Clients Can Trust the Personal Injury Experts at Summers & Associates
What are your motivations for filing a personal injury claim? If you’ve suffered a personal injury at work or because of a product, you’re entitled to some sort of compensation. At Summers & Associates, many clients file personal injury claims for monetary compensation to right their wrongs. Sometimes that compensation includes exemplary damages—payment intended to set an example of the responsible party. Other times clients simply file personal injury claims to invoke change, so future incidents that caused their injuries don’t reoccur.
Successful Claims Reap Monetary Compensation & Exemplary Damages
Successful personal injury claims often result in monetary compensation and exemplary damages, thus creating motive to file them. Defendants often agree to compensation in a settlement agreement, though sometimes judges or juries do in a civil trial. Often the compensation helps pay plaintiffs’ medical bills or recoup lost income. This is compensatory damages. Other times, personal injury claims include plaintiffs receiving exemplary damages. Exemplary damages are punitive damages.
What’s the Difference Between Exemplary Damages & Other Compensation?
Punitive or exemplary damages aren’t exactly the same as other compensation, or compensatory damages. Exemplary damages are usually substantially higher. The court awards them to punish personal injury claims defendants who are guilty of negligence. Punitive or exemplary damages hold defendants accountable for their negligence, thus causing the plaintiff’s personal injury. Exemplary damages also serve to invoke change.
Plaintiffs Can Invoke Change When They File Personal Injury Claims
Another motivation clients have for filing personal injury claims is a desire to invoke change. If a court finds a defendant negligent, often the cause of the negligence is due to a fault in their personnel or products. To avoid future personal injury claims, defendants often decide to make adjustments to their personnel or products. Therefore, the plaintiff was able to invoke change by filing the initial personal injury claim.
Give Summers & Associates a call at (304) 420-0975 to learn more about our legal services. Follow us on Facebook for updates. We are happy to discuss more motivations for filing a personal injury claim.
