Individuals may be entitled to economic damages in Chattanooga slip and fall cases. These generally consist of medical bills, lost wages, and any other financial losses that the person might have incurred. If the person falls and breaks an expensive watch or expensive jewelry, it shatters the person’s cell phone, would be an economic damage that the person would be entitled to recover. It includes the noneconomic damages, referred to as pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
An experienced slip and fall lawyer considers the effect on a person’s family, the effect on how they see themselves, they worry and fear they have suffered since the individual was injured. The fear surrounding a new way of life is a concern for many potential clients recovering damages in Chattanooga slip and fall cases. If a person is in a wheelchair or on crutches, they may feel self-conscious. That humiliation is a form of non-economic damage. To better understand and pursue damages for harm or injuries sustained, contact a distinguished slip and fall attorney.
Assessing the Amount of Damages
The main thing that attorneys look at in assessing damage is the impact that the injuries have had on an individual. They will consider how much and what type of medical treatment the individual requires.
Other elements to assess for the amount of damages are:
- Duration of limitations
- Severity of the injuries
- If there is a need for surgery
- If they require crutches, wheelchair, or cast
- Experiencing sleeplessness
- Amount of medication needed
- Amount of missed work time
When pursuing damages in Chattanooga slip and fall cases, attorneys also like to hear from their family members. What the family members have seen, what changes they have seen not only what their family member has done but how it affects their ability to enjoy life, how it limits it, what they would have been doing if they had not been injured.
Awarding Punitive Damages
Punitive damages in a slip and fall case in Tennessee is pretty rare. To recover punitive damages, the person has to prove reckless or wanton disregard for the safety of others. That would only occur if a person did something that to a high degree of probability was going to cause a problem for other people.
If somebody spills oil in the floor and they walk off and leave it and forget about it, maybe that would get to wantonness or recklessness classification. But those types of cases are pretty rare. Those cases are seen more in terms of other types of injury claims, not usually slip and fall cases, but if a person hits a golf ball onto a road, they are not trying to cause a wreck but there is a high degree of possibility that it will cause a wreck, that is reckless and that can get a person punitive damages.
Likelihood of Capping Damages
The damage cap does not just apply to slip and fall cases, it applies to a lot of different cases including slip and fall cases. The damage cap for most cases in Tennessee is $750,000 for noneconomic damages. A cap for damages in Chattanooga slip and fall cases would include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anxiety, and humiliation. The total amount that a person can recover for those non-economic damages in Tennessee is normally $750,000. In catastrophic cases that amount can go up to $1,000,000. However, that does not apply to economic damages such as loss of future income, future medical treatment, past medical treatment, and things of that nature.
