Being injured in an accident can have a detrimental economic impact on your life. This is why it is so important that you receive compensation for your injuries. However, before you get into a personal injury case, you should have a firm understanding of how much compensation you may, or may not, receive. Each state has created its own regulations for how much a plaintiff may receive, known as damage caps.
What Is a Damage Cap?
A damage cap is a limit to the amount of money a person may receive for their injury. There are two main types of damages that you may seek: economic and non-economic. Economic damages refer to the actual costs that you have encountered as a direct result of your injury. This includes medical bills, property damages or lost wages. Non-economic damages are a bit different. The most common type of non-economic damages includes pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
While you may be entitled to all of your economic damages, many states have put a limit, or damage cap, on the amount of non-economic damages you may receive.
Examples of Non-Economic Damages
The reason that non-economic damages are capped is because they are subjective. With economic damages, you can very easily point to an exact dollar amount that is owed. For non-economic damages, it is not so simple. One person may view someone’s pain and suffering as worthy of $30,000, while another person views it as worthy of $1,000,000. Some examples of non-economic damages include:
- Loss of companionship
- Mental anguish
- Physical impairment
- Permanent injuries
- Physical pain
All of these can be hard to calculate, so each states sets a limit to how much a person is allowed to receive.
Florida Law
Although generally speaking Florida does not place a cap on damages, it has done so in some cases. For example, if the owner of a car allowed someone else to drive who causes an accident, generally there is no cap on the damages allowed against the driver. However, the owner of the car has “cap protection”; allowing the injured person to collect no more than $100,000 in non-economic damages and $500,000 in economic losses, regardless of the severity of the injuries.
Call LMW Today
At LMW, we understand the devastation an injury can have on you and your family. That is why we are dedicated to helping you receive all the compensation that you deserve. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, do the right thing. Hire an attorney to fight for you. With a LMW attorney, you will always have someone by your side. So do not wait, call LMW and request your free consultation today!