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Economic Recovery for Injuries, Part 2

This is the second of two parts, discussing the ways you may be entitled to recovery if you are injured.

Mental Anguish
Any mental suffering or emotional distress associated with an accident or injury may lead to a recovery. Mental anguish includes fright, terror, apprehension, nervousness, anxiety, worry, humiliation, mortification, feeling of lost dignity, embarrassment, grief, and shock. Mental anguish may also be available for your family members if they witnessed your injury and were mentally affected by it.

Disfigurement
When an accident or injury has you with a scar or other permanent effect on your personal appearance, you may be entitled to a recovery for being deformed or disfigured. You may be able to collect damages for any mental suffering that arises due to awareness of the disfigurement. These damages are sometimes included as an element of other types of damages, such as mental anguish.

Household Services
If you are unable to do your normal chores around the house, like cleaning, you may be able to recover the cost of hiring somebody to do things around the house while you are recuperating from the accident or injury. However, if you already paid someone to do household services prior to being injured, then you will not likely be able to seek those damages after you are injured. These kinds of damages are sometimes included as part of medical expenses.

Loss of Consortium
If your injury cause difficulties in your married life, like loss of affection, solace, comfort, companionship, society, and sexual relations between spouses, then you may be able to seek damages for this loss. Usually your spouse would make the claim and his or her financial recovery will depend on whether the you recover any damages. In some cases, you may be able to make the claim as well. A value is placed on this loss by considering the couple’s individual life expectancies, whether the marriage was stable, how much care and companionship was bestowed upon you (or vice versa), and the extent to which the benefits of married life have been lost.

Loss of Consortium of a Child
Injuries to children are particularly difficult. Parents may be able to recover damages when their child is injured, if the injuries are severe enough that they interfere with the normal relationship between parents and their children.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life
A diminished ability to enjoy the day-to-day pleasures of life, “loss of enjoyment” is usually an item of general damages, meaning there is no precise way to place a monetary value on it.

Loss of Society and Companionship
In wrongful death cases, loss of society and companionship damages represent the positive benefits flowing from the love, comfort, companionship, and closeness that you and your immediate family members would have enjoyed had the deceased victim lived. A jury considers evidence that a harmonious relationship existed between the deceased victim and their family, their living arrangements, common interests and activities, and whether the deceased victim and their family were separated for extended periods.