Pain and suffering is an amount reimbursed to car accident victims to make up for the mental and emotional damages they experienced after undergoing a serious road crash. It’s a benefit given in addition to their compensation for their medical bills and loss of income. If you’ve been through a car accident recently, it’s important to know how much your Pain and Suffering compensation is going to be in order to determine the full value of your personal injury claim compensation. However, different insurance companies use different methods to address Pain and Suffering benefits, and it’s important for applicants to understand the processes of proving their psychological and physical losses to the insurance adjuster so that they can receive their rightful compensation. In this article, we cover how car accident victims can bring evidence forward and prove their losses in terms of Pain and Suffering.
What Are Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering damages can be classified into two main types. The first type is the physical suffering and pain that the victim endures, and the second type is the mental or emotional anguish that comes with bodily injuries. Both types are considered legally as general damages components. However, both types cannot be seen in a victim so there’s no way to tell how much pain and discomfort they may be experiencing. People also react differently to trauma and injuries. Minor pains may only require OTC medication for some people, but such pains may also lead others to rush to the emergency room. So even if the pain is certain in some cases, there’s no way for judges and insurance adjusters to tell the severity of the pain. Judges and insurance adjusters do estimate these kinds of damages, though these estimates are based on general experience in the type of injury.
The Needed Evidence
Prior to determining the value of your Pain and suffering compensation, a few things need to be presented initially to the insurance company. The insurance company needs to review some supporting documentation such as your medical records and medical bills to estimate your physical damages and come up with a fair decision. If you’re filing a personal injury claim, you need to know first what the needed evidence is to start your negotiation. For example, a lawyer will suggest you take photographs of your injuries as soon as you get the chance in order to record evidence of your damages and provide them to the insurance adjusters. You’ll also need to keep any form of notes or journal to document the whole scene of the car accident, write down your injuries, and document your recovery process. Other needed evidence includes prescription records, receipts for OTC medications, and written documentation from your employer stating the lost work and time.
Using the Multiplier Method
The multiplier method is a very common method used by personal injury lawyers and insurance adjusters to calculate the physical suffering of car accident victims. The injury lawyers sum up the amount from both the victim’s medical bills and lost wages to come up with a total value for damages and then multiply this value by a certain number to come down to the Pain and Suffering amount. Detroit-based fatal car accident lawyers from https://www.davidchristensenlaw.com/detroit-car-accident-lawyer/fatal-car-accidents/ claim that most personal injury attorneys multiply the amount by 3 as an average number to evaluate Pain and Suffering damages. This means that if your total medical and income loss damages are $5000, your total compensation for your personal injury claim would be $15000 after adding Pain and Suffering damages. However, insurance companies use software programs nowadays to estimate the multiplier number which usually leads to an undervalued amount for compensation.
Using the Daily Rate Method
The daily rate method or per diem method depends on setting a rate for each day of your recovery as a car accident victim. This rate is then multiplied by the number of days you spent in recovery or suffering from the consequences of the accident. There is a specific way, whatsoever, to calculate that rate. You can’t just decide on a rate for your suffering and expect the jury to accept it without valid reasons. A personal injury lawyer will be the best option to help you calculate your pain and suffering damages using both methods, the multiplier, and the daily rate method.
To estimate your Pain and Suffering damages, you’ll need an experienced lawyer who can win you the highest settlement for your personal injury claim. A personal injury lawyer will also help you provide valid evidence when it comes to proving your physical and mental damages to the insurance company.