Personal injury refers to any physical, mental, or psychological injury that is caused by another person’s negligence, willful misconduct, or strict liability. Let’s start by defining what these terms mean in California:

• Negligence means the failure to do something that a reasonable person would do, or the doing of something that a prudent and reasonable person would not do.
• Willful misconduct refers to a deliberate and intentional action, or the intentional failure to take an action, with a conscious disregard for the consequences. In California, this term refers to actions and behavior that are considered more egregious than negligence.
• Strict liability is a legal doctrine that holds a person or entity liable even if no negligence is involved. California imposes strict liability in two distinct situations. The first is when the defendant has manufactured, distributed, or sold a defective product that causes injury. The second is when a dog bites a person in a public place or in a private place where that person is not trespassing.

These terms of negligence, willful misconduct, and strict liability can impact the amount of damages for personal injuries resulting from car accidents, dog bites, premises liability, slip and falls, and similar injuries. For example, because willful misconduct demonstrates a conscious and intentional disregard for safety, courts and juries tend to award higher non-economic damages to reflect the severity of the defendant’s actions. 

How Personal Injury Calculations Are Determined

Personal injury calculations are initially based on the economic and non-economic harm suffered by the plaintiff. 

Economic Damages – Economic damages encompass out-of-pocket expenses, including medical and rehabilitation costs (both past and future), over-the-counter and prescription medications, lost wages, and similar costs. They may also include home health care, assistive devices such as wheelchairs or equipment to retrofit your automobile, travel to and from appointments related to the injury, home renovations required for adaptive living due to injuries, etc. Typically, these are relatively easy to quantify and, in most cases, are less than non-economic damages. Economic damages are calculated by adding up all documented losses

Non-economic damages – Non-economic damages, which are set forth in California’s Civil Code, include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of companionship (often called loss of consortium), loss of enjoyment of life, injury to reputation, and similar types of damages. Note that in California, there is no limit on non-economic damages. Non-economic damages are more difficult to calculate than economic damages, and your San Luis Obispo attorney may use one of the following methods to do so:

• The per diem method assigns a dollar amount to each day you experience pain and suffering. Then, your lawyer estimates how long you have been and are expected to be in pain. The number of days you’re in pain is multiplied by the per diem value to arrive at your pain and suffering total compensation. 
• The multiplier method uses your total financial losses (lost wages, medical care, property damage) to calculate pain and suffering. That number is then multiplied by a value between 1 and 5. The worse your injuries and the more permanent the effect on your life, the higher the multiplier. 

Punitive damages – In some cases, your attorney may seek punitive damages if the defendant’s behavior involved malice, oppression or fraud. 

Contact the Law Offices of Earl E. Conaway, III

If you’ve suffered harm due to the negligence, willful misconduct, or strict liability of another party, contact the Law Offices of Earl E. Conaway, III, P.C., today. We offer experience, knowledge, and a depth of customer service that’s difficult to find.