Category: Kamuela Personal Injury Lawyer

In personal injury cases, compensation includes two factors: general damages and special damages.

General damages refers to the compensation that is paid to a plaintiff for their pain and suffering, and the loss of amenities as a result of the injuries they suffered in an accident. These injuries may be physiological or psychological or both.

Special damages refer to any tangible financial losses incurred by the plaintiff due to the accident. It is the monetary relief awarded to plaintiffs for covering out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them. They are also known as economic damages and determining this amount is pretty straightforward. They are calculated on the basis of fair market values at the time of the plaintiff’s injury.

What Special Damages Mean in Kamuela

As per personal injury law, special damages are awarded to a plaintiff with a valid personal injury claim. These are given as the plaintiff would not have been in the situation that are in had the injury not occurred.

In most personal injury cases, the plaintiff is required to clearly state their special damages in the form of a specific amount before the trial. It is, therefore, crucial to calculate the damages accurately as it will play a huge role in determining the worth of your personal injury claim.

While every personal injury case is different, claiming special damages is a plaintiff’s right. It compensates for the expenses they incur as a direct result of the injury, while also making future considerations.

If you’ve been a victim in a personal injury case, and are incurring expenses due to the injuries you sustained, it is best to get in touch with a seasoned Kamuela personal injury lawyer. Only a reliable attorney can help you determine which factors you can include in your personal injury claim and what kind of evidence you will need to prove your losses.

What Do Special Damages Cover in Kamuela?

As mentioned, special damages or economic damages take account of losses can be quantified and calculated to arrive at a specific amount. These damages include the following:

a) Short-term medical expenses: These include the doctor’s consultation fees, hospital bills and other expenses related to treatment, medication, diagnosis, and hospital stay.

b) Long-term medical expenses: These include long-term physiotherapy and other medical treatments that the plaintiff has to undergo due of the accident.

c) Loss of income and wages: These include future and past losses incurred by the plaintiff. The plaintiff can claim this if they received a salary cut or lost out on a monetary bonus/perks or had to stay away from work for a period of time due to their injuries.

d) Loss of earning capacity: A plaintiff can claim this if they were unable to return to their employment and were forced to take up a lower-paying job due to their injuries.

e) Transportation costs: These include expenses related to travelling to and from the hospital for visits.

f) Costs for repairing or replacing damaged property: Plaintiffs can claim this if their personal property was damaged in the accident.

g) Loss of rare or irreplaceable items: A plaintiff is eligible for claiming this if they lost items of personal value in the accident.

h) Caretaker expenses: These include expenses related to caretaker’s charges.

Special Damages Are Different from General Damages

Special damages should not be confused with general damages. The latter is awarded to plaintiffs for intangible losses. Calculating these damages is, therefore, complex.

While each Hawaii personal injury case is different, general damages typically consider losses related to:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Physical disfigurement
• Physical impairment
• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish
• Loss of consortium
• Lowered qualify of life

How to Calculate Special Damages in Kamuela?

Calculating special damages is easier compared to calculating general damages.

Special damages are determined by considering actual costs. In fact, all the expenses that the plaintiff was forced to incur as a direct result of the accident are considered.

In order to receive the maximum compensation due to you, you should back your claim with undeniable evidence of your losses. This involves steps such as retaining the medical receipts and records of all expenses directly associated with the accident.

Further, special damages include future costs related to medical care and loss of income that will arise due to the injury suffered by the plaintiff. However, it may be a bit tricky to arrive at a specific amount when it comes to future costs arising from the injury. This is where an experienced Kamuela personal injury lawyer can be immensely helpful. They may consider the use of expert witnesses and other evidence to determine an accurate and fair amount.

Conclusion

Personal injury lawsuits involve calculating the accurate amount of compensation to award to plaintiffs for their losses. If you have any trouble at all in understanding your personal injury claim and calculating the damages correctly, get in touch with experienced Kamuela personal injury lawyers. They will guide you through the legal process by gathering strong evidence of your injuries and suffering, identifying possible claims, talking to expert witnesses, and advocating for you in court.

Hawaii is one of about a dozen no-fault insurance states which require Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage in some way, shape, or form. PIP is designed to speed up the compensation process in “fender bender” accidents that only cause property damage and non-serious injuries.

