Victims who suffer injuries in mass transit accidents can seek compensation for their damages.
Depending on your case, you might seek economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
- Economic damages. Economic damages are for quantifiable losses. You can receive compensation for hospital expenses and other medical bills. These bills can quickly become overwhelming, and you shouldn’t have to pay for the ensuing results of another party’s negligence. If you’re out of work recovering from your injury or receiving medical care, you might recover compensation for your lost wages. Economic damages can also be for things like property damage. For example, if your wedding ring was lost or damaged in an accident.
- Non-economic damages. Many times, injuries go beyond just physical effects. Mass transit accident victims can also receive compensation for the physical and mental burdens they face due to the injury. They can receive compensation for their pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of independence, and scarring and disfigurement, among many other intangible things. However, non-economic damages can be harder to recover because they are not quantifiable. Insurance companies often calculate the value of non-economic damages using a multiplier with the value of your economic damages.
- Punitive damages. Claimants do not often receive punitive damages in typical personal injury cases. Unlike the other damages, punitive damages do not compensate losses of the injured party—they punish the negligent party and deter them or others from engaging in the same behavior in the future. In Georgia, punitive damages are capped or limited to $250,000. Punitive damages are rare since they only apply when the negligent party is guilty of willful misconduct, oppression, fraud, or malice. A common example in which punitive damages might apply is in the case of a drunk driving accident. Drunk drivers get behind the wheel of a car, knowing the danger and potential consequences of their choices to others. Their decision is more than simple negligence.
Duluth mass transit accident victims must show that negligence caused their accident. This is challenging. Proving malice or ill will on the part of the at-fault party is even harder.
