So there’s a number of different categories of damages, and damages is just a fancy legal word for money that people are entitled to if they’ve suffered injuries in a car accident. The first and foremost is what’s called pain and suffering, which is your loss of amenities of life, your hobbies, your leisure activities, the fun that you have, the joy that you get out of certain activities. Can you canoe to the extent that you used to? Can you go biking? Can you go jogging? Can you exercise and go to the gym? Are your abilities to parent compromised by your injuries? So on and so forth.
The next would be loss of income, which is any wages or other benefits that you may be losing by being unable to work as a result of your injuries following a car accident. And there’s another income related category of compensation called loss of earning capacity, and that asks the question: are you now in a position to not earn as much as you would have ordinarily earned if the injuries hadn’t happened? There’s another category of damages called loss of valuable services, which thinks about your ability to do housework. Can you shovel? Can you mow the lawn? Can you do the dishes? Can you carry the laundry up the stairs the way that you used to before your injuries? Those types of things.
The next would be cost of care, both care that has happened in the past, in the present, or into the future. Will you need physiotherapy going forward? Will you need osteopathy? Will you need massage therapy? Do you need to see a psychological counselor? These are all the sorts of things that go into that category of damages.
