“Pain and suffering” damages can earn as much or more than someone’s economic damages after a Louisville car accident. Things like the chronic pain injured victims are left with and the changes to their lifestyle forced by a serious injury are very real hardships that every victim should earn support for.
Every case is different and it’s hard to put an accurate estimate on what an accident victim might receive until a lawyer can fully investigate what happened. However, there are some factors that go into determining how much a victim can demand for pain and emotional trauma.
What is “Pain and Suffering”?
“Pain and Suffering” is a legal term used to describe the non-economic damages that a personal injury accident can cause. This umbrella term covers the pain victims will experience with their injuries. This can be the pain experienced at the moment of impact. It includes the pain felt during a long recovery. The pain that lingers over the long term is also considered.
Patients may receive full support for these and other factors in pain management:
- Support for the daily pain endured by victims.
- Support for longterm pain issues such as chronic pain and arthritis.
- Compensation for the cost of physical therapy and pain management treatment.
- Support to pay for pain medication.
- Support for the side effects of pain such as insomnia and a reduced quality of life.
Pain and suffering damages also include the emotional trauma victims often endure after a frightening experience on the road. These are just a few of the emotional factors that might contribute to the support in a car accident settlement check:
- Support for the fear and anxiety patients may be left to cope with
- PTSD symptoms victims often develop from the instant of a scary impact. Victims can have to relive those moments over and over in their minds. These symptoms can be debilitating.
- Support for depression injury patients may develop during a difficult recovery or with a permanent physical disability.
- Support for the loss of enjoyment of life that may follow a severe injury and rehabilitation. This can include a loss of freedom. It may involve the loss of the ability to participate in hobbies, exercise, and family activities.
- Support for a loss of intimacy with a spouse or partner.
- Support for the cost of mental health care.
Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages After a Louisville Car Accident
Economic damages like hospital bills and lost paychecks are easy to total and demand compensation for. Pain and suffering can be a very personal thing and every person will have to deal with different levels of physical and emotional pain. These factors can be hard to put a price on.
Your Louisville Car Accident Lawyer helps you determine what’s fair in support for what you’ve been through. Your lawyer would work with your doctors, medical experts, and mental health experts to figure out how long you and your family may need support.
In some cases, certain equations are used to help calculate a fair settlement amount for car accident victims dealing with pain and emotional distress.
Multiplier Method: This strategy totals the economic damages a patient may build up and then multiplies it by a number based on the severity of the pain and suffering damages. For example, medical bills and lost wages totaling $10,000 could be multiplied by a pain and suffering factor of from 2 to 5. If your hardships were determined to be a 3 on a scale of severity an additional $30,000 could be added to your settlement on top of your economic support.
Per Diem Method: A daily rate of compensation is assigned to the time victims suffer through pain or extreme emotional distress. For each day, victims may receive a certain monetary amount for their pain and suffering, then that amount would be multiplied by the number of days it took for the victim to reach a reasonable level of recovery.
Your attorney would demand the maximum in settlement money for you and your family. Your lawyer also makes sure you don’t sign off on a settlement offer that leaves you paying for care and support out of your own savings in the years ahead. If your injuries and the pain and suffering will continue into the future, a settlement check must account for that.
Contact a Louisville Car Accident Lawyer After a Collision
Kentucky traffic accident victims need to be able to count on the at-fault driver’s car insurance company for the support to recover both physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, insurers can downplay physical and mental hardships and provide victims far less than they need to return to the way their lives were before a careless driver caused a devastating accident and injury.
If you have been seriously injured in a collision caused by a reckless driver, contact a Louisville Car Accident Lawyer to schedule a free and confidential consultation. We help victims and their families earn the money they need to fully recover. You don’t have to worry about affording our help if you need it. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money a car insurance company must provide.
