​Explaining Personal Injury Damages at a Deposition

Today we're talking about how to explain your damages at a deposition. One of the ways I try to assist clients that have been injured in an accident with their deposition preparation is helping them understand how the defense lawyer, insurance companies, and ultimately judges and juries, how they go about assessing or determining the value of your case. 

What are Damages in a Personal Injury Claim
Damages is a legal term to describe the money that you're seeking as compensation as part of your personal injury claim in a civil lawsuit.
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Understanding Pre-Accident Life
The starting point of damages is always an appreciation or understanding of who you were or the injured individual was before the crash, the slip and fall, before the injury occurred. We kind of break your life up to before the accident or before the injury and after the injury. 
How has the person's life changed as a result of the accident, as a result of the injury. And so to understand that, you have to have a very good understanding of who this person was in the moments before this event, in the years before this event, to try to get an understanding of where they would have continued to be had the event never occurred. 

How Insurance Companies Evaluate Life Changes After an Accident
Let's look at your life in the five years or so before this crash occurred or before this event occurred. And let's look at it in the lens or through the lens of what an insurance company cares about. There's certain parts of your life that they care a lot about because it translates potentially into money damages. And that is your health because at the end of the day it's all about your health, how the accident has changed that.

But not only your health, Your recreation or enjoyment of life, your ability to work or pursue your work to its fullest, your ability to do household chores, and taking care of yourself and your home. That's largely the focus. Okay, and so the insurance company wants to understand what you were like before this accident, and then also what's changed in those specific domains after the accident.

Assessing Post-Accident Changes
And so we look at a pie diagram, then we're going to make part of it represent your health, and part of it represent your work, and maybe another segment housekeeping and household chores. 

Let's assume for this example that the person was healthy, had no real health issues to speak of, no previous accidents or injuries. They were working full time, they had health, energy and well being. The pie was completely colored in. There was nothing missing. 

Now that's not always the case. Sometimes people had other injuries or maybe had some health issues. The pie diagram might look a little different. Maybe there are pieces missing from the pie already. But the more important thing is what does the pie look like after the crash occurred? What's changed? 

Now the person's health isn't well. They're going to doctors constantly. They're in pain all the time. They have symptoms. And then we'll look at the part of the pie with work. Then maybe this person is still working, but not to their fullest. They're no longer putting in overtime. They may be reduced their hours. Maybe they're still working the same hours, but they've given up on opportunities for advancement. Okay. And so there are losses. And then we'll look at household. Is the person still able to maintain their home to their standards? Are they vacuuming as much? Are they cleaning as much? Are they gardening? 

Explaining How Your Life Has Changed Since The Accident 
So you look at that, the greater the difference is, the more that's missing gets compensated with money. And that's why you hear lawyers or judges often say, it's not a lottery, we're not giving the person more than what they've lost. The whole thing. The goal of the civil litigation process is to restore the person to what they were before the event.

Unfortunately, the only remedy that a court can award or a jury can award in a civil personal injury matter is money. They cannot restore health, they cannot get your job back for you, but they can award money for the harms and losses. 

So understanding that that's how the assessment of damages is done, it's important to think about your harms and losses in these ways and really have that conversation with your lawyer so that you're in the best position when you're being asked the questions to really explain how your life has changed as a result of the accident.
Personal Testimony and Other Evidence in a Damages Deposition

Now this is only one part of it. There's other parts that come in to prove your case. And that includes medical records and expert opinions and treatment providers and maybe lay witnesses and things like that. But your own evidence, your testimony on how your life has changed as a result of the accident will be foundational. It will play an important role. in your case and the success of your case. 

It's important to be prepared, to understand the purpose of the deposition. And this video is not to give you all of that information, but really just this narrow area about damages, help you understand how the insurance company will look at your damages and the value of your case or the potential value of your case.

Economic vs. Non-Economic Losses
So not all damages are the same. Some of those you may have noticed are economic losses. Income loss is a loss that can be calculated. So we can look at a person from the Time of the accident until the resolution of the case, do the math and figure out what's been lost if there's a hard loss, like real numbers.

And also, there may be an argument that there will be future losses and that calculation is a little different and requires, sometimes the aid of experts to quantify the present value of that loss. But these are economic losses, similar housekeeping expenses or medical expenses that have been incurred and may be incurred into the future. Those are all what we would refer to as economic losses. They typically require calculations, oftentimes using an economist. or some type of forensic accountant to assist with calculating those numbers. 

Non economic losses, oftentimes the public generally thinks about it as pain and suffering awards, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of ability to engage in your hobbies, your recreation, the loss of your health. Those are non economic losses. Whatever name you call it by, it really boils down to non economic or non pecuniary damages. Those types of losses will not be calculated by an accountant. Those are assessed by the trier of fact, oftentimes a jury. 

Examples and Case Valuation
Let's look at an example of someone who had a passion for golf. Your fingers are very important to successfully playing and enjoying your golf game. If it was a hand injury, it impaired this person from playing golf, that would be part of the storytelling. You would look at it before the accident. It's not just the sport, it's the social aspect. It's the rest of the story. Again, it goes back to risk. If it's a compelling story and it moves people to want to compensate the victim, then that creates greater risk to the insurance company and they're likely to pay more money for those non economic losses. 

Contrast that to someone whose passion was soccer. The hand injury really hasn't prevented it. And they've returned to most of their recreational activities and their social life. And they're still playing soccer on a regular basis. The injury, although it's the same injury, hasn't had quite the same disruption to this individual's enjoyment of life. The value of the case is going to reflect that because a jury is probably not going to award as much money to the other person whose life hasn't been as disrupted. And so the settlement value will reflect that as well. 

Maximize the Value of Your Case by Consulting with Personal Injury Attorney
Your lawyer will be able to give you advice on your particular case, your types of injuries. Obviously, on the economic losses, with the aid of experts, your lawyer will do the math and be able to share those numbers with you, but also your lawyer will be able to help you understand what your non economic losses are based on their experience representing people with injuries similar to yours.

There's a wide spectrum in terms of the valuation of damages in personal injury cases. very wide spectrum and there are a lot of factors that go into assessing those damages. So it's important to consult with a lawyer that has experience and can give you guidance on what you can do to help maximize the value of your case, to help demonstrate the significance of the harms and losses.

Have Questions? Contact Us Today!
If you have been recently involved in an accident, we encourage you to take advantage of our free consultation. Contact us today to schedule your meeting.

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Andrew Iacobelli is an experienced personal injury lawyer who established Iacobelli Law Firm with offices in Palm Beach County Florida. Andrew restricts his practice to the representation of personal injury victims in claims involving serious injuries, Catastrophic Injuries, and wrongful death.  Andrew is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. ​