The effectiveness of PIP insurance is hotly debated. There is some evidence that PIP increases insurance fraud. For example, the swoop-and-squat fraud scheme is more common in no-fault states, like Hawaii, than it is elsewhere. Unscrupulous motorists cut off other drivers, then slam on their brakes to induce rear-end collisions. Such “accidents” are not subject to judicial oversight in no-fault states. Therefore, many fraudsters get away with it.

Fraudulent claims drive up insurance premiums for everyone. Furthermore, a no-fault/PIP system arguably shifts responsibility for injury compensation from individual tortfeasors (negligent drivers) to insurance companies.

All this being said, most vehicle collisions in Hawaii involve a serious injury, as outlined below. Therefore, the no-fault/PIP rule usually does not apply. And, a Kamuela personal injury lawyer can obtain additional compensation for victims.

What Does PIP Cover?

Hawaii requires drivers to carry $10,000 of PIP insurance. That’s not very much coverage, especially since PIP applies to

• Vehicle damage
• Emergency transportation expenses
• Lost wages
• Medical bills
• Childcare services necessary because of the accident, and
• Related household expenses (e.g. paying someone to cut the grass).

As a general rule, if your vehicle was drivable after the collision, PIP/no-fault will probably take care of your losses. Procedure varies among different carriers. Generally, victims file claims against the other driver’s insurance policy, just like they were filing claims against their own policies. Our Kamuela personal injury lawyers are more than happy to assist victims with this paperwork.

If your vehicle was not drivable after the wreck, you or someone else in the vehicle probably sustained a serious injury, as outlined below.

Hawaii’s Serious Injury Definition

Different no-fault states have different ways of drawing the line between a fender bender and a serious injury accident. Some states, like Minnesota, use a monetary threshold. In the Gopher State, if the medical bills exceeded $4,000, the victim sustained a serious injury.

Like most other no-fault states, Hawaii’s definition of a serious injury is more subjective. A serious injury is any of the following:

• Substantial Risk of Death: Many victims have pre-existing medical conditions or they are physically vulnerable to certain injuries. So, what might be a non-serious injury to some people is a serious injury to these people.
• Disfigurement: Most physical wounds leave scars. If the disfigurement is on a visible part of the body, like a hand or face, and it is noticeable at all, the permanent disfigurement usually qualifies as a serious injury.
• Protracted Loss or Impairment of Function: Most Kamuela personal injury lawyers rely on this part of the serious injury definition. The vague, general wording in this subpart could mean almost anything.

Procedurally, most insurance companies agree the victim sustained a serious injury. It’s usually pretty obvious. If the insurance company contests this issue, the judge typically hears evidence and arguments at a pretrial hearing and then makes a decision.

Some Serious Injury Examples in Car Crash Claims

Nationwide, car wrecks seriously injure millions of Americans every year. Even the most advanced restraint and safety systems cannot absorb all the force in a high-speed wreck. Some specific examples include:

• Head Injuries: Car wrecks are the leading cause of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) in Hawaii. Frequently, victims hit their heads on a dashboard or another solid object. Sometimes, the motion alone causes whiplash, a specific type of head/neck injury that could cause paralysis. TBIs are treatable, but they are incurable.
• Broken Bones: Accidental-fall broken bones usually heal fully. Car-crash broken bones are different. Doctors normally use metal screws or plates to set the bone. As a result, there is at least a slight permanent loss of mobility.
• Exsanguination: Blood loss carries a very high risk of death. So, even if doctors are able to stop the bleeding and the victim fully recovers, exsanguination is normally a “serious injury” in Hawaii.

Some insurance company defenses, such as comparative fault, sometimes come into play here. Contributory negligence shifts part of the blame for the accident from the tortfeasor to the victim. So, the tortfeasor did not technically “cause” a “serious injury” in at least some comparative fault cases.

Reach Out to a Skilled Kamuela Personal Injury Attorney

Serious injuries need to be addressed immediately. Largely because of Hawaii’s vague law, vehicle collisions often cause serious injuries. While no amount of money will undo your accident or magically cure your pain, serious injuries do come with certain indeniable financial realities. For a confidential consultation with an experienced Kamuela personal injury lawyer, contact Olson & Sons, L.C. at 808-885-8533 . We do not charge upfront legal fees in personal injury cases.

