What Are Damages?
Damages are compensation, usually in monetary form, awarded in a civil court case for an injury or loss caused by another person’s negligence.
What Are Damages?
According to the American Bar Association (ABA), damages are tangible and non-tangible losses that can be quantified and documented, providing direct financial assistance to an injured party. Examples of damages can include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and property damage.
Damages are important in restoring the injured party to the position they would have been in had the wrongdoing not occurred. This concept is fundamental in both tort and contract law, where it addresses breaches of duty or contract, provides a financial measure of reparation, and is even more important in personal injury cases where the injured party receives compensatory damages for medical bills and pain and suffering.
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Personal injury lawyer recommends steps to take if you are the victim of medical malpractice
Attorneys at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys represented an estate and a widow in a medial malpractice case against a hospital in the death of her husband. The suit claimed that the hospital’s nurse did not follow hospital policies nor the surgeon’s orders when she administered a medication when it was not indicated, causing the death of the patient. Last week, a jury awarded the patient’s estate $1.5 million in the medical malpractice case.
According to an article in Pro Publica, a study in a current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety reports that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death. That would make medical errors the third leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease and cancer.
What is Medical Malpractice? […]
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GM recalls 8.4 million more vehicles, announces compensation
GM recalled another 8.4 million vehicles on Monday, which included more than 8 million for ignition switch defects. The latest recall brings the total vehicles recalled by GM this year alone to 29 million. U.S. News and World Report mentioned that 17.1 million of the recalled vehicles were because of faulty ignition switches.
Some of the latest vehicles recalled date back to 1997 and extend to 2014 models. According to Forbes, vehicles included in the latest recall include the 1997-2005 Chevrolet Malibu, 1998-2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue, 1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am and 2003-2014 Cadillac CTS.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the automaker admitted it knew of seven crashes, eight injuries and three fatalities involving the cars recalled for the new ignition switch problems. This was essentially the same problem with 2.6 million recalled Chevy Cobalts and other vehicles linked to 13 deaths and 54 accidents. […]
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Medical Malpractice Frequently Asked Questions
Medical Malpractice Questions and Answers
What is medical malpractice?
Legal definitions vary slightly from state to state, but as a general rule medical malpractice (also known as medical negligence) means that a health care provider caused injury or death to a patient by failing to act within the applicable standard of care. Essentially, a physician or other health care provider commits medical malpractice and is negligent when he or she fails to act in a reasonable way under the circumstances and the unreasonable conduct causes harm.
How can I find out if I have a case?
Because medical malpractice law is very complex, the best way to know is by talking to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. Be sure to tell the lawyer exactly what happened to you, from the first time you visited your doctor through your last contact. What were the circumstances surrounding your illness or injury? […]
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Attorney Marion Munley’s Article on the Vanishing Jury Trial in The Scranton Times
As seen in The Scranton Times. America’s long and proud history has been shaped by lawyers and judges who made lasting contributions to the preservation of individual liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. To the Founders, the right to jury trial, secured by the Seventh Amendment, was on par with the right to vote and the right to free speech. In the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson’s litany of abuses by the king included, prominently, “depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury.”
Jefferson considered “trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man that holds the government to the principles of its Constitution.” Jurors are true public servants who commit their time, critical thinking and impartiality to their fellow Americans. Jurors serve as checks and balances on our judicial system, and a jury trial is a fundamental right critical to our democracy. […]
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Defending Yourself After a Trucking Accident – Advice from Dan Munley, Personal Injury Attorney at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys
While I’ve seen them often, it always pains me to see trucking and car accidents. The one that took place today on I-94 in Michigan City, Indiana is one of the worst semi-trailer accidents this lawyer has seen. According to NBC Chicago’s report of the accident, three deaths have already been confirmed. The crash involved over 15 semi-trailers (semi-trucks) and dozens of passenger vehicles, which were pinned underneath these large semi trucks. Many of the injured were taken to University of Indiana Health-LaPorte Hospital for treatment of injuries.
Sadly, many of these victim’s families are probably at the hospital right now, focused on their loved one’s safety, meanwhile, the law firms representing the insurance companies are likely already beginning to do everything they can to minimize compensation or reimbursement for pain and suffering. That includes making evidence disappear quickly. I know this because I’ve seen it done before in cases I’ve represented just like this. […]
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