Many people will want to think first about legal action to compensate for pain and suffering. This is certainly prudent, as your ability to live a productive life will be largely dependent upon your ability to win a legal battle. Still, you need to focus some on your health. People who are injured in accidents in Rhode Island must focus their attention on following doctor’s orders and getting the treatment that they need. As you do so, keep in mind the different damages that you’ll be able to pursue in Providence Superior Court. Here are some of the steps to follow as you navigate this Rhode Island car accident claim process.

Rhode Island personal injury lawyer

Compensatory damages and your pain pain and suffering

After you’re hurt in an accident, you’ll have a legal claim to many different damages. If you happen to miss work, then the person responsible for your injury will have to pay. If you have medical bills, then you can file suit for those. You might even get compensatory money for the loss of enjoyment of life that follows an automobile or motor vehicle accident of this nature. Don’t forget about pain and suffering. Good Rhode Island personal injury lawyers will tell you that your pain and suffering needs to be fairly compensated

Seek medical treatment

It makes little sense to wait to seek treatment. If you’re injured, then you must act as quickly as possible. Get the emergency services that you need so that you’ll have full use of your body when you finally recover. Listen to what your doctor says about treatment. If he recommends that you go through surgery, then you should follow that course of action. Lawyers might know best on the legal issues. Doctors know best when it comes to your health and the best course of action to protect that health.

Keeping strong records

If you’re going to present evidence of the harm that’s been brought on you, then you’ll need, as well, to keep strong records. Even as you seek out doctors to help you through the challenges you’re facing, you’ll want to keep track of everything you’re spending. These records will play a critical role in providing you with the case for why you’re owed money by the person responsible for your injuries. You should keep up with more than just the big things like surgery, but also the smaller costs associated with medicine and the like. This will help you get the care you deserve without compromising your ability to collect a judgment.

“Construction’s “Fatal Four” Out of 4,251* worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2014, 874 or 20.5% were in construction―that is, one in five worker deaths last  year were in construction. The leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by electrocution, struck by object, and caught-in/between. These “Fatal Four” were responsible for more than half (58.1%) the construction worker deaths in 2014*, BLS reports. Eliminating the Fatal Four would save 508 workers’ lives in America every year.”

  • Falls — 349 out of 874 total deaths in construction in CY 2014 (39.9%)
  • Electrocutions — 74 (8.5%)
  • Struck by Object — 73 (8.4%)
  • Caught-in/between — 12 (1.4%)”  UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR  Occupational Safety & Health Administration

“Pain and suffering is the legal term for the physical and emotional stress caused from an injury (see also pain and suffering). Some damages that might come under this category would be: aches, temporary and permanent limitations on activity, potential shortening of life, depression or scarring. When filing a lawsuit as a result of an injury, it is common for someone to seek money both in compensation for actual money that is lost and for the pain and stress associated with virtually any injury. In a suit, pain and suffering is part of the “general damages” section of the claimant’s claim, or, alternatively, it is an element of “compensatory” non-economic damages that allows recovery for the mental anguish and/or physical pain endured by the claimant as a result of injury for which the plaintiff seeks redress.

Apart from money damages awarded in trial, money damages are also given informally outside the judicial system in mediations, arbitration (both of which may be court annexed or non litigated claims) as well as in routine insurance settlements. Individual claimants or those represented by lawyers often present demands to insurers to settle for money. These demand for bodily injury compensation monies often set out damages that are similarly used in the court litigated pleadings. Demands are usually written summaries of a claimant’s medical care and the facts which resulted in the injury.” Wikipedia