Economic damages relate to out-of-pocket costs, expenses on which you can put a certain monetary figure. The two major types of economic damages are medical expenses and lost wages. For example, medical expenses include the costs of paramedics; ambulance transportation to the hospital; emergency room treatment; time and treatment in a hospital, including all hospital room fees, nurses, doctors’ visits, and medications; follow-up care with the doctor; rehabilitation and physical therapy costs; psychological counseling costs; costs of medical devices; wheelchair costs; prosthesis; the cost of a special bed or equipment to get you in and out of bed; and future medical expenses that will be reasonably necessary for the rest of your life that were caused by the accident.

Another element of economic damages involves lost wages. This includes not only the time you were off work because of your injury, but future damages for wages you would have earned had you not been injured; retraining for a new job if you can’t return to your old job; loss of earning capacity if you are unable to return to work at all or are able to return to work but only at a lower-paying job. When a person suffers an injury that affects his or her ability to work in the future, a lump sum of money is recoverable to compensate him or her. This lump sum is “discounted” to an amount that, if invested wisely, would compensate the injured person for the damages he or she would have made but for the injury. For example, if a person would have made $1 million over the remainder of his or her working life, the person is awarded a lump sum of money (such as $600,000) that, when invested properly, will yield $1 million over his or her working life had he or she not been injured.

Non-economic damages refers to damages that are not easily calculable such as medical expenses and lost wages. The major type of non-economic damage is pain and suffering, which varies greatly between individuals and types and severity of injury. Other non-economic damages include inconvenience, physical impairment, and disfigurement. Non-economic damages also include such things as comfort, society, affection, intimacy, ability to engage in sexual relations, play catch with your children, and other intangible activities that we hardly give a thought to until we are injured. In many cases, non-economic damages for pain and suffering constitute the bulk of the award.

In certain instances, an injured victim is entitled to recover only economic damages and not non-economic damages. Foremost among these situations is when the victim gets into an automobile accident that was not his or her fault, but he or she was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI). In such a case, the driver is barred from recovering non-economic damages and is limited to recovering only economic damages, even though he or she was in no way responsible for the accident..

Another situation in which a person is prohibited from getting non-economic damages is when he or she was the owner of a vehicle involved in the accident, but could not establish his or her financial responsibility (proof of insurance) as required by California law. In California, a person driving his or her own car must prove that he or she has an automobile insurance policy in effect that provides at a minimum $15,000 coverage per person injured in the accident, to a total of $30,000 of the accident (regardless of how many people are injured or killed in the accident), and property damage insurance with a minimum coverage limit of $5,000. This is typically known as the standard “15/30/5” policy.

If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and do not have at least this minimum policy, you are prevented from recovering from the guilty party monetary damages for your pain and suffering and other non-economic damages. There is one important exception to this rule: If you were driving your own car but did not have insurance, you may still recover damages for non-economic losses if the person who caused the accident was convicted of driving his or her car while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The third situation in which you are banned from recovering compensation for your non-economic losses are when you were the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident and you cannot establish you have at least the minimum insurance coverage as required by California’s financial responsibility laws. As you can see from the above, it is absolutely critical that you obtain minimum insurance coverage if you will be driving your own or someone else’s vehicle on California roads.

Earlier this month, Walmart decided to drop its lawsuit for subrogation rights of this claim.  Walmart was criticized by many organizations and lawmakers who were in disbelief that the corporate giant would take such a position.  Wal-Mart’s top executive for human resources, Pat Curran, wrote that Shank’s extraordinary situation had made the company re-examine its stance.  Good idea.

After reading the article, please come back and think about some of these highlights:

1.  Walmart Employees have no choice about what is in their health plan.

2.  The out-of-pocket expenses and costs to handle a case like this (i.e. expert witnesses, medical experts etc…)

3.  Who needs the money more? 

4.  The law has allowed these types of employment contracts to remain enforceable because of the Republican lawmakers who support big business and insurance companies, mainly in return for campaign contributions and political alliances.

These arguments are made everyday by insurance companies, insurance adjusters and lawyers who work for insurance companies, who choose to treat every injured victim in California unfairly.  What prompted me to write this short segment was a study that AAA put out regarding the cost of accidents on Society. 

• State Farm, Allstate employ consultant’s strategy, CNN research finds
• Theme of strategy is “deny, delay, defend,” former employee says
• Companies convince juries that claims are fraudulent
• Insurers, institute deny treating claimants unfairly
 
How about the cost on society that is driven by insurance companies who fail to properly assist those in need of medical care?  Auto Repairs?  Past and Future Medical Bills?  How about the insurance companies’ inherent practice of bad faith and unfair dealings with injured clients? 

Is this news to anybody?  I didn’t think so. 

These trillion dollar corporations like All State, State Farm, Progressive, GEICO, AAA, Mercury, AIG, Nationwide, 21st Century and the many other auto insurance companies profit from our use of their service, and are more interested in the bottom line rather than the individuals they claim to serve. 

Regardless of the injuries you may have suffered in a car accident, motorcycle accident or any other type of accident, you will undoubtedly be faced with extreme difficulty in dealing with any of the insurance companies in this State. 

Today, especially in Los Angeles, an auto accident victim who has suffered injuries, has had their car damaged or totaled, has needed medical treatment of various degrees, will have an extremely difficult time getting even their medical bills paid for without hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit first.  Insurance companies recognize that they can “deny, defend and delay” every single car accident claim and force injured through the long and arduous process of litigation in hopes of deterring or diminishing the amount of their “profits” they will pay out.

I will continue to fight the good fight.
 

“This bill would provide that when a policyholder first reports vehicle damage to an insurer, the insurer shall determine if the policyholder has selected an auto repair facility prior to providing any information regarding a program or a facility that performs auto body repairs. If it is determined that the policyholder has selected a repair facility, the representative of the insurer shall cease, or not engage in, any discussions regarding a program or a facility that performs auto body repairs.”

The clever insurance lobby in California are claiming that the Bill is Anti-Consumer.  You decide.