Falls are one of the leading causes of nursing home admissions and one of the leading injuries which occur at long-term care facilities. In fact, almost two-thirds of nursing home residents fall every year. And, since many of these victims are repeat fallers, their injuries are often quite serious.

Because of the frequency and severity of these incidents, many families have lots of questions about their legal options. Nothing substitutes for a personal consultation with a Kamuela personal injury lawyer, but hopefully, this post answers some questions. So, if a dream retirement in paradise turned into a nightmare, keep reading.

What Causes Nursing Home Falls?

Many older people have pre-existing conditions which make them more susceptible to falls. Age-related Macular Degeneration is one example. When people get older, small fatty deposits sometimes accumulate around their eyes.

These deposits obscure straight-ahead vision which most people count on to see hazards on the floor, like wet spots or walkway cracks. Straight-ahead vision also helps people maintain their balance when they stumble. AMD is especially bad if the light is low or conditions are otherwise poor.

On a related note, many older people suffer from gait disorders. For example, some people shuffle their feet instead of lifting them. When these people stumble, they usually fall. Other people with gait disorders miss-steps, especially when they ascend or descend staircases.

Floor hazards are quite common in nursing homes, due to the elderly population explosion. Most facilities are in a near-constant state of repair, expansion, or renovation. Because of their health conditions, older people cannot see some hazards and cannot avoid other ones.

Who is Responsible for Medical Bills?

Generally, long-term care facility owners are responsible for medical bills and other fall-related damages. To determine the extent of responsibility, many states use a complex classification system based on common law. But Hawaii did away with these distinctions way back in the 1960s. Instead, all owners have a duty of care, assuming there was an unreasonable risk of harm.

Given the aforementioned health conditions, residents could fall anywhere on nursing home grounds. However, the risk is unreasonably high if there was an additional hazard, like a loose handrail on a staircase.

How Does a Kamuela Personal Injury Lawyer Prove Liability?

Theoretical responsibility does not make an owner liable for damages. A Kamuela personal injury lawyer must also prove that the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard.

Direct evidence of actual knowledge includes things like property inspection reports and restroom cleaning logs. Kamuela personal injury lawyers usually uncover these items during the discovery process. However, these smoking guns are not always available.

So, the law also allows for circumstantial evidence of constructive knowledge. To understand how the court evaluates this evidence, think about a banana peel on the floor. If the peel was yellow, it was probably fresh and probably just fell. So, the owner could not be expected to know about it. However, if the peel was black, it had probably been on the floor for a while, and someone should have picked it up. Brown banana peels are in a grey area.

What Are Some Insurance Company Defenses?

The open and obvious doctrine might be the most common insurance company defense in fall injury claims. Landowners are not responsible for damages if the victim fell because of an open and obvious hazard. The law on this point is rather broad, so almost any visible hazard is open and obvious.

However, this doctrine does not always apply to nurse home fall victims. “Open and obvious” is a relative term. Many older people simply do not see hazards that are open and obvious to other people.

The assumption of the risk defense often comes into play as well. Signs like “Wet Floor” or “Construction Area” make this defense easier to establish in court.

But a warning sign is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. The insurance company must prove the victim saw the sign, could read the sign and could understand what it meant.

What Damages Are Available?

Compensation in a fall injury case usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Both these categories of damages are often substantial. As mentioned, most nursing home fall victims are repeat fallers. So, their injuries are usually serious, even after a relatively minor tumble. And, after they fall, many older people are so afraid of falling again that they become prisoners in their own homes.

Perhaps more importantly, a Kamuela personal injury attorney obtains justice for fall victims. Frequently, lawsuits are the only things that convince large nursing home companies to take more precautions. So, your claim for damages prevents other people from becoming victims themselves.

How Our Kamuela Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help

Fall victims are often entitled to substantial compensation, but the claims are complex. For a confidential consultation with an experienced Kamuela personal injury lawyer, contact Olson & Sons, L.C. We routinely handle matters in Hawaii County and nearby jurisdictions. Reach us at 808-885-8533 in our Kamuela office for an appointment.