Legal Question in Personal Injury in Georgia
Restaurant Injury-Punitive Damages
While eating in a restaurant in Ga., I bit into a very hard,black,overcooked hamburger and broke off my frt. tooth. Their liability ins. paid my dental bill but said the restaurant wasn't at fault so, according to Ga. law, they could not pay for loss of work for dental appts. I suffered stress and embarassment from having to sit in a conference for a day without my tooth and then tree hrs. in the airport waiting to get back home. My question is, am I entitled to some compensation for stress, embarassment & loss time from work.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Restaurant Injury-Punitive Damages
Your first problem is establishing negligence on the respeonsible party or parties. This could be the restaurant and/or the food supplier to the restaurant.
Once you have established liability, you are entitled to recover, under Georgia law, all reasonable damages incurred. These are usually divided into two categories: Special (i.e., mathematically calculable damages, such as medical expenses, travel to doctor's office, lost wages and the like. You are also entitled to what are called non-special damages. These include "pain and suffering".
The latter, if it were to go to a jury trial would be decided by a jury operating under the following instruction from the trial judge: You, the jury, MAY award damages based upon your enlightened consciences about how the Plaintiff has been damaged.
Now, as an attorney advising clients, that is not very helpful, but there you are.
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