the law office of dennis p. ryan

Frequently Asked Questions For economic damages

Economic damages are an important part of a personal injury case. Economic damages are separate and additional from damages that a Plaintiff seeks for Pain and Suffering. Economic damages can include money you lost from being out of work, a lost or reduced pension, medical expenses and/or out-of-pocket expenses. 

Economic Damages can add value to a personal injury case, if the victim can prove legitimate economic damages before winning a settlement or an award through the courts. Talk to the Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan for more information about whether your injury qualifies for economic damages. Call us today at 212-441-4352.

What Constitutes Economic Damages in New York?

Economic damages are a type of compensation to cover the costs of the following expenses.

  • Past and future medical expenses. These expenses can be the initial emergency visit and then can include anything related to a care plan, like:

  • Follow-up appointments

  • Physical therapy

  • Occupational therapy

  • Speech or cognitive therapy

  • Dental expenses

  • Vision

  • Surgeries

  • Long-term care

  • Lost wages, past and future

  • Pension Loss

  • Loss of earning capacity

  • Loss of employment or business opportunities

  • Loss of use of property

  • Costs to repair or replace property

  • Economic value of domestic services

  • Transportation costs

  • Funeral costs, if the injured party dies

Not all of the above examples of economic damages will apply, but the ones that do, you will need to support the claim with verifiable proof. 

How are Economic Damages Proven in New York?

To prove economic damages, you must prove that the injury was the cause of those damages; and you must prove the amount of economic damages with sufficient evidence. 

When thinking about what evidence you need to prove that an action or omission caused your injury, you must consider the alleged at-fault party's duty to you. If there was no duty, there are no compensable damages. Then you must show by a preponderance of the evidence (sometimes you will be required to prove it by clear and convincing evidence) that the action or omission caused your injury that led to the damages. 

Examples of Evidence to Prove Causation

  • Video

  • Photographs

  • Documentation

  • Eye witness statements

  • Police reports

  • Expert opinions

  • Accident reconstruction reports

  • Medical records

These things can all be used to build a case that proves one person or entity's action or omission caused your injury. 

Next, you will need proof of the nature and extent of the economic damages, which means you have to consider the nature and extent of your injury. If all you sustained is a broken arm and it is back to normal and functional by the time negotiations with the insurance company start, you only need to prove past wage loss and past/current medical bills and the like. If, however, the injury means years of therapy, you will have to consider future lost wages, loss of earning capacity, future medical bills for future medical treatment, and more. Proving the latter is more complicated and will require more expert analysis, opinion, and testimony. 

Examples of Evidence to Prove Economic Damages

  • Receipts

  • Bills

  • Medical documents and other paperwork

  • Invoices (especially for mechanic's repairs, etc.)

  • Fair market value prices

  • Expert analysis and testimony

  • Eyewitness statements

It is critical to make sure you think of everything and have solid proof to demonstrate the monetary value of all the economic damages you or a loved one claim in your lawsuit.

How are Compensatory Economic Damages Calculated in New York?

Calculating economic damages is pretty straightforward once it is proven that the injury was indeed caused by a person or entity's negligence. You simply add up all the receipts and bills, including receipts for property damage repairs, paid medical bills, transportation or domestic help expenses, attorney fees and costs, and more. 

The trickier part comes when there are future losses to consider. This will require expert testimony, like economic analysts and medical professionals. These experts will consider your injuries, your income, your potential income, and calculate the potential losses and arrive at an estimate that will then be added to the sum of your past or current losses.

Insurance companies and other defendants will use these theories to challenge personal injury claims. Their aim is to deny a settlement or prevent an award. Alternatively, they use these rules to reduce the amount of economic compensation a victim can receive.

Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer to Get Compensated for Economic Damages in New York

To recover for your economic damages, you should hire an attorney to determine how much economic damages that you have and help prove these damages to a Judge, Jury or Insurance Company. New York also has "Collateral Source Offsets" that apply to Personal Injury cases to prevent Plaintiffs from "double dipping." An experienced attorney will know the best way to show your economic damages and getting you all of the money that you are entitled to.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in New York Today

Dealing with an insurance company while you are injured is both frustrated and time consuming. Hiring the right law firm to deal with the insurance company takes that burden off of your shoulders. At the Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan, our personal injury team will take part of the burden off of you. Determining the value of economic damages and proving them is what we do. 

Contact our office today at (212) 441-4352 or fill out our online form. We will schedule a free consultation and help you understand what is at stake, what damages you are eligible for, and how to go about getting paid.

need a lawyer you can count on?

talk to the team at Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan

call us today (212) 441-4352

recent results

|

recent results |

  • The Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan was able to win an important motion to allow a Department of Sanitation Supervisor to bring a Personal Injury Claim against the City of New York. Anyone who plans to sue a municipality in the State of New York, must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the date of the accident. A New York City Sanitation Supervisor recently contacted our law firm 5 months after the accident, and more than 2 months after the Notice of Deadline had passed. Our office was successfully able to convince the Court that our client's claim fell under an exception and should be allowed to proceed. Our client is now likely going to be able to receive money for his pain pain and suffering and lost wages.

  • Our client was a Sanitation Worker who was hit by a car while he was servicing his route. He suffered an ankle injury that required him to go for Physical Therapy for 1-2 months. Even though he did not need any injections or surgery, we were able to convince the insurance company to offer the full amount of its $25,000 to settle the case. We were able to achieve this settlement before our client needed to appear for a deposition.

  • Our client was a Sanitation Worker who was hit by a car while he was servicing his route. He had to have a shoulder surgery and missed several months of work, losing Chart Money, Truck Money and Overtime Money. We filed a lawsuit on his behalf in Kings County (Brooklyn). Our office was able to settle case for the full amount of the driver's Insurance Policy. We were able to achieve this settlement before our client needed to appear for a deposition.

  • Our office was able to settle a case for the full amount of Insurance Policy for Pedestrian who tripped and fell on sidewalk in Nassau County. This was a tough case in a tough venue for Plaintiff's attorneys. Our client had contacted 2 previous law firms who declined her case because they thought it would be too difficult to obtain a settlement. Our office was not only able to settle the case but we were able to persuade the insurance company to offer the full amount of its insurance policy to settle the case.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement for $95,000 (out of a total of $100,000) for a Sanitation Supervisor who hurt his ankle in a car crash. The insurance company for the other driver made several motions to the court asking the Judge to dismiss the case. We were able to defeat each of these motions and eventually settle the case for $95,000. This was more than 3 times the initial settlement offer that the insurance company made.

  • Our client fell on a broken sidewalk in the Bronx in front of a 1 family house. We brought a lawsuit against the City of New York and the insurance company for the homeowner. Our client aggravated injuries to his ankle that he had suffered years ago while playing sports. The Insurance Company made a Motion to the Court asking to dismiss our case. We were able to defeat this Motion and we were eventually able to settle this case against the City of New York and the Insurance Company for a total of $75,000.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement of $97,500 out of a possible $100,000 in available insurance coverage for a Car Crash that happened in New Jersey. Our client was involved in a 2 car crash. She had a stop sign and the other driver did not have a stop sign. For that reason, the insurance company claimed that the crash was completely the fault of our client. Our firm hired investigators who canvassed the scene for witnesses, photos and videos of the crash. We were able to prove that the other driver was driving too fast for the intersection and was also at fault for the crash.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement of $170,000 for a woman who slipped and fell on ice on the stairs of the house that she rented an apartment at. Her landlord's insurance company argued that the landlord had done everything it could to prevent our client's fall. We were able to prove that the landlord had not properly shoveled and salted the steps before our client's fall.

  • Our Office settled a case for a Sanitation Worker who tripped and fell on uneven pavement inside his Sanitation Garage and hurt his ankle. The Worker had several prior Line of Duty Injuries (LODIs) where he had also hurt his ankle. Our office was able to prove that this LODI aggravated the old injuries and made the injuries worse.