Another kind of damages that is not as common is punitive damages, which New Mexico Statute § 41-3-4 states are not awarded as compensation to a wronged victim, but rather as a punishment to an offender and a warning to other parties. In a personal injury action, a jury can award punitive damages only if a defendant acted:

• Maliciously — Malicious conduct is a defendant’s intentional commission of a wrongful act with the knowledge that the act is wrongful.
• Willfully — Willful conduct is a defendant’s intentional commission of an act with the knowledge that harm would likely result.
• Recklessly — Reckless conduct is a defendant’s intentional commission of an act with indifference to the possible consequences.
• Wantonly — Wanton conduct is a defendant’s commission of an act with indifference to or conscious disregard for a victim’s rights or safety.

New Mexico does not place any limits on punitive damage awards, but awards that appeals courts deem too high may be reversed.

A personal injury action can relate to any one of several types of accidents. In fact, common types of personal injury actions may include the following:

• Auto Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Commercial Vehicle Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Drunk Driving Accidents
• Rideshare Accidents
• Aviation Accidents
• Oil Field Accidents
• Dog Bites
• Assault and Battery
• Sexual Assault
• Oil Rig Explosions
• Refinery Explosions
• Premises Liability
• Product Liability
• Negligent Security
• Wrongful Death

The specific type of injury a person suffers will play a major role in the amount of compensation that an insurance company agrees to settle for or a jury awards damages. Additionally, many injuries people depend on the specific accidents people were involved, and certain people can sustain multiple injuries in a single accident.

Common kinds of injury claims can involve the following:

• Broken Bones and Fractures
• Sprains and Strains
• Internal Organ Damage
• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
• Eye Injuries
• Hearing Loss
• Facial Injuries
• Amputations
• Nerve Damage
• Neurological Damage
• Burn Injuries
• Animal Bites
• Birth Injuries
• Paralysis

Clearly, a personal injury case is going to involve you needing to prove four basic elements. The elements include:

• A defendant owing a legal duty of care to the victim
• A defendant breaching their legal duty of care
• A victim suffering injuries
• A victim being injured because of the defendant’s breach of duty

In this way, the duty of care refers to a person’s duty to act as a reasonable individual would under particular circumstances, while the phrase special duty of care means a person is obligated to act in a way an average person might not necessarily be expected or obligated to do. So, people are not negligent if they fulfill their duties of care.

An award given to a victim in a personal injury case that goes to trial will be known as damages and may include different forms of damages. The two most common forms of damage are economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are tangible and provable losses. Noneconomic damages are subjective losses without an inherent financial value.

Under New Mexico Statute § 37-1-1, a person only has three years from the date of an accident to file an action for personal injury. In addition, this law is also known as the statute of limitations, and some exceptions do exist to this time limit, including:

• Children — Minors in New Mexico mean any person under 18 years of age, and a minor will have until one year after their 18th birthday to file suit in a personal injury case. When a minor is incapacitated, then the time limit is one year after the termination of the incapacity.
• Medical Malpractice — A minor involved in a medical malpractice case will have until their 9th birthday when the victim was 6 years of age or younger.
• Claims Against Government Entities — A victim will have to give notice (Tort Claims Notice) of a claim within 90 days of an incident to a designated official for the public entity to be named. So, after notice is given, victims will have two years after the incident to file suit.
• Discovery Rule — New Mexico Statute § 37-1-8 states that the discovery rule applies to claims involving exposure to toxic mold, under which a cause of action will accrue when a victim knows, or with reasonable diligence should have known, of an injury and its cause in claims of exposure to toxic mold when a victim in a toxic mold case experiences physical symptoms that would cause an ordinary person to make an inquiry about the discovery of the cause of the symptoms.

Breaches of duty can involve actual causes or causes in fact, which are actions that produce foreseeable consequences without any other interventions. Proximate causes are events that are sufficiently related to injuries and the court deems them to be events causing injuries. Also, proving you suffered injuries often involves medical reports people receive after visiting hospitals.  Without a doubt, medical records usually indicate what kind of injuries a person suffers and how severe they are.

To prove that injuries relate to a breach of duty, you will have to demonstrate that you suffered a type of damage because of the alleged breach of duty. The evidence could include repair bills for property damage, medical bills, proof of lost income, or other forms of evidence.