Understanding damages in a personal injury case

How are damages determined in a personal injury case? What kinds of damages can I be compensated for?

Victims who were hurt by car crashes, truck collisions, workplace accidents, medical malpractice, asbestos exposure, or defective products can file lawsuits to recover for damages. The term “damages” refers to the amount of money that those victims are awarded to compensate for the financial losses, pain, and suffering that their injuries caused.

What Is the Difference Between Economic and Non-economic Damages?

They are two main types of damages in personal injury cases: economic damages and noneconomic damages.

Economic Damages can be thought of as the concrete financial costs caused by an injury. Examples of economic damages include the costs of medical treatments, procedures, medications, surgeries, and hospital stays, […]

Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, 2019

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

Motorcycle riders are 38 times more likely to be killed in a crash than automobile occupants. In Pennsylvania, there were 3,053 people injured in motorcycle crashes in 2017, and 185 riders were killed.

As the weather warms up, more and more motorcycles will be on the roads. Now is the perfect time to be reminded about motorcycle safety.

For drivers

When you’re sharing the road with a motorcycle rider, there’s no room for carelessness. A momentary mistake or distraction on your part can spell devastation for someone on a bike in the lane next to you. What might result in a scratch or a fender-bender in an accident with another automobile could be a deadly collision when the other vehicle is a motorcycle. Simply follow the rules of the road, and keep these tips in mind:

Give motorcycles extra space and increase your following distance. […]

Report: J&J Knew for Decades About Asbestos in Baby Powder

Report: J&J knew about asbestos in their products and issued no warning

In a new report that drove the company’s shares down more than 9%, Reuters stated that Johnson & Johnson has known since the 1970s that its talc baby powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos.

Reuters based its report on a review of documents and deposition and trial testimony that showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. Company executives, managers, doctors and lawyers discussed the problem amongst themselves but didn’t inform regulators or the public. The documents examined by Reuters also describe successful efforts to influence U.S. regulators’ plans to limit asbestos in cosmetic talc products and scientific research on the health effects of talc.

The company has faced thousands of lawsuits alleging its talc baby powder products contain asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers. […]

Clergy abuse report blocked by PA Supreme Court

PA Supreme Court blocks grand jury report’s public release

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court stopped the release of a grand jury report investigating decades of sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses across the state as a result of challenges filed by unnamed parties.  While the report was issued to six dioceses under investigation, no estimated date has been provided for when the 800 plus-page report will be made public.

The grand jury spent nearly two years investigating allegations of sexual abuse by the clergy in Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.  These dioceses have roughly 1.7 million members.

The investigation covered not only claims of child sexual abuse, but also failure to report to law enforcement and obstruction of justice.  In addition to the clergy, clergy community leaders, local public officeholders, and church officers were investigated.  The jurors reviewed over 500,000 pages of diocesan archives.  […]

The Most Common Medical Errors

What are the most common medical errors?

Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, after cancer and heart disease. According to a Johns Hopkins study, medical mistakes kill more than 250,000 people every year. These numbers are scary for patients who quite literally place their lives in the hands of medical professionals every day.

Even in the best hospitals in the country, mistakes can happen. But, that doesn’t mean you should avoid getting necessary medical treatment for fear of something going wrong. Instead, equip yourself with knowledge. Be aware of the most common types of preventable medical errors:

1. Misdiagnosis

Error in diagnosis is a common medical error. Incorrect diagnosis can result in unnecessary or harmful treatment. A wrong diagnosis also means that the patient’s true illness won’t be treated right away, […]