What Damages Can Be Recovered In A Florida Auto Accident Case?
There are four categories of damages that can be recovered in a Florida auto accident case.
There’s first of all the medical bills you incurred as a result of the accident. Second of all, there’s the future medical bills that you are likely to incur because your injuries have not fully healed or you’ll need later treatment. Those would be considered medical damages and you get past and future benefits. Then there are past and future lost wages. If you lost time from work because of your injuries in the auto accident, then you’re entitled to be compensated and that’s true even if you had paid time off from work. And then there’s the thought and there are vocational experts who can opine on this, that your working life may have been shortened because of, for example, the spinal injuries that you suffered and you won’t be able to sit as long, or lean forward with your neck. Skills that you don’t think about, but just about every desk worker uses. So you won’t work as long, and you’re allowed to be compensated for that time that you’ll miss work in the future.
Thirdly, you’ve gone through physical pain, mental anguish, sleepless nights and you’re entitled to be compensated for that pain in the past and in the future. The fourth category of damages, although rare, is punitive damages. And so if someone has hurt you in a really egregious matter, such as a drunk driver, then you may also be able to recover punitive damages.