Compensatory Damages in Georgia Personal Injury Cases

Suffering serious personal injuries due to another person’s actions often initiates a complex (and sometimes difficult) legal process. In personal injury cases, the victim generally has the right to seek damages (compensation) from the wrongdoer. Victims may seek compensation through an insurance claim or a lawsuit.

You might hear about accidents in the news that result in seven- or eight-figure settlements and wonder how plaintiffs can recover so much money. Sometimes, a lot of money is necessary just to compensate plaintiffs for what they’ve lost and what they’ll miss out on in the future. That money is referred to as compensatory damages.

We cannot guarantee that you’ll get millions of dollars for your personal injury case; in fact, we cannot say for sure whether you will get any money. What we can say is that fighting for compensatory damages is worth it—especially when you have a skilled attorney by your side. Keep reading for more information on compensatory damages and how they might apply in your case.

How Much Do Most Personal Injury Cases Settle for?

There really is no such thing as a typical personal injury case. The circumstances—and damages—of each case are unique. The more extensive your injuries and property damage, the more you may be able to recover in or out of court. Thompson Law has resolved cases for a wide range of damages.

Although you’re under no obligation to take a settlement offer, the majority of personal injury cases end up settling. Plaintiffs often prefer having certainty over their compensation instead of leaving matters up to a judge or jury. Additionally, settlements can cost less and be resolved quicker than lawsuits.

Which Compensation Can You Get in a Personal Injury Case?

Victims (and, in wrongful death cases, victims’ families) can request many types of damages. You may not ultimately recover everything you ask for, but you have a chance of getting money for proven losses.

Damages in personal injury cases are classified into one of three categories, which are:

• Economic (special): Specific losses that claimants or plaintiffs can easily quantify usually fall under the economic damages category. Personal injury victims must often seek medical care at a variety of clinics after their accident, and these medical bills can add up quickly. Economic damages apart from medical bills include lost wages, decreased earning capacity, and property damage.

• Non-economic (general): Some losses, while intangible, are still quite real and can diminish one’s quality of life. It’s hard to quantify things like loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, and disfigurement, but Georgia law recognizes them as valid damages.

• Punitive: Some personal injury cases involve egregious conduct by the defendant, such as malice or willful misconduct. If such conduct was present during your accident, a judge or jury might award you punitive damages. These damages can help deter similar acts.

Punitive Damages vs. Compensatory Damages

Punitive damages are the only damages that are not considered compensatory in Georgia. Both economic and non-economic damages are compensatory because they are designed to compensate plaintiffs for specific losses. The concept of compensatory damages speaks to the basic purpose behind civil cases, which is to restore plaintiffs to the condition they were prior to their losses (or as close as possible).

Are Compensatory Damages Capped in Georgia?

No, Georgia does not cap compensatory damages in personal injury cases. However, it caps punitive damages at $250,000 in most cases, and 75% of the proceeds usually go to the state treasury department in certain types of cases. The court will typically award the amount of compensatory suffering a plaintiff can prove—no matter how much.

Are Compensatory Damages the Same as Pain and Suffering?

Not exactly. Pain and suffering damages fall under the non-economic or general classification of damages. Non-economic and economic (special) damages are the two types of compensatory damages in Georgia.

Pain and suffering specifically refer to the physical pain and emotional suffering victims suffer after a serious accident. They are intangible damages, meaning they cannot be easily quantified with receipts, invoices, or pay stubs.

Most plaintiffs who ask for pain and suffering damages use a multiplier method to come up with a reasonable figure. They often multiply their economic damages by a factor of one, five, or anywhere in between. Your attorney can further explain the concept of pain and suffering and whether those damages might apply in your case.

How Can You Prove Compensatory Damages in Court?

No personal injury case can be successful without a substantial amount of compelling evidence. Plaintiffs and their legal counsel must convince a judge or jury that they actually suffered the losses for which they want compensation.

