Personal Injury Attorney
People accrue what the legal field refers to as “damages” in many different ways. But thanks to popular culture and television portrayals, the form of damage that people are most familiar with is that of “pain and suffering.” TV has simplified it as a form of payment that you’re guaranteed to get, but the reality of pain and suffering damages is more complex than that.
By definition, the category of pain and suffering damages is a type of damage that is difficult to quantify in terms of an “invoiceable” direct financial loss. It’s different from other damages in that other losses can be seen through records of medical bills or wages lost. Instead, these damages emphasize the experience of hardship and the toll it takes on a person mentally up to and including any changes in a person’s overall quality of life. So the question then becomes in a car accident case, when can you be compensated for pain and suffering?
So as mentioned before, pain and suffering emphasizes the experience of hardship as a result of the accident. So examples of this can include: great lasting pain that occurs as a result of your injuries, the aforementioned pain having an impact on your ability to do your job or perform in your profession, and it’s impact on your quality of life in your hobbies or relationships. Then there’s the severity of the injury as well as how soon you’re expected to recover from it that’s to be weighed in. If you’re expected to endure the effects of the injury for a significant period of time, or if you’ll also need any surgeries or complex medications this will also bolster your pain and suffering damages.
While there many states with a limit on how much you can be paid, there’s no law with an itemized list showing how much you should be paid for each “experience.” Many lawyers use the “per diem” method where an amount of money is multiplied by every day you’ve lived with the “pain” from the injury and there’s the multiplier method which is relative to your lost income and medical bills. Other lawyers have engineered more complex and unorthodox means to calculate pain and suffering, but despite what method is used, the lawyer still has to negotiate for it. In the same manner of any other case, the lawyer will need to compile records, your testimony, and other evidence to make a claim for your pain and suffering so your cooperation is key.
If you have questions about a case, contact a personal injury attorney, like the lawyers at Norris Injury Law for help.