How do I prove my damages from food poisoning?

A common question brought to personal injury lawyers includes “can you sue for food poisoning”? The answer is “yes”. Proving damages for food poisoning cases will require documenting any losses and other harms sustained as the result of the food poisoning, which include:

• Actual Economic Losses
  • lost income
  • costs of medical treatment
• Non-Economic Losses
  • such as pain & suffering

Proving damages for economic losses, such as medical expenses, prescription and over the counter drugs, and other applicable losses will require retention of all billing statements, especially those made by medical professionals. Second, lost income damages will be documented by statements from employers noting time taken off from work, or in the case of self-employment, statements from one’s self. The amount of compensation recoverable is most often based on the expected income an individual would have earned had he or she not been ill with food poisoning, thus forced to miss work. Finally, any damages related to non-economic losses will likely be based on the amount of lost income and economic losses, as well as based on case-specific considerations of the severity of the food poisoning sustained.

Proving the damages is one thing in food poisoning cases; however, proving negligence and liability of another party is entirely different. This is where many food poisoning cases falter. With sufficient insight from legal counsel, specifically a personal injury lawyer in the jurisdiction where you developed food poisoning, will provide insight into how to proceed with your case, including addressing issues of negligence, liability, and counter-claims involving contributory or comparative negligence, among others.