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A personal injury claim is meant to provide victims with financial compensation for damages caused by a serious incident. For legal purposes, these damages are organized into clear and concise categories. This helps keep track of the damages and ensures victims get the proper compensation for the incident. The two main categories of damages are economic damages and non-economic damages, and the most common non-economic damage is known as pain and suffering.
Interested in learning more about pain and suffering damages? The Shapiro Law Team has handled countless personal injury cases, and we’re here to offer insight into what pain and suffering is as well as how it’s calculated when building a claim.
As the name suggests, this type of non-economic damage consists of two main components: pain and suffering.
The first part, ‘pain,’ refers to the physical pain sustained from the incident. This can include pain from a broken bone, bruising, dislocated joints, or any other physical injury. The pain can be short-term from a broken bone or long-term from a permanent, lingering injury.
The second part of this damage includes emotional suffering. Psychological suffering is just as valid as physical suffering, and these emotional injuries can last for weeks or even years after an incident. Emotional suffering can include psychological trauma, fear, anxiety, depression, grief, cognitive changes, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Pain and suffering damages can also include the emotional distress that comes with losing a loved one or companion and the impact that loss has on the rest of your family.
If you’re still unsure what qualifies as pain and suffering damages, let’s put the idea into practice. Let’s say there’s a person named Dan who gets into a car accident on the interstate. The accident results in Dan dislocating his hip and requiring surgery to reconstruct the joint.
While he recovers from the surgery, he relies on crutches to move around and is in a great deal of pain. These physical limitations and pain would be considered pain and suffering damages because they impact Dan’s quality of life. He can’t leave his house like he used to, and his mobility is severely limited.
The accident could also result in Dan developing a fear of driving, which greatly inhibits his ability to go to work or leave his home. This emotional trauma has enough of an impact on his day-to-day life that it would also be considered pain and suffering damages.
Since pain and suffering damages don’t have a clear price tag like a medical bill or car repair expenses, your legal team will need to calculate the damages. Every case is different, which means your pain and suffering damages will look different depending on certain circumstances.
There are a few different methods by which to accurately calculate your damages. The three most common techniques your attorney will use include the multiplier method, the per diem method, and insurance adjustments.
The multiplier method takes your economic damages, such as medical bills and property damage, and multiplies them by a factor between 1 and 5. This factor depends on various factors related to the incident, including the severity of your injuries, the duration of your recovery, and your liability for the accident.
The greater the severity of your injuries, the greater your pain and suffering factor for the calculation. Your legal team will take a look at your case as a whole and figure out the proper calculations to get you the compensation you deserve.
Another method of calculating pain and suffering damages is the per diem method. Using this method, your legal team will assign a specific dollar amount for every day after the accident until the victim reaches maximum medical recovery.
Maximum medical recovery is when a licensed medical care provider determines that the victim’s condition won’t improve any further than its current state. Whether that’s 6 weeks or 6 months after the incident, you’ll receive compensation for every day.
Insurance adjustments can greatly impact the overall compensation you earn for a personal injury claim. The extent of your economic damages and other outside factors can impact your settlement, which can affect how your legal team calculates your pain and suffering damages.
Common factors that can impact your insurance adjustments include:
Pain and suffering damages aren’t necessarily visible. You can’t look at a person and feel how much pain they’re in or their fear of going outside after an accident or injury. Because of this, you and your legal team will need to provide evidence that demonstrates the extent of your suffering.
There are a few pieces of evidence you can use to support your claims. For example, you can pull up medical records, doctors’ testimonies, and photos of the injuries to show the severity of the injuries and, therefore, the severity of your pain.
You can also provide medical evaluations from a psychiatrist or therapist, as well as personal statements from your family or caregivers. For personal evidence, consider keeping a pain journal and providing a firsthand account of how your injuries have affected your life.
As mentioned briefly before, damages from an accident or injury are split into economic and non-economic damages.
Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, are intangible damages that some may view as subjective and require a formal calculation to determine a financial amount.
In contrast, economic damages are tangible and measurable damages that have a clear price tag. These can include medical bills, property damage, and long-term medical care.
When settling a personal injury claim, having this clear distinction ensures all damages are accounted for and properly compensated.
Personal injury claims involving subjective damages such as pain and suffering are tricky to handle on your own. If you get the calculation wrong or miss a step, you could be missing out on a significant amount of financial compensation.
Working with a legal team like Shapiro Law Team gives you the edge you need to secure maximum compensation. Our team will handle all negotiations with insurance companies and ensure that your pain and suffering calculations are accurate.
Our entire job revolves around the legal system and building persuasive arguments backed by evidence. We’ll work with you to make sure your case is rock solid and you get the settlement you deserve.
If you need professional legal representation in the Phoenix area, Shapiro Law Team is ready to help. Our licensed and experienced personal injury attorneys will ensure that your pain and suffering damages are properly accounted for and that you receive full compensation for the accident or injury.
Give us a call today or visit our website to schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys. You don’t have to worry about the legal fees until we win your case, so you can focus on your recovery and seek the justice you deserve.