Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages for Your Personal Injury Case Against Insurance Companies
Suffering a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence can turn your life upside down. You may face significant medical bills, lost income from missed work, and ongoing pain and suffering. Recovering fair compensation is crucial to getting your life back on track.
When filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit, one of the most challenging parts is calculating pain and suffering damages. Insurance companies often try to lowball this subjective category of damages. With the right approach, you can accurately calculate and demand full and fair pain and suffering damages.
How Pain and Suffering Damages Are Calculated in Personal Injury Cases
Pain and suffering fall under the broader category of “non-economic damages” in a personal injury case. These are damages that do not have a clear monetary value, like medical bills or lost wages. Pain and suffering encompasses both physical and emotional distress caused by an injury.
To calculate pain and suffering damages, an experienced personal injury attorney will consider the following:
- The nature and extent of the injury
- Type of medical treatment required
- Length of recovery time
- Necessity of surgery or hospitalization
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Physical limitations or disability
- Emotional trauma like depression or anxiety
- Loss of companionship
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Ongoing or chronic pain
Your attorney will use these factors to estimate how much your pain and suffering are worth in dollars. They will likely look to past similar cases and verdicts or settlements as benchmarks. The ultimate goal is to quantify how the injury has negatively impacted your life.
Common Methods Attorneys Use to Calculate Pain and Suffering
There are a few common methods personal injury attorneys use to calculate pain and suffering damages:
1. Multiplier Method
This is the most common approach. Your personal injury attorney calculates your “special damages,” which are your quantifiable monetary losses like medical bills and lost income. A multiplier of 1.5x to 5x is then applied based on the severity of your pain and suffering.
For example, if your special damages total $20,000 and your injury and suffering are moderate, a 3x multiplier would result in $60,000 in pain and suffering damages.
2. Per Diem Method
This calculates pain and suffering damages by assigning a dollar value per day for the pain. An attorney determines a reasonable daily amount and then multiplies it by the number of days you are expected to suffer.
Let’s say your pain and suffering are valued at $200 per day, and you are expected to suffer for 100 days. That would equal $20,000 in pain and suffering damages.
3. Comparable Verdict Method
Your attorney researches jury verdicts and settlements in similar injury cases. They analyze the amounts awarded for pain and suffering. This provides a reasonable range to use in calculating and negotiating your damages.
Factors like the severity of injury, treatment required, and recovery time must be very similar to yield an accurate comparison.
How Insurance Companies Calculate Pain and Suffering
Insurance companies take a very different approach to valuing pain and suffering damages. They rely heavily on computerized formulas, charts, and databases of past verdicts.
The insurance adjusters input certain factors about your injury like:
- Type of injury (i.e. broken arm)
- Your age
- Medical treatment required
- Lost wages
The computer program then spits out an estimated value for pain and suffering damages. These formulas consistently undervalue more serious injuries.
The insurance company will also look at verdicts and settlements in your jurisdiction for similar injuries. They will aim to offer you an amount at the lower end of the range.
Their goal is to minimize payouts and maximize profits. So, you can expect the insurer’s initial offer to be far less than a fair amount for your pain and suffering.
Negotiating Pain and Suffering Damages with Insurance Companies
The insurance adjuster will likely make a low opening offer, hoping you will accept it. It’s crucial not to accidentally leave money on the table by accepting an unreasonable amount.
An experienced personal injury attorney will take steps to negotiate full and fair pain and suffering damages, such as:
- Thoroughly documenting your pain, limitations, and emotional distress – Keeping detailed records of how the injury has impacted your life makes it harder for the insurer to minimize your suffering.
- Demanding a higher amount backed by evidence – Your attorney will calculate pain and suffering using the methods discussed above to justify a higher demand.
- Comparing your case to verdicts and settlements of similar injuries – Your attorney can leverage past results to reason why you deserve greater damages.
- Hiring experts to assess your injury and limitations – Objective expert opinions often carry more weight with insurers. For example, having a doctor assess your disability rating.
- Proving long-term impact and needs – Demonstrating your injury has permanently affected your quality of life makes it harder for the insurer to lowball damages.
- Threatening litigation – The insurer will often raise offers to avoid a lawsuit, which adds costs and uncertainty of a jury verdict.
An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine what to do if the insurance company is stalling. You are more likely to recover full compensation without having to go to trial.
Key Takeaways
- Document how the injury has severely impacted your life and ability to enjoy normal activities.
- Work with an attorney to calculate pain and suffering using recognized methods.
- Do not accept an insurer’s low initial offer.
- Negotiate patiently with evidence to maximize your pain and suffering payout.
- Be prepared to litigate if the insurer refuses to pay reasonably.
Recovering fair pain and suffering damages is crucial after being injured through no fault of your own. With the right legal representation, you can overcome insurance companies’ tactics and gain the maximum compensation you deserve. An experienced personal injury attorney will know how to accurately calculate and negotiate your pain and suffering damages so you can move on with your life after an accident.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How are future medical expenses calculated in a personal injury settlement?
A: Future medical expenses are a type of damages that can be awarded in a personal injury case to compensate for ongoing medical treatment related to the injury. To calculate future medical expenses, a skilled personal injury lawyer will review medical records to estimate the cost of procedures, medication, physical therapy, assistive devices, and other medical needs over the victim’s lifetime due to the injury. Factors like the severity of the injury, treatment required, and life expectancy are used to project future medical costs. These projected expenses are part of the damages claim, and the settlement amount should cover these future costs.
Q: What are losses of future earnings, and how are they calculated in a personal injury case?
A: Loss of future earnings, also called loss of earning capacity, is a common type of damages awarded in serious personal injury cases. This compensates the victim for the income they will lose due to disability or the long-term effects of the injury. To calculate it, the lawyer will look at the severity of the injury, the victim’s education and earning history, work-life expectancy, and expert opinions on their ability to work in the future. They use this to project reasonable future income losses over the victim’s career, which becomes part of the damages claim. The settlement or award amount should cover this future financial harm.
Q: What is loss of normal life, and how can it impact a personal injury settlement?
A: Loss of normal life, also called loss of enjoyment of life, accounts for limitations on daily and recreational activities after an injury. By documenting how the injury has deprived them of normal physical abilities and pleasures of life, the victim can claim these non-economic damages. For example, if they can no longer participate in sports, perform household chores, or engage in their hobbies due to the permanent effects of the injury. The more evidence of lost normal life activities, the higher the pain and suffering damages often are.
Q: Can you get compensation for disfigurement in a personal injury claim?
A: Disfigurement and scarring are common types of damages in personal injury cases. The dollar value depends on the severity, location, and permanence of the disfigurement. More severe and visible scarring usually results in higher non-economic damages. A skilled personal injury lawyer will quantify the emotional pain and mental anguish of living with a disfigurement to justify those damages. Photos, expert medical testimony, and evidence of resulting social stigma can help prove these damages.
Q: What is loss of consortium, and how does it factor into personal injury damages?
A: Loss of consortium compensates the spouse of an injury victim for damage to their marital relationship. If injuries impair the victim’s ability to participate in family life, show affection, or engage in marital relations, the spouse can claim these non-economic damages. The settlement or award provides compensation for that loss of companionship and support. Calculating consortium damages involves quantifying the emotional impact on the spouse and how the injury harmed the overall marriage.
