I was assaulted and left with a permanent injury and disability. Can I sue the attacker? How much would I get?

First, you can sue for an assault injury. Assault is a tort, or a civil wrong you can sue over, as well as a crime.

Second, compensation: there are several components to the compensation for a permanent arm injury like this. In particular:

• You can recover your medical expenses to date
• You can recover provably likely future medical expenses, such as additional surgery, medication, or therapy
• You can recover for lost wages to date, as well for provably diminution of future wages
• You can recover an amount for pain and suffering
• You can recover an amount for the loss of function

The first three elements are fairly easy to show and are also fairly definitive. Pain and suffering is a highly subjective measure. It is often somewhere around 1 – 3 times the other damages in the case of a serious injury; the best way to get some ballpark idea is to review the awards in similar cases from your home state. That’s one of the things an attorney can do for you: help you put some number or guidance on what you might be able to recover in a lawsuit, based on what has been awarded before.

Similar, the amount you can recover for loss of function can vary, and one of the best ways is to look at verdicts in similar cases. Also, it’s possible to use the worker’s compensation laws and formulas to provide some guidance. They generally provide that for disability of an arm, you could receive an amount equal to the percent of disability x 200 x your weekly wage. Say that you are earning more-or-less the median income for a U.S. male, or $43,000 per year, $826 per week. Say that you’ve lost 50% function in your arm. If this were a worker’s compensation case, you might recover, for the disability, 0.50 x 200 x $826 or $82,600, plus the other elements of compensation (numbers 1 – 4).

More likely, in a lawsuit, if the defendant has income or assets, you could recover more than that, since worker’s compensation typically pays less than could be won in a lawsuit. (The tradeoff is, recovery is certain.) However, while you should probably gross the amount up somewhat, you can use the worker’s compensation formulas to get some idea.

Bear in mind that, as alluded to above, a win in court is worthless if you can’t collect from the defendant. An attorney can also evaluate not just what the case might be worth and the likelihood of winning, but also the likelihood of actually recovering from the defendant, which is critical to consider before suing.