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.
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.
More information about Damages
New Jersey Man Receives $2 Million in Yamaha Snowmobile Accident
The Daily Record reports a Sparta man will receive $2 million from Yamaha following a snowmobile accident. The judge added $900,000 to the $1.1 million award from the jury.
In February of 2005, when the now 61-year-old man borrowed his friend’s 1995 Yamaha VX600V-R snowmobile, the engine started to hesitate. While he and another friend lifted the rear of the snowmobile, the owner revved the engine with the throttle in an effort to clear the spark plugs. The metal track broke and shot out of the rear of the snowmobile and ripped through the victim’s right leg.
Efforts to save the 75 percent severed leg were not successful, and the man’s leg was amputated above the knee a few days after the accident.
In the product liability trial, the jury awarded $1,107,000 for pain and suffering, economic losses, and medical expenses. […]
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Escalator Injury Involving Crocs Leads to Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit
According to Knoxnews.com, the father of a 4-year-old girl whose foot was mangled in an escalator because she was wearing the popular shoe by Crocs, Inc. has settled his multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the company.
In 2006, the Colorado-based company began receiving complaints from parents over the rubber shoes and related escalator injuries. Studies have shown Crocs and their imitators “appear to be prone to entrapment when pressed against the (side) skirt guard of step riser while standing on the yellow line of an escalator.” Children are at greater risk because their shoes are smaller and thinner.
To the lawsuit was attached a letter by Crocs stating it intended to place warning tags on its shoes by Christmas 2006. It didn’t. Since that time there have been hundreds of accidents which may have been avoided had the warning been put on the shoes.
Injuries range from a bloody sock to severed toes. […]
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Car Accident Round-Up
Car accidents around the United States
SUV Rollover Results in Fatality
A 20-year-old woman died in a single car crash on I-95 near Springfield, Virginia, after the car in which she was a passenger struck the jersey barrier throwing her from the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle, the woman’s mother, was injured but her injuries were not believed to be life threatening. Virginia state police believe the driver lost control of the SUV while traveling in the far right lane, then overturned across all four lanes of the road before the vehicle came to a stop against the jersey barrier.
Man Dies After Being Ejected from Car in Head-On Collision
The Cullman Times reports that a Cullman County man and his dog were killed when the car they were riding in collided with a dump truck. The impact from the head-on collision ejected the man from his vehicle. […]
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Graco Drop Side Cribs Recalled Due to Entrapment and Suffocation Hazards
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and LaJobi announced a voluntary recall of 217,000 Graco®-branded drop side cribs. The recall includes Graco drop side wood cribs sold throughout the United States from February 2007 through March 2010. Owners of these cribs should stop using any of the recalled products immediately.
When a product is not safe and fails to contain an adequate warning, and you or a family member suffers personal injury, or death, as a result of these defects, you may be entitled to legal relief. You should be able to trust that the product you are using is safe and that you have been given proper warning of any risks the product poses. At Munley, Munley & Cartwright we understand the complexity of product liability laws and the challenge of proving a case, and we can help you get the compensation you deserve. […]
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Pooling May be Forced on Marcellus Shale Area Residents
The Marcellus Shale natural gas industry is lobbying for legislation that would force property owners in the Marcellus Shale region to allow drilling for natural gas on their land if other property owners approve the request but they refuse. Referred to as “forced pooling,” the pooling order would set forth the terms and conditions of the forced lease, such as compensation for the reluctant property owner.
The purpose of pooling is to group adjoining mineral rights leases to form a larger drilling unit, and according to the industry, results in more economical drilling. Property owners with mineral rights would lease his or her interest in exchange for a royalty share. In Pennsylvania, the industry wants to add the statute to the severance tax to be adopted by the state.
If you are a property owner and you are opposed to drilling on your property, […]
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