The Importance Of Documenting Your Personal Injury Damages
If you would like to obtain damages for an injury you sustained, it is of the utmost importance that you document those damages. Not doing so can prevent you from obtaining compensation for your injury.
Going over the importance of documenting your personal injury damages and how to do so while speaking with a Northern California personal injury attorney will help you obtain the compensation you are legally entitled to.
What Are Damages?
The definition of “damages,” within a personal injury context, is as follows: monetary compensation to a party who was harmed as a result of another party’s breach of a duty under contract or a violation of some right.
Just as an example, if you are crossing the street and are hit by a car due to the driver’s negligence, you are entitled to damages. The reason for this is as follows: as a pedestrian, you are owed a duty of care.
If this duty of care is violated due to someone’s negligence, then the person responsible has breached their duty of care to you. This is one of the reasons why, in situations of this sort, you are entitled to damages.
What Do Personal Injury Damages Encompass?
Personal injury damages encompass a wide variety of different things, all of which are connected to the injury you sustained:
- The pain and suffering you are forced to deal with.
- The medical bills you must pay.
- The time/money you lost at work.
- The damage to your property.
- The loss of earning power you are forced to live with.
Outside of the above, damages can and often do encompass a wide variety of other things. But, even so, the above tend to be the most common.
A good example of damages, within a personal injury context, is as follows: you are hit by a car and must pay $10,000 for surgery. And, since the negligence of another person caused this surgery, you can obtain compensation for these damages in order to pay for the surgery.
Due to the costs – both monetary and otherwise – that an injury can create, pursuing damages is always worth it.
How Can You Document Your Damages?
To document the damages you sustained as a result of an injury, you can do the following:
- Go over the financial losses you have sustained as a result of the injury.
- Gather medical bills, reduced pay stubs, and any other financial documentation related to the injury.
- Take photos and videos of your injury, as well as any other damages you suffered/sustained.
- Make a journal that clarifies, on a regular basis, the emotional/physical distress you are experiencing.
- Obtain recorded statements from those who know you that affirm the pain you are going through.
Doing the above will make it easier for you to obtain the damages you are owed.
Speak With A Northern California Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you were injured and would like to obtain damages for this injury, you should work with someone who can assist you in doing so.
Speak with a Redding, CA, personal injury attorney at Maire & Deedon today, and we will help you obtain the damages you are legally entitled to.