Back

How is Compensation in a Serious Personal Injury Case Determined | Arizona

Mack Jones | 910 Views | 01/27/2015

My name is Mack Jones. I’m an attorney at the personal injury law firm of Jones Raczkowski, here in Phoenix, Arizona. How is compensation determined for a significant personal injury? It’s determined in two ways. First, the percentage of fault that the defendant bears is determined. Secondly, one’s damages. There are two components to damages – at least, that’s how lawyers look at it. First component is what we call special damages. Those are your out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages, and your medical bills. Those can be arithmetically calculated. But if somebody came up to a person and said, “I will pay your lost wages, and I’ll pay your medical bills, and we’re square,” most people would say, “That’s not fair.” The other component of personal injury damages are general damages. It’s what laypeople call, “pain and suffering.” But it’s not just physical pain and suffering.

It is permanency. If you have permanency, how an injury affects you in terms of your work, your hobbies, your life, any scarring, any physical disfigurement. Those are the types of things that different people have different attitudes and different values on. That’s why, when somebody comes to you and says, “How much is my case worth?” it’s very difficult to determine unless you’re experienced and you’ve done those types of cases in the past. If you’ve had a serious personal injury, please contact me at Jones Raczkowski, (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones

How is Compensation in a Serious Personal Injury Case Determined | Arizona

My name is Mack Jones. I’m an attorney at the personal injury law firm of Jones Raczkowski, here in Phoenix, Arizona. How is compensation determined for a significant personal injury? It’s determined in two ways. First, the percentage of fault that the defendant bears is determined. Secondly, one’s damages. There are two components to damages – at least, that’s how lawyers look at it. First component is what we call special damages. Those are your out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages, and your medical bills. Those can be arithmetically calculated. But if somebody came up to a person and said, “I will pay your lost wages, and I’ll pay your medical bills, and we’re square,” most people would say, “That’s not fair.” The other component of personal injury damages are general damages. It’s what laypeople call, “pain and suffering.” But it’s not just physical pain and suffering.

It is permanency. If you have permanency, how an injury affects you in terms of your work, your hobbies, your life, any scarring, any physical disfigurement. Those are the types of things that different people have different attitudes and different values on. That’s why, when somebody comes to you and says, “How much is my case worth?” it’s very difficult to determine unless you’re experienced and you’ve done those types of cases in the past. If you’ve had a serious personal injury, please contact me at Jones Raczkowski, (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones