PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS:

                                                 What are the components?

                                                                 by

                                                                Attorney Don Radosevich

                  For additional information: link to Radosevich, Mozinski, Cashman & Olson LLP

A common question attorneys in our firm are asked by personal injury clients is what type of claims Wisconsin Law allows.  In an automobile accident setting, the negligent driver's insurer will be responsible for property damage to your car.  If your automobile is unavailable to you for a reasonable period of time while being repaired, you are entitled to a rental vehicle.  If your vehicle is totaled, you should receive the retail 'blue book' value of your vehicle, which sometimes can be modified upward based on recent major expenditures you have made.

The personal injury portion, by Wisconsin law, has a number of components.  They are loosely divided into two categories, known as Special and General damages.  Special damages include those things which are able to be added up on a calculator.  Loss of earning capacity is a special damage.  In many instances, if you are unable to work for a period of time or cannot work to your full capacity as a result of the accident, you will be awarded lost wages.  However, loss of earning capacity can be broader than lost wages, including income which would have been earned but for the accident.  An example of this is a lost promotion.  Special damages also include the reasonable value of medical bills you have incurred, as well as mileage reimbursement for visits you make to a doctor, hospital, or physical therapist.

General damages are a broader category and, in most instances, will likely be larger than special damages.  General damages include claims for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of society and companionship.  Since the law cannot fix a broken bone, pain and suffering damages attempt to put a financial value on the broken bone and its effect on the injured person's life.  Emotional distress is a compensable claim which arises in those situations where the injured person has suffered severe distress as a result of the accident.  This may include nightmares, extreme fear of driving after the accident, etc.

Loss of society and companionship is a derivative claim which is available to the injured person's spouse, children, or parents in certain circumstances.  Interestingly, although the law grants a spouse a loss of society and companionship claim, such a claim is prohibited for a live-in girlfriend or boyfriend.  In many ways, Wisconsin law places a premium on the institution of marriage.  Basically, this type of claim, in the marital setting, attempts to compensate the injured person's spouse for what they have suffered as a result of the accident.  This claim includes the intimate portion of the husband and wife's relationship, in addition to extra household duties the uninjured spouse may have had  as a result of the accident.  It also includes vacations missed and recreational activities the couple would have enjoyed together, but could not due to the injured spouse's disability.  It also includes putting up with the crankiness of the injured spouse.

                  For additional information: link to Radosevich, Mozinski, Cashman & Olson LLP