The term “duty of care” refers to our obligations to act in a reasonable and prudent manner to avoid accidents in our daily lives and applies to countless situations we find ourselves in every day. One obvious example is the duty of care we carry out when we drive by following the driving laws and taking reasonable precautions to avoid a car accident with another vehicle, a pedestrian, or anyone else. Similarly, a property owner owes a duty of care to each of their visitors by providing a safe premise that is free of hazards. Of course, there are countless duties of care — some more obvious than others — that must be examined when establishing whether or not someone is protected under personal injury law.

When a driver speeds, operates a vehicle while intoxicated or engages in aggressive driving, they have failed their duty of care to all others who may be impacted by this decision. However, driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs does not immediately cause an accident or impact other people, meaning that an individual who is cited or arrested for violating a traffic law is guilty of a criminal offense, but unless they have caused an accident there is no further consideration required — they have not committed a tortious act. Without another innocent person being involved in the situation, a failed duty of care does not create liability issues on their own.

If a drunk driver hits a cyclist or a property manager fails to fix a broken handrail, and someone falls, they have failed their duty of care and have now caused an accident as a result. When someone else is injured as a result of the failed duty of care, whatever that duty may be, there is now an innocent victim involved in the situation who may suffer as a result of the offender’s negligence, recklessness, or criminal behavior. However, not all accidents qualify the innocent victim for recovering compensation.

The term damages, as defined by the California civil code, is “ a loss or harm suffered in person or property.” Many people mistakenly believe that damages are only physical injuries, but there are a number of other damages that go beyond medical issues that entitle victims to financial compensation for their involvement in the accident. The issue of damages is typically the most complicated aspect of personal injury claims simply because many of them are abstract or difficult to assign a real dollar value to. Insurance companies leverage this complexity while working towards settling personal injury cases against their clients for as little as possible.

Economic damages are those impacts of a car accident, medical malpractice issue, or any other personal injury that have measurable dollar values. These are things like medical bills for treatment, property damage, lost wages from missed work, or a decrease in earnings due to your injuries, and services you may need to hire to help you perform tasks you would have otherwise done on your own. Many of these damages are fairly obvious and can be calculated using historical pay stubs, invoices, and simply tallying up the cost of your medical expenses. In wrongful death cases, survivors are entitled to additional compensation for things like the long-term loss of financial support from the deceased, as well as end-of-life care, pensions, future 401K or IRA contributions, and more. There are, however, many other economic damages that an accident victim may overlook that personal injury attorneys will not. Many damages may seem meaningless or inconsequential, but each of these low-value damages adds up, and lawyers in Los Angeles will focus on tracking down and including as many of these damages as possible. You do not deserve to take on any of the financial burdens of someone else’s recklessness or negligence.

Non-economic damages are the losses or harms that a victim suffers that do not have dollar values. Most notably, the pain and suffering that a victim must endure following catastrophic injuries, as well as the fear and anxiety that someone suffers from following traumatic events like car accidents. In addition, things like the loss of enjoyment a spinal cord injury causes or the depression and other impacts of a brain injury are all very valid and important non-economic damages. However The difficulty with non-economic damages is determining how to assign a dollar value to each in order to seek compensation for these very real impacts of serious accidents. Los Angeles personal injury attorneys have a number of tools at their disposal that can help identify, quantify, and then calculate the severity of these damages and a fair amount for their client to be compensated for them. Insurers know how difficult and overwhelming it can be for a victim to request compensation for their own non-economic damages, which is why it is so important to partner with experienced personal injury lawyers from the start of your case.