Everyone who drives has specific duties and responsibilities while operating a motor vehicle. When a driver does not uphold those duties and someone is injured, the injured person is entitled to seek “special”’ and/or “general”’ compensation for damages.
Special damages include documented losses or expenses due to the injury, such as past and future lost wages and medical expenses. Other common categories of special damages include: loss of irreplaceable items and repair and/or replacement of damaged property. Special damages can usually be easier to calculate in that there is a finite amount of money that was spent to purchase damaged items or cover medical costs, for example.
The term general damages refers to compensation for change in quality of life as a result of the injury. Common categories of general damages can include: physical impairment, lowered quality of life, mental anguish, loss of companionship (awarded to family members of wrongful death victims), physical disfigurement, and physical pain and suffering. The compensation for general damages can be more difficult to quantify due to the ways and which they can vary with each plaintiff. Victims of automobile accident injury can seek compensation for both special and general damages.
