Joint and Several Liability is a legal doctrine that applies when multiple parties are found at-fault for causing harm to a plaintiff and is commonly invoked in personal injury, property damage, and wrongful death cases. This doctrine is essential to determining how damages are paid. For example, this doctrine allows a plaintiff to recover the entire “award” from any one defendant (often the one with the most resources, or most valuable insurance policy). This keeps plaintiffs from pursuing partial payments from each defendant.
Available Damages Under Joint and Several Liability Doctrine
In California, Joint and Several Liability does not apply to non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and emotional distress. The damages available to injured plaintiffs under this doctrine include:
- Economic damages: financial damages you incurred due to the accident. These include:
- Medical bills
- Lost Wages
- Loss of future potential earnings
- Loss of property
- Cost of repairs
What is Pain and Suffering?
The term “pain and suffering” refers to all forms of psychological and emotional harm a victim may suffer after an accident. These damages are considered non-economic damages because there is no intrinsic value that can be assigned to emotional or psychological harm. Harm is a subjective term because it affects people in very different ways, even if they suffered the same accident. So, determining damages for pain and suffering can be challenging. Some examples of pain and suffering include:
- Physical pain from injuries or treatment
- Insomnia
- Fear
- Psychological trauma
- Anger
- Grief
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Embarrassment or humiliation from mental anguish
- Sexual dysfunction
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Reduced quality of life
- Reduced enjoyment of life
- Reduced life expectancy
- Increased susceptibility to future injury or harm
- Loss of consortium
Contact a California Personal Injury Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured due to the carelessness of a person or a hazardous condition in California, the attorneys at Maison Law can get you the compensation you need. No upfront money is required, and we don’t get paid unless we win your case. Contact Maison Law today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
