What is a Fair Settlement for Pain and Suffering?
What is a Fair Settlement for Pain and Suffering?
A serious accident can cause high medical bills and lost income that negatively affects your life temporarily or permanently. Also, you can have pain and suffering from the accident. If another person caused the accident or injury, you may be entitled to economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are costs that are easy to calculate, such as medical bills and lost earnings. Non-economic damages are costs that cannot be easily determined. The most common type of non-economic damages is for pain and suffering.
Pain and suffering compensation can comprise much of your personal injury settlement, but what is a fair settlement for pain and suffering? Learn more in the following article. Next, speak to a personal injury lawyer in California if you have follow-up questions about pain and suffering compensation.
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What Is Pain And Suffering?
Pain and suffering in a personal injury claim is a non-economic damage you suffer in an accident. This type of damage is the physical and mental pain caused by an accident or injury. Unlike economic damages – medical bills and lost earnings – pain and suffering intends to address your injuries’ personal and subjective impact.
Pain and suffering compensation may include payment for the following:
- Chronic pain related to your injuries and treatments. For example, if you shattered several bones in your legs in a truck crash, you can have severe pain from surgeries needed to stabilize and repair the injuries.
- Discomfort from injuries: You should be paid for routine discomfort from your injuries, such as back pain from rupturing a disc in an accident.
- Pain from treatments: Your medical treatments may also cause substantial physical pain and suffering, such as skin grafts for severe burns.
You also may be compensated for mental pain and suffering, such as mental and emotional anguish. This mental suffering can be from the limitations imposed by your injuries and treatments. Also, you can have mental health issues after the accident, such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD. Accident victims also can have a loss of enjoyment of life from a significant injury preventing them from doing what they once did.
Pain and suffering compensation can include money for disfigurement, such as if your face was damaged in a serious auto accident. Last, pain and suffering can be for how the accident or injury affected your personal relationships, such as with your spouse and children.
How Is Pain And Suffering Calculated?
There is not a precise way to put a price on pain and suffering. Your pain and suffering are different from medical expenses. For example, if you have $10,000 of current and future medical bills from your car accident, your attorney knows to demand $10,000 from the insurance company for your medical bills.
However, suppose you have terrible pain from your car accident injuries. How do you assign to the pain you feel in your back and legs from broken bones? The value of the pain is subjective.
Fortunately, various ways exist to estimate the value of pain and suffering. Your personal injury lawyer in California is experienced in estimating the value of pain and suffering, which they will back up with medical evidence. The following are two popular ways that insurance companies use to assign a value to pain and suffering:
Multiplier Method
The multiplier method calculates your pain and suffering by multiplying your economic damages by a factor of one to five. The multiplier number depends on your degree of pain and suffering. A severe injury with serious pain and suffering, such as a brain or spinal cord injury, would be assigned a five, probably. A minor injury, such as a broken leg, might be assigned two, three, or four, depending on the severity of the break.
Your car accident attorney will communicate with your medical team to understand the injuries and prognosis. They will document your injuries and the degree of pain and suffering your doctors say you have. Then, your attorney will demand a settlement from the insurance company that compensates you fairly for your pain, suffering, and other losses.
For example, you have $50,000 in medical bills and lost earnings from a slip and fall. Your attorney claims your pain and suffering is a three, which would be a $150,000 settlement. However, the insurance company can say your pain and suffering is only a two, or $100,000. Your auto insurance attorney must negotiate with the insurance company to get what your lawyer thinks is potentially fair value.
Per Diem Method
The per diem method means multiplying a daily value assigned to your pain and suffering by the days that you suffered mental and physical discomfort. So, if the insurance company assigns $200 per day and you need 30 days to recover, your pain and suffering is worth $6,000 to them. Your personal injury attorney may assign a higher per diem. It’s their job to negotiate a compromise for your pain and suffering compensation with the insurance company.
Pain And Suffering Compensation Are Negotiable
Whichever method is used to estimate your pain and suffering, the insurance company may assign a lower value to your pain and suffering. It’s up to your attorney to negotiate the amount you receive for your pain and suffering.
If the claim leads to a lawsuit, the court may value your pain and suffering as it sees fit. A court jury decides most personal injury lawsuits; they can value your pain and suffering however they like. They can use the per diem or multiplier method or any way they wish to estimate pain and suffering.
Keep in mind that most personal injury claims end with a settlement. Taking a settlement gives you certainty about what your medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering are worth. Going to court can get you more money for economic and non-economic damages, but you also can lose the case and receive nothing.
How Does Your Attorney Prove Pain And Suffering?
