Compensation and Damages in Premises Liability Cases

When you have suffered a premises liability injury, your damages may come in multiple facets of your life. You suffer direct economic losses because there is money that you must pay for medical bills and income that you cannot earn. You may suffer even more subjectively because of the effects that your injury has had on you and the fact that it has taken away the life that you enjoyed before your injuries.

First, you would work to prove that someone else was responsible for what happened to you. Second, you would fight to ensure that you are fairly compensated. The best way to wage this fight is with the help of an experienced premise liability attorney who knows how much your case is worth and how to fight the insurance company. The experienced premises liability lawyers at Nix Patterson have built a track record over decades of helping injured clients just like you.

What Is Premises Liability?

There are numerous instances in society when someone owes you a duty of care to act reasonably under the circumstances. One of the main things that you may think of is a motorist on the road who must follow traffic laws and pay attention behind the wheel. You are also owed a duty of care anytime that you are on the property of another.

If the property owner has not acted reasonably, premises liability law subjects them to the obligation of paying your damages if you can prove that they were to blame for the accident. Premises liability means that you were able to prove that someone was negligent and they owe you money.

Common Types of Premises Liability Cases

Premises liability cases include practically any type of injury that you would suffer on the property of another. Some examples of premises liability cases include:

• Slip and falls
• Fires
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Patio and deck collapses
• Building collapses
• Stairwell injuries
• Swimming pool accidents
• Restaurant accidents
• Supermarket injuries
• Dog bites
• Negligent security

The one unifying theme is that you need an experienced attorney to represent you when you are filing a lawsuit in any of these types of cases.

What Damages Are Covered in a Premises Liability Lawsuit?

In any premises liability case, there is a rule of thumb that seems simple in theory but more complicated in practice. If you can prove that someone else was negligent and caused your injuries, they have a responsibility to fully compensate you for the damage they caused.

Premises liability damages cover both past and future harm. For most people, it would be extremely difficult to know how they would suffer in the future if they do not get help from a premises liability attorney. You need that information at your fingertips now because you sign a release agreement along with a settlement that keeps you from coming back for more compensation.

Broadly speaking, your premises liability injury compensation breaks down into the following two categories:

• Economic damages: These represent your actual Financial losses
• Non-economic damages: These compensate you for the experience related to your accident

Both of these categories of Damages can present challenges because you are dealing with an insurance company that may value them differently. Non-economic damages are particularly difficult to value because they are supposed to be subjective in nature. The insurance company tries to take your experience out of the equation by using formulas to compute non-economic damages, but this always results in short-changing you.

Short- and Long-Term Medical Bills

One of the major elements of your premises liability compensation is the medical care that is necessary to treat your injuries. You may have already expended money from your pocket or medical care through copayments and deductibles. If you did not have health insurance, you may have had to pay the full cost of your care. If your health insurance company has already paid money in connection with your injuries, they must be reimbursed for what they have already advanced.

The diagnosis that you would receive from a doctor may include the type of medical care that you need in the future. Your premises liability attorney may work with experts to determine the extent of the care and to quantify what you need. You would then be responsible for paying this medical care for the proceeds of your settlement.

Property Damage

You may have been injured on the property of another, and you had personal property with you at the time. For example, if you were staying at a hotel and you lost your possessions in a fire, the responsible party would need to pay you for property damage in addition to physical injuries.

Loss of Wages or Income

You may have missed time from work on account of your physical injuries. Some accident victims are never the same again physically, and they may not be able to work or do the type of labor that they did before they were hurt. Their career path may have been cut short because they are more limited. Finally, a premises liability accident victim may have had to miss substantial time from work for medical appointments and rehabilitation.

Lost wages include the actual time you miss from work and the reduction in your earnings capacity. These damages cover money that you have already lost and will lose in the future. The insurance company may take a different view of your career and ability to work, and it is up to your premises liability attorney to show how your injuries have impacted your job and earnings capacity.

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering is perhaps the most misunderstood element of premises liability compensation. This is a very broad category of damages that are intended to compensate you for the effects of your physical injuries. When you have suffered any kind of injury, it always impacts many areas of your life. For example, if you have broken a leg, you may not only be in physical pain, but you could also suffer anxiety and depression, both because of your injury and not being able to live your life.

In many cases, the insurance company will use a multiplier and apply it to your medical bills to reach a settlement offer for pain and suffering. For instance, if you have suffered a fracture, the insurance company could offer you twice the amount of your medical bills and pain and suffering damages. More serious injuries, such as ones to your brain and spinal cord, could result in a multiplier as high as five.

While the multiplier method may seem to fully compensate you for your pain and suffering, most times, it does not even come close. First, the insurance company may use a low multiplier. Second, the insurance company is discounting your own individual experience, which is supposed to be the basis of your personal injury damages.

A premise liability attorney’s job is to ensure that your voice is heard and your experience is considered when determining your compensation. They will push back when the insurance company tries to offer you a so-called “objective” settlement that meets their needs more than yours.

Wrongful Death

Cases in which wrongful death is involved present a completely different set of calculations that are used to determine your damages. Here, you are not necessarily seeking compensation for the harm to the deceased person (although you can file a Survival action to recover these damages if your loved one did not die immediately). Instead, your damages are what your family has suffered when your loved one died in a tragic and untimely manner.

Wrongful death damages may include:

• Lost wages: You can be paid for the wages that the deceased person would have earned had they lived and continued being able to work.
• Loss of support and guidance: The deceased may have provided emotional support and played a pivotal role in the lives of family members.
• Loss of the relationship: You can be compensated for the loss of close love and relationship with a loved one who died
• Grief and Trauma: Your family may have suffered your own individualized Trauma from suddenly losing a loved one, and this is part of your settlement.

Wrongful death cases often result in large settlements because your family has suffered a profound loss. Even though you may not want to think in terms of the value of your loved one’s life, that is the exact procedure in a wrongful death case.

How Much Is My Texas Premises Liability Case Worth?

One of the first questions prospective clients ask a premises liability attorney is how much they can get for their injuries. This is not a question that an attorney can answer on the spot the first time they meet you. Your lawyer may be able to explain the concepts that underlie premises liability compensation, but they cannot give you a more exact estimate until they review the facts of your case and your personal situation.

In addition, the amount of insurance coverage and assets that the responsible party has can also determine what compensation you can get. If there is a large insurance policy in place and the defendant has a deeper pocket, you may get more in compensation than if you are suing an individual homeowner in a premises liability case.

In the end, your settlement is what your premises liability attorney is able to negotiate for you or wins from a jury. It is up to you to get as much money as possible for your injuries because you only get one chance to settle a premises liability case. If you make a mistake now, you cannot undo it in the future.

Contact a Texas Premises Liability Attorney Today

If you or a loved one has been injured on the property of another, the law allows you to receive full compensation if someone else was negligent. First, you may need to overcome the insurance company’s attempt to either blame you for the accident or make a lowball settlement offer. The best way to take the fight to the insurance company is to come to the table with an experienced premises liability attorney by your side.

Contact Nix Patterson online today or give us a call at 512-328-5333 to schedule a free consultation and learn more about your legal rights.