• Proving economic damages in court often involves presenting medical bills, past pay stubs to show lost wages, and other evidence. Now is a good time to remind you to keep every single piece of paper that may be even tangentially related to your case.
• Medical bills and doctor testimonies and regarding your physical limitations can also be helpful when proving non-economic damages in a personal injury case. Courts might also need to hear from loved ones, friends, and colleagues about the ways your life has changed since the accident. A spouse’s testimony, for instance, can help prove that a plaintiff has suffered loss of companionship damages.

The standard to prove damages—or anything else in a civil case—is easier to clear than in a criminal case. You might have heard about the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard that prosecutors must satisfy in order to get a guilty verdict in criminal trials.

Civil cases, however, only require that plaintiffs prove “upon a preponderance of the evidence” that their version of events happened the way they claim. The preponderance-of-the-evidence standard means that it is more likely than not that the plaintiff is being truthful. Note that this is a much easier standard to meet than the criminal standard.

Types of Personal Injury Cases

A wide range of conditions can cause serious personal injuries that might require compensation to the victim. Some of the most common personal injury cases in Georgia include:

• Car accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck or commercial vehicle accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Slip and fall injuries (and other premises liability claims)
• Dog bites
• Workplace accidents
• Product liability
• Medical malpractice
• Wrongful death

Four Elements in Proving Compensatory Damages

In order to prove you should recover compensatory damages, you must first satisfy the four elements required in most personal injury cases. These are sometimes referred to as the four elements of negligence cases, as most personal injury cases involve some level of negligence.

• Duty: The plaintiff must show that the defendant owed them a duty of care, or responsibility, to minimize the chances of harm.

• Breach: The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant breached the duty of care required of them. A breach usually occurs when a wrongdoer fails to act reasonably under the circumstances in order to prevent harm to the victim/plaintiff.

• Causation: The breach of the duty of care must have been the cause of the plaintiff’s losses.

• Damages: The plaintiff actually suffered damages due to the defendant’s actions.

Statute of Limitations for Georgia Compensatory Damages

A critical factor in weighing whether or not to file a lawsuit in your personal injury case is the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the amount of time you have to begin legal action against a defendant. If you do not file a lawsuit within the relevant statute of limitations, the defendant will likely ask the judge to throw out your suit. Unless you have a legitimate legal reason for the delay, the judge will probably grant the dismissal.

The statute of limitations for most personal injury cases, including the majority of vehicle accident, premises liability, and medical malpractice cases, is two years from the event that caused losses for the plaintiff.

A few exceptions and wrinkles exist:

• The two-year statute of limitations can be delayed if a plaintiff’s injuries were not discovered immediately after the incident (common with some internal injuries)
• Plaintiffs have up to five years after medical malpractice cases to file a lawsuit if they do not notice their injuries or condition right away. The five years is the statute of repose, meaning plaintiffs have a firm five-year cutoff for medical malpractice claims regardless of when they discovered that malpractice occurred.
• Minor victims typically have until their 20th birthday to file a personal injury lawsuit.
• The statute of limitations for workers’ compensation claims is one year after the injury or illness diagnosis.
• Plaintiffs in Georgia may have only six months to sue a city or county government.

How Thompson Law Can Help

Determining a reasonable amount of damages to ask for in your personal injury case is difficult if you’ve never interacted with the civil legal system. An experienced personal injury lawyer can evaluate your case and come up with a good number for your compensatory damages request. You might not even be aware of some damages for which you may have a chance of recovery.

Knowing when—and how—to negotiate with the other party can be nearly impossible. Personal injury attorneys regularly handle these matters; they understand which tactics are more likely to get results. Simply put, not hiring an attorney for your personal injury case can result in your leaving money on the table.

Contact Thompson Law Today

Simply navigating the recovery process after suffering serious injuries is enough to occupy anyone’s time. If your injuries resulted from the illegal or wrongful actions of someone else, you deserve justice. Hiring a skilled personal injury attorney is the best way to maximize your chances of success.

Thompson Law focuses on helping personal injury victims and their loved ones recover the damages they deserve. Your initial consultation with us is free, and you are under no obligation to use our legal services afterward. For more information, call our staff at 866-293-4768 or write to us to receive a follow-up message.