A personal injury lawyer in Chatham does not always agree to handle a defective product claim. First, that particular lawyer studies the extent of the damages caused by the defect. If an attorney does not see proof of sizeable damages, he or she is unlikely to take that specific and rather weak case.
What are damages?
The word “damages” is a legal term. It refers to the amount of money paid in a lawsuit, in response to a specific charge. There are two types of compensation get used to cover the damages associated with a given accident. One of those is the economic compensation. The other one is the non-economic compensation.
Detailing the types of economic losses
Medical expenses: all of the money spent on doctor’s visits, hospitalization, medication, physical therapy, occupational therapy, testing, treatment, or emotional and psychiatric issues.
Cost of disability: money spent on adapting to an altered lifestyle, such as money sent on a ramp leading up to the front entrance of the home.
Loss of wages, if injured person has a job; loss of profits, if injured person is self-employed.
Property losses: money spent on repairing or replacing damaged property. In this case, the cost of repair or replacement may be quite a bit greater than what would be needed to repair or replace a car, truck, van or SUV. If a renter has damaged a landlord’s property, that renter needs access to funds, so that the landlord can be compensated.
Detailing the types of non-economic losses
Pain and suffering: feelings of distress and anxiety, as caused by the injury created during your utilization of a defective item.
Loss of consortium: loss of support or loss of companionship that has resulted from the accident caused by the defective product.
A possible way to get compensated for small damages
If large numbers of consumers buy a given item, a large number of people could get injured by that same product. Consequently, there may be a long list of men and women that seek compensation for a relatively minor loss.
All of those same men and women can join together and file a class action lawsuit. A personal injury lawyer would have fewer reservations about handling a class action lawsuit. Of course, any money awarded to the plaintiffs would have to be shared by all those that had agreed to be part of a defective product claim.
Sometimes, the number of people affected by a given item is quite large. In that case, each person that deserves an award could get only a small amount of money. Ideally, each person that receives that small sum also enjoys a certain satisfaction, because a large company has been forced to pay for its readiness to create and market an inferior good.