What are general damages and how do I keep track of them?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, everyone. This is Robert Mansour. I wanted to make a brief video today about general damages. You see, if you've been involved in a serious automobile accident, a serious car accident, and you are injured and you want to bring a claim, there are two components to your case. The first component is what's called special damages or the economic damages. Those are damages that can be easily measured such as medial bills, lost wages from your work, the damage to your car, things that are quantifiable generally, that there's some kind of estimate or a receipt or some kind of a bill.

Then, there's something called your general damages. Your general damages are generally your pain and suffering. It's a much more subjective analysis. You might think your pain and suffering is way up here, but the insurance company thinks your pain and suffering is way down here.

How do you convey general damages? Well, the best way to do it is to keep a journal of how the accident is affecting you. Anytime you have a particularly rough day, write it down. Write down what happened, what challenges you've had, who might be able to corroborate that. For example, let's say you had a really bad day at work. There was so much pain, and you have to keep getting up and taking breaks, walking around the office so that your back doesn't hurt you so much. Maybe you had a colleague take you home early several times because you were in so much pain.

Those are the kinds of things that you need to write down and journal. It doesn't have to be everyday. It could be every few days, or if you have a particularly rough day. Say for example you had to cancel a family vacation, or you had stay off of work for a long period of time. Let's say for example you couldn't go out with friends because you were in so much pain, or you canceled a big family birthday. A whole bunch of things you can write down and keep track of, because here's the thing: The insurance adjuster who is evaluating the case is not going to know about those things unless you tell him or her, unless you convey it to them. The other thing I like to do is near the end of the case when I'm about to present your case to the insurance company is I like to prepare declarations for you to sign, for your family to sign, for friends to sign, people who observed how the accident affected your life.

If you've been involved in a serious Santa Clarita car accident and need an attorney's advice, give our office a call to see if we can assist you.