Contingency Fee
The contingency fee system is the “key to the courthouse” for thousands of Americans. It allows an individual injured by a negligent wrongdoer to hold them accountable without needing the resources to pay up front for an attorney. Rather than charging for legal services by the hour, n attorney agrees to accept a portion of the recovery in the case. If the plaintiff receives no compensation, the attorney receives nothing. Since attorneys bear all the financial risk if there is no recovery or if the recovery does not cover their costs, they help act as gatekeepers to a fair civil justice system. Contingency fees also force attorneys to act efficiently, since extra costs come from their bottom line, rather than the client’s pocket.
Damages
There are two major types of damages: 1. Compensatory damages: Compensatory damages compensate a plaintiff — one who brings a lawsuit — for injury or loss. Compensatory damages are subdivided into two types, economic and non-economic damages. A. Economic Damages compensate plaintiffs for losses that are easily measured by money, such as lost wages, repairs to a car, the cost of hospital care, etc. B. Non-Economic Damages compensate real injuries and losses that are not easily quantified by a dollar amount and are often called “quality of life” damages. They are often as important or more important to the injured person as the losses that can be directly converted into dollars. Non - economic damages compensate for losses such as blindness, physical disfigurement, loss of reputation, emotional distress, loss of fertility, loss of sexual function, loss of a limb, loss of mobility and loss of enjoyment of life.
2. Punitive damages:
A jury awards assesses punitive damages to punish a defendant for willfully malicious acts that go beyond mere negligence. Unlike compensatory damages, which are assessed to make the plaintiff “whole,” punitive damages are assessed to punish and deter bad behavior in the future. Punitive damages are awarded very rarely (in only about 3% of cases).
Punitives cont.
However, punitive damages deter corporations from engaging in actions they know will hurt people — such as placing defective products on the market. Non-economic damage awards are often more important to those who do not work outside the home, such as the elderly, children and homemakers. That’s because plaintiffs who do not work outside the home cannot collect a “lost wages” portion of economic damages. The “worth” of a homemaker’s work inside the home is not easily measured by a dollar amount, and would only be compensated through non-economic damages. Efforts to limit non-economic damage awards specifically target the most vulnerable in our society — the elderly and our children.
Damages Cap
A damages cap is a law that limits the amount a jury can award for damages, no matter what the facts of the case are. Some state legislatures, like Georgia’s, have enacted caps in civil cases and some have not. Some caps are only for specific kinds of cases, such as medical Malpractice, and others limit non-economic damages only, and some limit damages. For example, Georgia law caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases and caps punitive damages in all but a few types of cases.
Liability
Liability is legal responsibility under civil law. In the context of personal injury tort law, liability refers to being legally responsible for an injury or loss.
Negligence
Negligence is the failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances. If a person is negligent and an injury results that person may be liable to pay damages for that injury.
