If you were injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may have the right to compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages. However, you cannot recover compensation for damages at no limit. In fact, you have a responsibility to mitigate your damages. Failing to do so can significantly impact your personal injury claim’s value.
Types of Damages in Personal Injury Cases
Personal injury cases are ultimately tied to a value that is intended to compensate an accident victim for the economic and non-economic losses they suffered. A Florida personal injury claim can seek compensation for the following:
- Medical expenses
- Lost income
- Future lost income reduced to present value
- Replacement value of lost personal property
- Other economic loss that wouldn’t have occurred but for the injury giving rise to the case
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Lost enjoyment of life
Punitive damages may also be awarded in rare cases that go to trial. Ultimately, every case is valued based on its specific facts and circumstances.
What Does Mitigate Damages Mean?
As you can see from above, personal injury claims can be very valuable. However, damages are not boundless. Personal injury victims have a duty to mitigate their damages, meaning they must take reasonable efforts to reduce the amount of avoidable consequences.
Common Ways To Mitigate Damages
In the personal injury context, there may be several ways that personal injury victims can mitigate damages or prevent avoidable consequences. Some include:
- Seeking prompt medical attention
- Following their doctor’s instructions
- Participating in rehabilitation therapy
- Returning to work when possible
Under this legal doctrine, accident victims must exercise reasonable diligence and ordinary care to attempt to minimize the amount of their damages. They should act as a reasonable person would in a similar situation to avoid additional harm.
How Your Accident Claim Can Be Affected if You Don’t Mitigate Damages
If you don’t mitigate damages, your personal injury award could be reduced significantly. Insurance companies could claim that the accident victim failed to mitigate their damages and ask the court to reduce the value of any award they receive. While this argument is not a complete defense, it can drastically reduce the value of a claim.
For example, suppose you broke your leg in a car accident. Your doctor instructed you to stay off of the leg so you could recover. You didn’t follow this advice. Because you didn’t follow the advice, you suffered a subsequent injury. The insurance company may argue that you should not be allowed to recover for the medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering that stemmed from the second injury.
When a personal injury plaintiff is found to have failed to mitigate damages, the result is similar to the application of comparative fault in which a victim’s financial compensation is reduced by their degree of fault. So, if you suffered $100,000 in damages in the above example, but the jury finds you were 30% at fault for the damages due to your failure to mitigate damages, your award would be reduced to $70,000 or 70% of your damages.
While it is important to mitigate damages, this duty does not require that you do everything possible to reduce the value of your damages. Additionally, insurance companies may try to inflate the issue to try to get you to recover less compensation. An experienced personal injury lawyer can guide you through this process.
Contact an Experienced Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer for Help With Your Case
To help understand your duty to mitigate damages and compile evidence showing that you fulfilled this duty, you should consult an experienced personal injury lawyer. Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers can review your case and explain your legal options.
Since we work on a contingency-fee basis, there’s no cost for a free consultation, and we only get paid if we recover compensation for you. Contact us today at (813) 223-6200 to speak to one of our knowledgeable Tampa personal injury lawyers.