Pain and suffering is both physical and mental. You cannot typically ‘see’ pain and suffering, but it’s still there. How does your personal injury lawyer in California prove to the insurance adjuster or jury that you are in great pain? A good attorney will prove your pain and suffering with these types of evidence:
- Your medical records: Your attorney will obtain all relevant medical records from your doctors to illustrate your injuries and prognosis. The medical records will likely include doctor statements that discuss the severity of injuries and the pain and suffering associated with them. The opinions of doctors and other experts heavily influence insurance companies and juries.
- Doctor testimony about your injuries and pain level. This can be your personal doctor, but your attorney may also hire a medical expert to offer their professional opinion about your mental and physical suffering.
- A written or video journal you keep that describes your pain and limitations from the injuries.
- Testimony from witnesses, such as accident witnesses and people in your home. They may describe the pain that you went through or are going through. Your attorney may call your neighbors or co-workers to discuss your pain and ordeal.
- Testimony from your mental health professional: Your psychologist or therapist may be called to discuss the mental and emotional costs of the injuries.
Potential Limits To Pain And Suffering Compensation
There are limits on pain and suffering payment in some instances. For example, California has a non-economic damages cap of $350,000 for medical malpractice cases. There is no limit for other personal injury claims, such as motor vehicle accidents or premises liability claims.
Also, you cannot receive pain and suffering compensation in a workers’ comp case. A workers’ compensation claim may be involved if you suffered an injury at work. Workers’ comp compensates for medical bills and lost earnings related to a work-related injury.
You can only receive compensation for pain and suffering from a work injury if you file a third-party lawsuit against an entity other than your employer. For example, you cannot sue your employer if you suffered an injury in an assembly line accident at work. But you can file suit against the machinery manufacturer. In that lawsuit, you can seek damages for pain and suffering.
Talk to your personal injury attorney to learn if there are any limits on pain and suffering in the state where the accident happened.
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What Is A Personal Injury Claim Worth?
You broke bones and suffered head trauma in a truck crash. The truck driver fell asleep and T-boned your car. What is your claim worth?
Every injury claim is different. You cannot say exactly what your claim is worth without a detailed case analysis. One of an attorney’s first tasks is to evaluate the potential value of your case based on your medical bills, lost earnings, and estimated pain and suffering. Your personal injury attorney will evaluate the following factors to approximately estimate your claim value:
The Degree Of Injury
A severe injury is worth more than a minor injury. For example, a broken back and paralysis claim can be worth millions because of high medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost earnings. Severe injuries also have long-term or permanent effects worth more than injuries that fully heal in a month.
Medical Expenses
A spinal cord injury that involves months of surgeries and hospitalization is worth more than a broken foot that needs a month of medical care. Severe injuries always have exorbitant medical bills that may be in the six or seven figures.
Pain And Suffering
A severe burn injury from a house fire will be worth more pain and suffering than a broken arm. Your personal injury attorney will use your medical records and expert testimony to prove your pain and suffering.
Lost Income
Imagine a paralysis injury, and you were a roofer before the injury. You can’t walk anymore, so obviously, you will have long-term lost income. You may receive full compensation for the lost income you have had since the accident and compensation for lost income earning capacity for years in the future.
On the other hand, if you lost a month of work time, you would receive less for lost earnings.
Insurance Policy Limits
Insurance policies have limits on what they cover. If the liable party’s insurance policy only covers $50,000 in losses, you may be unable to recover more money. However, a personal injury lawyer will review all available insurance funds and learn if the liable party has assets that can be seized in a lawsuit.
How Does A Personal Injury Attorney Get You More Money?
There are many ways that a personal injury attorney can obtain more money for your economic and non-economic losses:
Your Attorney’s Experience
You should hire an attorney with years of personal injury claim and lawsuit experience. If so, they probably have seen all accident claims and injuries. After the initial investigation, they should know your claim’s value.
An experienced attorney will aggressively negotiate with the insurance company for the most money. They will rely on your medical records, witness, and expert testimony to prove your damages, including pain and suffering. They also will know what the pain and suffering compensation was for cases like yours in the recent past.
Access To Expert Witnesses
Every experienced personal injury attorney has a list of subject matter experts they use to bolster the value of their cases. For example, your attorney will have medical experts available to testify about the pain and suffering related to your injuries.
Contact A Personal Injury Attorney Today
Were you injured because of another person’s negligence? You need a personal injury lawyer in California to fight for your rights, including money for pain and suffering. A personal injury attorney can help have been physically and emotionally harmed because of someone’s negligence or wrongful actions. Speak to a personal injury lawyer in your community today to investigate your case and lay out your legal options. You will not pay any legal fees upfront and won’t pay anything unless your attorney wins your case.