How Do You Calculate Loss of Enjoyment of Life in a Personal Injury Case?
When pursuing a personal injury claim, you have two main categories of damages—economic and non-economic.
In certain situations, you might be eligible to collect punitive damages as well, but they’re rare.
Economic damages are your verifiable losses, such as medical expenses and loss of earnings.
Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life, are subjective and therefore more challenging to calculate.
To determine whether you have a claim for loss of enjoyment life damages, contact an experienced Los Angeles personal injury lawyer.
What Is Considered Loss of Enjoyment of Life?
It's essential to understand what qualifies for compensation before figuring out how to calculate the loss of enjoyment of life damages.
In a legal setting, the loss of enjoyment of life is defined as your inability to do certain things and activities that you could before the accident.
Your inability to partake in these activities or tasks must be directly related to your personal injury claims, such as chronic pain or loss of function.
For example, partial or complete paralysis, blindness, or severe burns can have a dramatic impact on your hobbies and other activities—things that bring joy and meaning to your life.
Loss of enjoyment of life examples include:
- Recreational activities,
- Certain hobbies,
- Traveling,
- Previous career,
- Family bonding activities,
- Social engagements with friends, and
- Volunteer activities.
If your personal injury accident has impacted your life in any of these ways, you could have a claim for loss of enjoyment of life.
How to Calculate Loss of Enjoyment of Life Damages
A jury will look at various factors in determining the proper amount for the loss of enjoyment of life when calculating a total dollar figure for non-economic damages.
Some of the most important factors include:
- Your age,
- Your work history and educational background,
- Where you live,
- How severe your injuries are,
- The immediate effects of your injuries,
- The long-term ramifications of your injuries, and
- The types of activities that you can no longer enjoy.
Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may need to testify as to all the ways the injury accident has impacted your life.
In severe cases, it may be necessary to get testimony from your family and friends as well.
They can talk about the activities you enjoyed before the accident and how the accident has impacted your life.
Your attorney may also request testimony from your medical providers and other industry experts.
Experts can testify how much your case is worth using specific industry methods that allow them to place a monetary value on your pain and suffering.
California law allows injured victims to recover loss of enjoyment of life damages, but they are not a separate award.
Instead, they are part of your overall non-economic damages award under pain and suffering.
Contact a Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer
If you sustained injuries in a Los Angeles accident caused by another party’s negligence, you have legal rights.
You might be entitled to an award for pain and suffering, including compensation for loss of enjoyment of life.
To maximize your potential financial award, you need a skilled Los Angeles personal injury lawyer representing you.
At Starpoint Law, our knowledgeable legal team has years of experience helping injured victims just like you.
Contact our office to schedule a consultation. Let our skilled lawyers review your case and help you calculate your overall case value, including loss of enjoyment life damages.
Aidin Ghavimi
Aidin is a partner at Starpoint LC, Attorneys at Law, and focuses on personal injury and employment law cases in and around Southern California. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the Loyola School of Law and his Bachelor’s from USC. Aidin’s primary goal is to bring justice to his clients and to ensure they are able to move on with their lives after a serious injury.
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