In an injury claim, the entire goal is getting damages. This sounds a bit intimidating, but what it actually refers to is the financial support that the law makes available to you. However, every claim is different—including the kinds of damages that you can get. Our team at Maison Law can explain the whole process and guide you through it. Set up a free consultation today.
General Damages Versus Special Damages in an Injury Claim
When you file an injury claim in California, the goal is simple: to recover what the accident has taken from you—financially and personally. To that end, the law breaks this into two main categories:
- Special damages. Also known as economic damages, these are the tangible costs of the accident, like:
- Medical expenses. This includes everything tied to your treatment—ER visits, hospital stays, surgeries, prescriptions, physical therapy, and any ongoing care you may need down the line.
- Lost income. If you’ve had to miss work—or can’t earn the same way you did before—you can include that lost income as part of your claim. This can also cover reduced earning ability if your injury changes your long-term work situation.
- Property damage. This is an often overlooked part of your claim, but you can recover repair/replacement costs for any damaged property, like your car, phone, glasses, or anything else.
- General damages. These are the harder-to-measure ways your life has been impacted—and will continue to be impacted— by the accident. They usually involve:
- Pain and suffering. Injuries aren’t just words in medical records. There’s very real pain that you’re left with. It’s the soreness that doesn’t go away, the bad nights of sleep, the way even simple things—like getting in and out of a car or standing too long—start to wear on you. Over time, that kind of pain can shape your whole day.
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- Emotional distress. There’s other problems that come from injuries that aren’t, just physical. You might feel on edge in situations that never used to bother you, or find yourself dealing with stress, anxiety, or low moods that are hard to shake. For some people, it shows up in quiet ways—trouble sleeping, irritability, or just not feeling like yourself.
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- Loss of enjoyment of life. Sometimes it’s not about what you can’t do—it’s about what just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Maybe you used to look forward to weekend activities, time with friends, or staying active, and now those things feel limited or out of reach. That shift in your day-to-day life is real, and it matters.
Every case is different. Some are driven by medical costs, others by how much a person’s life has been disrupted—and most are a mix of both. What matters is telling the full story, not just stacking up receipts. What you’re actually able to recover comes down to documentation.
What Documentation Can Help Strengthen Your Injury Claim?
There’s obviously a lot of variables with any injury claim. But again, the relative strength of yours—as well as the damages you can get—are going to depend on one thing: documentation. So to strengthen your claim, you’ll want to get things like:
- Medical records that show the full scope of your injury and how it’s affected your health over time.
- Police reports, workplace reports, or any official documentation help establish what happened, when it happened, and how the injury happened.
- Pictures/videos of the scene, injuries, or anything involved can help paint a clearer picture of what took place.
- Medical bills and related expenses, like car repair estimates, etc.
- Witness statements and medical testimony from your doctors or other treatment providers.
You don’t need to gather everything perfectly on your own. Most people don’t have the time or energy for that while healing, and that’s okay. Our team can step in and help you get everything together and piece it together for a strong claim.
Get Help Recovering Damages With an Injury Claim in California
After an injury, life can feel like it’s split in two—treatment on one side, and everything else you’re expected to figure out on the other. Your claim shouldn’t add more weight to that. At Maison Law, we help take care of the parts that can feel overwhelming, including:
- Looking into what happened and who may be responsible
- Collecting and organizing medical records, bills, and evidence
- Negotiating with the insurance company on your behalf
- Pushing things forward if delays or pushback come up
The goal is simple: give you space to focus on healing while we take care of the legal side of things. If you want to talk through what happened and what might come next, set up a free consultation today.
