If you have sustained an injury due to an accident or at work, you might be wondering about how to calculate and potentially increase your pain and suffering settlement. Firstly, you should know that if you have a personal injury claim, it is essentially about getting compensated for the emotional distress and the mental suffering resulting from the injury.
In this case, this emotional and mental anguish is caused by the action of the party that is held at fault. If you can relate and you are currently going through this, read on to learn more.
What Does Emotional Distress Include?
When it comes to personal injury, you are essentially experiencing emotional distress. Typically, emotional distress includes the following aspects:
- Actual pain
- Actual discomfort
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Emotional disorders
- Memory loss
- Insomnia
- Psychological trauma
What Does Physical Distress Include?
Speaking of personal injury cases, it means that you, who have suffered from an injury caused by someone else’s negligence, are experiencing physical distress, too, which can include the following limitations:
- You cannot play with your children.
- You cannot hug your children.
- You can no longer be intimate with your partner.
Things to Keep in Mind when Calculating Financial Compensation
There are a few things that you must keep in mind when calculating your demand for compensation or reaching a settlement. The basic method of calculating pain and suffering usually includes the use of multiple of your actual costs.
The costs can include the following:
- Your medical bills
- Your out-of-pocket expenses
- Lost wages
- Property damage
It is important to mention here that these costs typically fall in the category of special damages, whereas pain and suffering fall in the category of general damages. Why, you might ask? Well, the thing is that calculating these special damages is a relatively more straightforward task as the only thing you need to do is to provide your bills and total the amount of those bills.
It is not so easy to calculate the costs of your pain and suffering because coming up with a figure that represents your pain and suffering can be a challenge.
Two Separate Categories of Pain and Suffering
When it comes to personal injury cases, pain and suffering can be separated into two categories:
Current Pain and Suffering
One category would be the current category of pain and suffering, which is essentially the pain and suffering that you endure from the time of the injury until the completion of your medical treatment. Of course, this pain and suffering is prone to end at some point, which is why it can be measured.
Future Pain and Suffering
The second category of pain and suffering is future pain and suffering, which is essentially about what you endure from the time of your injury, through the curse of medical treatment, and into the indefinite future.
As you might have already established – the ending of this category is essentially unknown and open-ended when it comes to calculating settlement. Of course, a personal injury lawyer will guide you through the essential steps of determining the settlement.
How to Reach A Desired Settlement
Speaking of settlement, you must first consider which category your pain and suffering fall into. So, if your pain and suffering were essentially limited to the time between the injury and potential completion of treatment – your demand would be lower.
On the other hand, if you fall in the second category, where your pain and suffering continue into the indefinite future – your compensation demand will be higher. Whatever the way is – with the help of a lawyer, you can convince the insurance adjuster of the negative effects that the pain and suffering have had on the quality of your life.
Prepare Credible Evidence
Understandably, you cannot demand a large amount of money for your pain and suffering and expect the adjuster to simply hand you the money over – but you have to provide reasonable and credible evidence to justify the amount. If you cannot do so, your demand will surely be rejected.
When it comes to responding to settlement demands, most adjusters add a small amount for pain and suffering, which is on top of the amount for special damages. Now, you might feel the impulse to accept that claim and move on. However, this is also where the importance of having an experienced attorney comes in.
With the help of an attorney, you are more likely to make informed decisions and won’t rush to accept the first offers coming your way. You will know that persuasive arguments will help with raising the amount of pain and suffering.
Integrate the Multiple Method
If you want to increase the amount of your pain and suffering, you can integrate multiple methods. Usually, insurance adjusters and lawyers calculate the amount of pain and suffering by using multiple methods.
What this method does for you is that it takes the total amount of your special damages and multiplies it by a number between one and five – or even higher in serious personal injury cases. Depending on the following things, the multiple can be lowered or raised:
- The severity of pain and suffering
- The type of pain and suffering
- The duration of pain and suffering
- The persuasive abilities of your lawyer
For instance, hard injuries, such as broken bones, can range between three to five times the medical bills. Permanent injuries, such as brain damage and scars, can be much more than five times multiplication.
Why to Hire A Lawyer?
Getting injured due to someone else’s negligence is already bad on its own; however, when it comes to pain and suffering, we recommend getting an experienced lawyer on your side who knows the inside outs of the methods that insurance adjusters use to pay the minimum to people.
With a lawyer by your side, you are in the best position to increase your demand for pain and suffering and negotiate with the insurance company to raise the cost. The lawyer will list those reasons with evidence in the demand letter, which they will later use in the settlement negotiation.
With the lawyer’s help, you can ensure that your arguments are logical and based on credible evidence.
