subject: What Are The Two Elements Of An Injury And Accident Claim? [print this page] Accidents are quite common and they can take place anywhere, anytime and involve any person. But, if an accident has taken place due to a third partys negligence, it may be possible for the victim to pursue an accident claim. When people think of making accident claims, one of the first things they want to know is what are the elements of an injury and accident claim?
Basically, what they want to know is what all can they claim for through their injury and accident claim. What you can claim for following an accident that was not your fault depends on numerous factors. These factors usually include how severe your injuries are, the kind of losses you have suffered, effect of your injury on your health and lifestyle, etc.
When we talk about accident claims, there are two elements which make up the compensation award. In this article, we will look at these elements in detail.
1.General Damages
If you have been successful with your accident claim, you can claim compensation for general damages. General damages is compensation that is awarded for your suffering, pain and injury. There is no way in which an exact value can be placed on an individuals suffering, pain and injury and therefore, experts use examples of similar cases and consider a number of factors which help them establish how much compensation to award for a victims suffering, pain and injury.
An independent medical examination may be arranged by your injury lawyer so that the extent and severity of your injuries can be evaluated. Based on these independent reports and with the help of industry guidelines, the amount of compensation that a victim deserves as part of general damages can be calculated.
2.Special Damages
When injuries are sustained, victims usually have to face a lot of financial difficulties. This is because, they have to undergo medical treatment, they have to pay for medication, they have to take care of travelling expenses as well as cost of therapy and rehabilitation, depending on how severe the injury is.
Additionally, if time was taken off work to make recovery, then loss of income may also be suffered. To cover the costs of actual financial losses, special damages make up an important element of the compensation award.
But, if you are looking to obtain compensation for special damages, you will need to prove that you have suffered such losses through invoices, receipts and pay slips.
