Determining Pain and Suffering When in a Car Accident

The purpose of this article is to educate you on personal injuries suffered in car accidents. Specifically, what falls under the pain and suffering category. Knowing what qualifies, can drastically impact what you get in an auto accident settlement. Of course, plenty of other factors play a role. But, for this article, we are focusing only on what can help you determine what counts.

Settlement money for damages includes past and future medical expenses. Ranging from any past or future lost wages to damage and related expenses to your car or other property. But how do you determine pain and suffering?

After an accident where an injury is sustained, someone is at fault for that injury. The person or party who is at fault, has to pay or have their insurance assist in paying for damages. Damages include pain and suffering. Let's lay out what falls into that category.

Pain and Suffering: What Qualifies?

Following a car accident, any injuries that occur count as pain and suffering. But, many other things do as well and it's not always easy to know. A number of things that cause pain and suffering are any injuries that occur from the accident, any physical pain, any emotional or physical disorders that result from the accident or trauma.

It's hard to put a price on this, but knowing what can count as pain and suffering is a good first step. Things like trauma and other injuries may be hard to recover from and in some cases a person may not recover. Getting compensation for it can help tremendously.

How Much Can You Get?

It can be difficult to determine a settlement amount and just how much you should get for you injuries and trauma. Leave calculating how much you can get from physical injury and emotional trauma to your attorney. But, you can learn about the two ways they go about determining it.

Firstly, there is Per Diem. Per Diem is a Latin term, meaning “by the day”. This method is used as a way to calculate daily suffering. Personal injury attorneys can determine your day-to-day expenses that play into your settlement. These include the severity of physical injuries suffered or the length of your recovery. Also, if you didn't fully recover at all, and if injuries impacted your quality of life or left you permanently scarred or impaired. A good attorney knows what factors to consider, but this gives you an idea of the kind of things they look for.

Next, there is a Multiplier. Using the multiplier method, accounts for the losses you incur. Most insurance companies use this practice and multiply what your losses were by a certain amount. Now, we all know when insurance companies are involved we can never expect an estimate in our favor. Your claim will be minimized, or at least they will try by previous injuries, circumstances of the accident and so on.

Final Tips

Seek consultation from a doctor after your injury before seeking any legal action. Listen to them and follow their instructions on recovering. Keep track of your injuries and pain levels, literally write down your pain experiences.

When talking to your attorney, make sure you repeat what your doctors told you. Your attorney is the one who will determine what your best method of approach is, so give them all of the information you can.

Did you experience pain and suffering from an accident? Apply For Legal Funding Today!