If you are injured in a way that has caused you to lose quality of life because you can no longer enjoy certain activities, you may be entitled to compensatory damages.
Some courts allow an injured person to be compensated for the loss of enjoyment of life, while other courts believe that damages for the loss of enjoyment of life are too speculative to determine. In some states, these damages fall within the “pain and suffering” category of compensatory damages.
Some courts also maintain that a person must be aware of the loss of enjoyment, while other courts consider it allowable if the injury places the party in a vegetative state.
What constitutes loss of enjoyment of life varies from case to case, but certain courts have upheld that the inability to engage in specific activities may qualify an injured person to compensatory damages.
Some of these activities include:
- Sports
- Dancing
- Music
- Reproduction
- Sex
- Social and religious activities
Injuries that may be considered as causing loss of enjoyment include:
- Significant facial scarring
- Damage to the nervous system
- Damage to the heart that may cause a shortening of life expectancy
- Loss of sensation (such as smelling, tasting, hearing, feeling, or seeing)
If you or a loved one is involved in an accident that causes death or serious injury, call Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm. We are one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in the state of California. In fact, in the last five years alone our lawyers have obtained over $1.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including a record breaking $50 Million settlement against the City of Dana Point, which has been certified as the largest personal injury settlement in the history of the United States.
Callahan & Blaine also has numerous other record-breaking verdicts and settlement in Orange County, including the largest jury verdict in the history of Orange County ($934 Million), the largest class action settlement ($38 Million), the largest insurance bad faith judgment ($58 Million) and the largest employment law settlement ($38 Million). Callahan & Blaine also has recent personal injury settlements of $28 Million for a driver who was hit by a runaway truck wheel on the freeway, a $7.25 million settlement for a man who was run over trying to board a city bus, a $7.0 million settlement for a bicyclist who was struck by a newspaper delivery truck, and a $6.0 Million settlement for a bicyclist struck by an airport shuttle bus.
If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, please contact our California law firm for expert legal counsel.
