The types of damages available in Oxycontin related cases are similar to the damages in almost any type of personal injury or wrongful death case. If you prove your case, you may be able to collect damages that reimburse you, damages of a more subjective nature, and/or punitive damages.
At their essence, damages in a lawsuit try to put the victim in the same position he or she would have been had the injury or death not occurred. The easiest type of damages to prove and collect is for reimbursable expenses. These can include payments to reimburse the victim or family for medical expenses, burial expenses, loss of work, or any other out-of-pocket type expenses. As a practical matter, this means collecting and documenting your lost income, your medical expenses (i.e., ER care, hospital, doctor, laboratory, diagnostic tests, therapy, etc.), travel expenses, and burial expenses.
More subjective damages are somewhat more difficult to put a number on and can be more difficult to prove as well; however, these damages are just as legitimate and can add up to be a significant part of your recovery. Damages for things such as pain and suffering, loss of economic opportunity, loss of benefits, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of companionship (in a suit brought by a spouse) are examples of what your attorney will include in any settlement discussions or argument to the jury. While it is difficult to put an objective measurement, such as a dollar figure, on a subjective complaint, such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life, the courts, attorneys, and insurance adjusters all have a great deal of experience in working with these concepts. (See also our section on pain and suffering.) Depending on where your case is brought, there will probably be other similar cases that your attorney and the other side will rely on as a starting point for these damages.
A third type of damages that may be available are punitive damages. As the name suggests, these are used to punish the defendant for its conduct – in this case, to punish Purdue Pharma for not sufficiently emphasizing the risks of Oxycontin use and abuse and for downplaying the possibility of severe withdrawal symptoms. In order to have a chance at punitive damages, which are not allowed in all states, you will have to prove that Purdue Pharma acted so negligently that punishment is called for in your case. This can be very difficult to prove. Talk with your attorney to see whether requesting punitive damages is appropriate in your case.
A final caution: You may read about settlements and jury verdicts in other cases involving Oxycontin. While this can be good information, you need to remember that different people receive different settlement offers and jury verdicts based on many things: where the case is brought, what the particular facts of a case are, who the insurance adjusters are, your character and credibility; extent of the injury, objective evidence, and, to some extent, who the attorneys are. Therefore, your case may not produce the money that another case has, or it may be worth significantly more. One of the reasons you want to work with an experienced attorney is because he or she will have a much better idea whether a particular settlement offer is appropriate in your case or not. You will have to work with your attorney to decide whether a particular offer is suitable.