Ok, so here’s the thing almost every accident victim gets wrong…
They settle their case for less than they should because they think they’ve recovered all of their losses.
Except when they walk away from the negotiation table, they’ve left money on the table.
Why? Because they didn’t know about pain and suffering damages.
Pain and suffering is easily the most misunderstood component of any civil injury case. And when a car accident lawyer isn’t aggressively pursuing this category of damages, the insurance company wins 100% of the time.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
- What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?
- Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages, Defined
- The 2 Methods for Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages
- Factors that Influence the Value of a Claim
- The Advantage of Having a Lawyer on Your Side
What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?
Simply put, pain and suffering damages refer to the physical and emotional hardships caused by a personal injury. If something doesn’t have a bill or receipt attached to it, it’s probably covered under this category.
Things like:
- Chronic pain experienced because of the injury
- Anxiety or depression after the accident
- Inability to enjoy life to the fullest
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Sleep loss and more
You get the idea.
Medical bills have receipts. Lost wages are determined by someone’s salary. Pain and suffering damages are subjective by nature. You can’t show an insurance adjuster an invoice for suffering. That’s why insurance companies love to lowball this category — and why it shouldn’t be accepted.
Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages, Defined
OK. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk damages.
When filing a civil claim against an at-fault party, there are two main categories to focus on. Those are economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages will always include expenses like medical bills (past and future), lost wages/income, lost earning capacity, and property damage. Once again, they’re easier to identify because there’s physical documentation to back them up.
Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, lost quality of life, and emotional distress. Anything that doesn’t come with a price tag attached falls under this umbrella.
Which one are car accident injuries likely to impact more? Motor vehicle accidents make up over one half of all personal injury lawsuits filed each year. That means non-economic damages like pain and suffering are involved in most personal injury cases nationwide — not just the ones that settle.
If you hire a personal injury lawyer in New York City, they’ll make sure compensation is being sought for economic AND non-economic damages after a car accident. Instead of leaving pain and suffering off the table, they’ll fight to include it.
How Do Insurance Companies Calculate Pain and Suffering?
Here’s the tricky part. Unlike other categories of loss, there’s no single formula that courts or insurance companies must utilise.
However, there are two methods commonly used throughout the industry. Both car accident attorneys and insurance adjusters use these strategies when negotiating injuries.
Multiplier Method
This method is arguably used more than any other. With the multiplier approach, economic damages are multiplied by a set number (usually between 1.5x and 5x).
Here’s what that looks like:
- Minor soft tissue injuries: 1.5x – 2x
- Moderate injury with extensive recovery time: 2x – 3x
- Serious injuries and injuries resulting in permanent damage: 4x – 5x+
Using the example above, let’s say someone incurred $30,000 in medical bills after getting hurt during a car crash. The judge (or insurance company) feels that injury is bad enough to use a 3x multiplier. That means there’s $90,000 in pain and suffering damages alone.
Per Diem Method
Per diem is a Latin term that translates to “by the day.” As you might have guessed, this method tallies injuries by the day they’ve occurred (past and future).
Are you starting to understand why having a lawyer on your side can help? Let’s keep going…
Factors that Affect Pain and Suffering Injury Claims
Keep in mind, there’s no magic number that applies to every injury. Below are some factors that can increase or decrease pain and suffering damages.
Severity of Injury
The severity of the injury plays a large role in determining compensation. This is especially true when using the multiplier method to calculate total losses.
Soft tissue injuries that heal in a couple of weeks will rarely carry a multiplier of 4 or 5. However, traumatic brain injuries or wrongful death injuries will automatically fall into that category.
Medical Treatment
Was treatment sought immediately following the accident? More importantly, was treatment continued as instructed by the doctor?
Medical records can make or break an injury claim. If an insurance company sees that treatment stopped a few months into recovery, they’ll argue the injuries weren’t that bad.
Contributory Negligence
If the injured party was partially at fault for causing the accident, compensation could be reduced by several percentage points. Every state handles shared fault a little differently, but most employ some type of contributory negligence rule.
State Damage Caps
Depending on which state the injury occurred in, there may be subject to damage caps. Simply put, these are the maximum amounts victims can recover in specific cases.
California, for instance, has a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice claims. Personal injury claims resulting from motor vehicle accidents fall under a different set of laws.
Why Having a Lawyer Matters
Did you know that…
Persons with legal representation walk away with 226% more than those who represent themselves. Yep. That includes after attorney fees have been deducted.
Insurance companies want to pay as little as possible. That’s their job. They have armies of lawyers, insurance adjusters, and tactics that allow them to pay claimants a smaller amount on every injury claim.
Going head-to-head with that level of experience without a car accident lawyer won’t end well. That’s what car accident lawyers are for.
Oh — and only about 5% of all personal injury lawsuits make it to trial. The rest are settled through negotiations and/or mediation. Having strong legal counsel during this phase of a claim is crucial.
Let’s Recap…
If you take anything away from this article, let it be this:
Pain and suffering damages are one of the largest components of any injury case.
Sure, there are several methods for calculating pain and suffering. However, injuries don’t stop when the hospital visit ends.
They stick with you through daily life, interactions with others, and even mental well-being. Damages that fall under this category are meant to compensate for all of those losses — and then some.
Here’s a crash course on pain and suffering damages:
- “Pain and suffering” refers to both physical pain caused by the injury and emotional trauma
- Most personal injury lawyers will use the multiplier method when negotiating settlements (1.5x–5x)
- Injury severity, proper documentation, and fault play a role in calculating the award
- Working with a lawyer can increase total recovery amounts by 226%