In terms of damages, civil assault claims seek financial compensation for you for the pain, suffering, and harm that you’ve incurred as a result of the sexual assault. Those are typically divided into different categories. One of those categories may be for income loss. So you may have missed work as a result of what’s taken place and a result of the harm or emotional stress that you’re dealing with. That’s compensable. That can be part of your damages for income loss. Another area of damages, which is called general damages, deals with the pain and suffering of the event that happened. That doesn’t have to be for physical harms that have occurred. That can also be the emotional toll that the sexual assault has taken on you.
Other areas of loss include loss of housekeeping services and valuable services, loss of earning capacity, so your capacity to continue on and earn at the same level as you had prior to the sexual assault having taken place. Future cost of care is another head of damage that is compensable. If you’re receiving any sort of psychological treatment or other medical treatment as a result of the sexual assault, that’s compensable in civil law. If a settlement is reached, it will encompass all of those heads of damage. So each of those categories will be added up and presented as a settlement. It’ll take into account each of those heads of damage.
