Personal injury and recovery costs

Recovery costs are expenses that are necessary for treatment and restoration after the injury. They may include medical services, hospital stays, medication, medical aids, physiotherapy or other medically justified treatment. Whether a particular expense can be recovered depends on its necessity and its connection with the injury.

Even small amounts should not be reconstructed from memory. A running schedule showing the date, purpose and amount, together with proof of payment, makes the development easier to understand. If treatment is continuing, expected further costs should be explained medically and kept separate from amounts already paid.

Compensation for pain and suffering addresses physical and psychological pain and the impairment connected with the injury. It is not simply calculated from treatment costs or the number of medical appointments. The injury, the intensity and duration of pain, the recovery period and lasting symptoms may all be relevant.

The first diagnosis is therefore not the whole picture. Follow-up treatment, operations, restrictions in daily life and possible lasting consequences also matter. A precise record of the symptoms over time can make the course understandable to an insurer or a court.

If the injury causes an inability to work, lost income may be a separate head of loss. Section 1325 ABGB covers lost earnings and, where the injured person becomes unable to earn, future lost earnings as well. The professional situation before the event must be compared with the actual loss and its cause.

Employees may need payslips, sick leave records and information about lost pay components. Self-employed people often need additional records concerning orders and the concrete impact on their business. The calculation should remain understandable and separate from general damage or pain compensation.

If a physical or psychological impairment remains, the assessment does not necessarily end with the first course of treatment. It is necessary to establish which limitations remain, whether further treatment is expected and whether work, daily life or personal activities are affected.

Section 1326 ABGB contains a specific compensation rule for disfigurement caused by an assault. Whether it applies and which consequences are legally relevant depends on the circumstances and medical evidence. A visible scar, a functional impairment and a professional consequence are not automatically the same head of loss.

After an accident, a liability insurer may become the main contact. A payment or provisional coverage does not necessarily answer whether every consequence has been considered. Before making a final statement, check which items have been accepted, paid or expressly rejected.

Section 332 of the Austrian General Social Security Act governs the transfer of damages claims to the social insurance institution where it has provided benefits. This may affect the accounting between the injured person, social insurance and the liable party. Personal claims and possible claims of the insurance institution should therefore be kept separate.

For every item, the questions are whether it was caused by the event and whether it was necessary. Pre-existing conditions, later events or an unusual recovery may make the assessment more difficult. This does not automatically defeat a claim, but it requires a precise medical and chronological account.

Collect the description of the event, witness details, photographs, medical records and correspondence as early as possible. Where the consequences are disputed, a medical expert opinion may be important. Evidence should show the condition before the event, the subsequent course and the concrete effect on costs or work.

Section 1489 ABGB generally provides a three-year limitation period for damages claims from the time the damage and the liable person become known. The calculation may be affected by the development of the injury, knowledge of particular consequences and other legal circumstances. Early assessment is especially important where late consequences are possible.

Continuing treatment is not a reason to postpone collecting records and identifying heads of loss. Note when each diagnosis and item of information became known. This makes it easier to distinguish what was already established from what developed later and what steps may be useful to protect the claim.

The largest invoice is not the only relevant information. A chronological file containing the event, treatment, symptoms, work absence, payments and insurance correspondence is useful. A short personal account of the effects on daily life complements the medical records.

You can also use the damage documents checklist and the accident documentation checklist. For an initial orientation on limitation periods, the limitation check may help identify missing information. It does not replace an individual assessment.