Experiencing accidents are common, and they are a part of life. But sometimes, accidents can leave victims traumatized and disturbed for life. Suffering from an accident is not just about managing Afford Your Medical Bills and car damages; it is a lot more than that.
After facing a car accident, no amount of recovery can fill the gap of your emotional and mental loss, but getting compensation can support you financially in this difficult time. If you are in San Antonio, looking into a personal injury attorney in San Antonio could be helpful in calculating your damages legally. Let us look into this.
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Defining Pain and Suffering
In personal injury claims, pain and suffering involve non-economic losses like mental health issues, emotional stress, depression, anxiety, sadness, etc. If a victim can prove the consequences of these sufferings on his daily life, he will be eligible to receive compensation for that.
Also, it is important to know that these pain and suffering damages do not include any car, lost wages, or medical recovery damages. This claim covers the past, present, and future pain that you have to experience because of the accident. It also involves mental stress and pain linked to the incident.
How to Calculate Pain and Suffering?
There are several methods to calculate the pain and suffering damages, some of them are as follows:
● Multiplier Method
The Multiplier Method is the most commonly used method to calculate the damages of pain and suffering. In this method, you multiply your total economic loss by a variable. It ranges from 1.5 to 5. An important rule to remember is that higher variables are for more extreme cases with severe damages.
For instance, if your total economic damages are $100,000 and you apply a variable of 1.5, your pain and suffering damages would be around $150,000. If you used the variable of four, your claim would be $400,000.
But there are certain factors to keep in mind while applying variables as this varies depending upon these factors:
- It relies on the seriousness of your injuries.
- It depends upon the expected time you need to recover.
- It depends upon how much your injuries affect your day-to-day life/tasks.
- It also depends upon how guilty the other party is or how clear the liability is on the other party.
● Per Diem Method
The per Diem Method is also a very frequently used method to calculate suffering and pain damages. It involves the number of days you need to recover. So, there is a set amount in dollars, and it works by multiplying it by the number of recovery days. For instance, if we apply $100 as a per diem amount, and your recovery time lasts 14 days. In this case, your pain and suffering damages claim will be $1,400.
Adjustments
Adjustments are a very prominent part of the pain and suffering claim. It can change and modify rates, multipliers, and other linked calculations. It can increase or decrease the whole calculated value. There are several factors that can affect the amount of calculated claims:
- It involves serious injuries that leave permanent damages like disability, impairment, or disfigurement.
- It also involves the time length of the recovery.
- Consistency and alignment in the victim’s injuries, diagnosis, treatment records, and claim.
- Presence of any criminal history/record.
- Availability of required/enough medical help.
- Plaintiff’s likeability or credibility.
What Are Some Common Supporting Evidence for Pain and Suffering Claims?
It is easy to prove and calculate vehicle, medical, and other expenses, but when it comes to proving suffering and pain claims, it is hard to prove liability. You can prove other damages by showing related documents like medical bills, doctor’s notes, diagnosis statements, and prescribed medicines/treatments.
But it is pretty challenging when it comes to pain and suffering claims. Don’t worry; you can use certain evidence to solidify your claim. You can collect the following evidence:
- Take pictures of your injuries as early as possible. Photos of fresh injuries can give an idea of the seriousness of your injuries. And also document the accident scene or the incident’s area. You need to take pictures of the scene as early as possible because the negligent party can remove or change the evidence.
- Collect all your medical treatment receipts and documents, including your mental health treatments and chiropractic treatments.
- Collect testimonials from your loved ones, like your family members and friends. If you are living with a roommate, you can also collect their statement. Ask them to be very thorough while defining your situation and the sufferings you are dealing with. Tell them to explain how they see you struggling with symptoms of emotional distress.
- Have a pain journal to record and document your personal experience throughout the whole journey of recovery.
Remember to provide realistic and detailed evidence. The more realistic your proof will be, the higher your chance will be to receive a deserving compensation.
