When you
hear about Personal Injury claims, you inevitably hear about what damages the
injured party received. The term ‘damages’ refers to monetary compensation
awarded to an injured party when the injury resulted from the wrongful
(tortious) conduct of another party. Although there is no exact formula used to
reach the dollar amount awarded, there are clearly defined categories of
damages the courts look to when determining how much money to award the injured
party.
The overall
goal of damages is to make the injured party whole. In other words, the purpose
of damages is to put the person who was injured by another person’s wrongful
conduct back into the position he or she was in prior to the injury. While it is
impossible to put someone in the exact ‘pre-injury condition’ with money, the
amount decided on is supposed to account for the loss as best as possible. Washington
courts adhere to this traditional rule of damages in these cases.
Damages are
unique to every case and determined by the court on a case by case basis. Each
dog bite is unique in physical damage and emotional impact. Damages are divided
up into two main categories: compensatory and punitive.
Compensatory
The most common damages
are compensatory. As the name would suggest, these damages compensate the victim’s
loss. Examples of compensatory damages are: medical expenses, lost wages (both
current and future) and loss of enjoyment of life.
Punitive
Punitive damages are less
frequently awarded. The purpose of punitive damages is to punish the wrongdoer,
rather than to benefit the injured party. Punitive damages are sometimes awarded
in cases where the dog was trained by its owner to be violent or if the dog
owner willfully and knowingly exposed others to a violent dog.
Both types of
damages are determined by the unique set of circumstances of each case.
For more information on your dog bite claim consider consulting
with a Seattle Dog Bite Attorney.
Weitz Law Firm
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