How Are Pain & Suffering Damages Calculated in a Personal Injury Case?
When someone’s negligence causes an accident, it usually leads to injuries, property damage, and pain and suffering for the victim. The law recognizes a victim’s right to seek and recover financial damages from the negligent individual or entity by filing a personal injury lawsuit in court.
In such personal injury settlements or lawsuits, it is relatively easy to identify and determine monetary claims like medical bills, lost wages, and damage to property. However, the pure monetary value of non-economic losses such as emotional and mental trauma, and pain and suffering, can be harder to calculate.
Let us examine closely what is pain and suffering according to law, how a personal injury attorney can establish the extent of an accident victim’s pain and suffering in a settlement or a court trial, and what are the methods used by insurers and jurors to calculate monetary compensation in lieu of a plaintiff’s pain and suffering.
Defining Pain & Suffering
In personal injury compensation cases, pain and suffering cover the complete range of injuries to the plaintiff in an accident. It represents not just the physical pain, but also emotional and mental trauma such as fear, grief, despair, anguish, and even the sentiment of loss of joy in life. The law empowers the plaintiff in a personal injury claim to seek monetary compensation for their pain and suffering.
Methods of Calculating Pain & Suffering in a Personal Injury Lawsuit
As stated above, pain and suffering include both physical and emotional pain resulting from the injuries suffered by an accident victim. Physical pain can be quite visible, manifesting in the form of lacerations, fractures, broken bones, backbone injuries, and traumatic brain injury. On the other hand, emotional pain is much less obvious and may include sleep disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression.
There is no particular mathematical or accounting formula to calculate and assign a monetary value to pain and suffering. There are two common techniques that are often used to determine pain and suffering damages in personal injury settlements and trials:
The Multiplier Method
In the multiplier method of calculating pain and suffering damages, the economic damages are first added up and then their sum is multiplied by a number between 1.5 and 5. Number 3 is the most commonly used multiplier to arrive at the final compensation amount.
The typical economic damages include medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Choosing the multiplier number depends on a lot of factors like the specific circumstances of a case, the type and magnitude of injuries, and how the nature of injuries sustained by the plaintiff would affect future medical expenses.
For example, as a victim of an accident, if you suffered catastrophic injuries needing long-term medical treatment, probable loss of future earnings, and the prospect of poor quality of life; a high multiplier between 4 or 5 could be applied to calculate pain and suffering. But in case of injuries where a complete recovery is possible, however serious they might seem at present, the chosen multiplier is more likely to be closer to the median, like 3.
The extent of the defendant’s negligence that led to the accident also becomes a factor in determining the multiplier number used in calculating pain and suffering compensation.
The Per Diem Method
The other common method that the courts use to calculate the monetary value of pain and suffering damages is known as the per diem (Latin for per day) method. This technique tries to assign a particular amount of financial compensation for each day of the victim’s pain and suffering due to their injuries.
The per diem method determines the daily rate based on your daily earnings or wages before you met with the accident that resulted in your injuries. This method is not as commonly employed as the multiplier method as it is inevitably challenged by the insurer or the defense attorney, whatever the daily rate calculated and presented by the plaintiff’s lawyer may be.
Accomplished Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys to Help You Recover Maximum Compensation
Although you are entitled by law to claim compensation for your pain and suffering; identifying, calculating, and successfully establishing the damages requires the skills and expertise of a competent personal injury lawyer.
At Smith Law Firm, our understanding of Alabama personal injury laws and trial experience make us the right choice for protecting your legal interests while skillfully negotiating or vigorously fighting on your behalf to help you secure full and fair compensation for your injuries.
The personal injury lawyers at Smith Law firm can skillfully build a compelling case against the at-fault party, establish their negligence, can negotiate with the insurance company, or take your case to trial if needed.
Contact us with all the relevant details pertaining to your case, including the extent of your injuries, loss of wages incurred by you, and any mental or emotional trauma you may have suffered consequently. Call at 334-702-1744 today, or contact us online to schedule a free case review with one of our attorneys.
