Serious injuries can lead to high medical bills, lost wages due to missing work, and severe pain and suffering. One of the most painful aspects of severe injuries is the loss in ability to enjoy life’s many pleasures. Hedonic damages is the term for an individual’s loss or enjoyment of life. California law allows for hedonic damages to be recovered as part of a personal injury case.
What Injuries Cause Hedonic Damages?
Hedonic damages are any injury that restricts the ability of an injured person to live a normal life. Hedonic damages can be caused by injuries such as slip-and fall injuries, car accidents, or burns due to defective products.
- Hedonic Damages in Car Accidents – Car accidents may cause severe injuries. Hedonic damage can result from brain injury and disabling injuries. Brain injuries can cause impairments in the ability of an injured person to move, eat and think.
- Hedonic Damages in Slips and Fall – Brain injuries can occur in slips or falls where the victim sustains head trauma on impact. Partial or complete paralysis can also be caused by spinal cord injuries.
- Burns Hedonic Damages – Severe burns may cause severe pain, weakness, stiffness in the affected area, and disruptions to your sleep. Some burn victims are eligible for disability compensation because of restrictions on movement.
Hedonic Damages and Filing your Claim
Hedonic damages are not easy to get compensation for because there is no dollar amount that is associated with the loss of enjoyment of life. Non-economic damages also refer to hedonic damages. This means that they do not have a direct financial impact on the victim. It is therefore more difficult to prove.
Hedonic damages fall under the same category as other emotional and pain-related damages. Because they are not quantifiable, they are equally difficult to prove.
How to Prove Hedonic Damages?
Hedonic damages do not have monetary value so you will need to collect evidence in support of your claim. To increase your chances of winning compensation, a personal injury lawyer can help prove your loss in enjoyment of life.
Take detailed notes if you’ve been the victim of injury-causing hedonic harm. Keep a list of all events that you would have attended if the injury had not occurred.
Summarized from an article by Berg Injury Lawyers.
