If you’re involved in a personal injury case in Maine, you may wonder what types of damages you can recover. Personal injury damages usually compensate you for expenses related to your injury, lost income, and other losses.
In this article, we’ll cover the different types of damages available in Maine personal injury cases.
Table of Contents
Economic Damages
Economic damages compensate plaintiffs for losses that can be quantified and measured. These damages often include:
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses include the cost of medication, treatments, and hospital stays that you incur as you recover from your injury. This type of damages also covers anticipated future medical expenses.
Lost Income
Lost income damages compensate plaintiffs for wages lost because of their injury. This includes income you would have received up until the trial date and any future lost income.
Property Damages
If your personal property such as your vehicle was damaged as a result of the accident that caused your injury, you may be entitled to compensation for the repairs or replacement of the property.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are damages that cannot be precisely calculated. They are meant to make up for subjective injuries like emotional suffering and other intangible losses. Here are a few examples of non-economic damages:
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering damages are designed to compensate plaintiffs for the physical and emotional injuries the accident caused. These damages may be more significant if your injury led to long-term disability or chronic pain.
Loss of Companionship
Loss of companionship damages might be awarded in cases where the plaintiff’s injury negatively impacted their relationship with their spouse, children, or other close relatives or friends.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are an award given to the plaintiff as a punishment for the defendant’s action, behavior, or negligence. In Maine, punitive damages are limited to twice the amount of the actual damages awarded.
Limitations on Damages in Maine
Maine has a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. The maximum amount of non-economic damages awarded in Maine medical malpractice claims is $500,000.
Additionally, if you were found partially to blame for the accident, your damages may be reduced by the percentage of fault that the court assigns to you.
Conclusion
If you’ve been injured in an accident, it’s important to understand the types of damages available to you. In Maine, you can generally claim economic damages like medical expenses and lost wages, as well as non-economic damages like pain and suffering.
To ensure that you get the compensation you deserve, contact an experienced personal injury attorney in Maine. An attorney can help you understand and recover all the damages you’re entitled to.