When you file a personal injury claim, pain and suffering damages may be a large part of your eventual settlement check or jury award. Your losses from an injury include the intangible effects of what happened or how you expect your injuries to affect your future. You should never accept a settlement that ignores pain and suffering or offers minimal compensation for your non-economic losses. These losses are just as important as financial expenses and you should never allow an insurance company to overlook them.
If you have suffered a serious injury in a car accident and someone else was liable, you may be entitled to a large amount of pain and suffering damages. You need to hire a car accident lawyer to learn what a fair settlement might be and to fight for as much money as possible.
Not Everyone Understands Pain and Suffering Damages
Pain and suffering is one of the more difficult concepts to understand in personal injury law. These abstract damages are inherently subjective. Unfortunately, the insurance company is not going to read your mind, nor are they trying to get a grasp of your actual situation. They are simply trying to save as much money as possible.
You can be certain that the insurance company has an idea of your case and the amount of money you deserve. However, paying you full compensation is the last thing they want to do because it cuts their profits. One way they minimize settlements is by offering less for non-economic losses like pain and suffering.
The average personal injury claimant is not in a position to understand how pain and suffering damages work. If you do not have a personal injury lawyer representing you in the claims process, you may be far more likely to accept the insurance company’s word when they make you a settlement offer. This can leave you with far less than you deserve.
A personal injury attorney can arrive at the true dollar amount you are due for pain and suffering when you file a claim. It helps to be as informed as possible when you begin the legal process.
Insurance Companies Use Two Possible Methods to Determine Pain and Suffering
Insurance companies have their own ways of deciding how much they will offer for your pain and suffering. These methods are typically skewed in their favor, and they will almost always result in inadequate compensation.
The multiplier method is the primary way the insurance company calculates pain and suffering compensation. The multiplier method is used primarily when you have sustained an injury that will affect you for a significant amount of time.
This calculation begins with both your past and future medical expenses. Once you know how much it may cost to treat your injuries, the insurance company will apply a multiplier to that number to arrive at pain and suffering damages. The actual multiplier will depend on the severity of your injuries, but it is usually between one and five.
For example, if you have suffered severe harm, such as a severe traumatic brain injury with permanent impairments, the multiplier may be as high as four or five. The insurance company will use a far lower multiplier for something like a soft tissue injury that will heal in a few weeks or months.
The tricks that the insurance company may use here are twofold. First, it may underestimate the amount of medical bills you must pay in the future. Second, the multiplier it uses can be entirely too low.
If your injury is one you may recover from more quickly, the insurance company may try to use the per diem method to calculate pain and suffering damages. This methodology assigns a monetary value to each day you must deal with the consequences of your injuries. Again, your compensation amount is tied to the seriousness of your injuries. The insurance company believes you will heal faster or it may not correctly assess the actual impacts that your injury has had on you, resulting in a low offer.
Your Pain and Suffering Damages Are Individualized By Nature
A fair settlement for pain and suffering is one that accurately reflects your own personal experience you endured since the accident and will remain with you in the future. As much as the insurance adjusters like to claim they are being objective and taking the guesswork out of your claim, they are often trying to shortchange you when they use an objective formula to calculate your subjective damages.
Accident victims may respond differently to the same injuries. In other words, no two injuries will be exactly alike. For example, if you have suffered whiplash in a car accident, you may be more susceptible to continued pain than other accident victims. The constant feeling of being in discomfort can affect your mental state of mind, leading to anxiety and depression.
Even if you are affected more by your injuries than others might be, it may not be reflected in the insurance company’s calculation of your pain and suffering damages.
The Insurance Company Cannot Impose a Settlement on You
If the insurance company does not offer you a settlement that accurately reflects your individualized pain and suffering damages, you are always free to say no. You have a legal right to full compensation for all your injuries, and the insurance company does not get to determine how your injury has affected your life.
Your injury attorney can counter with your own figure for your pain and suffering damages during settlement negotiations until you arrive at the proper amount in a settlement. If the insurance company still does not see it your way, you can always file a lawsuit in court, and the jury will make the final decision about how much you deserve in compensation.
Hiring a Nashua personal injury attorney can maximize your leverage when dealing with the insurance company. Adjusters will take you more seriously when they see that you have a determined and aggressive professional on the other side of the table in settlement negotiations. Your personal injury lawyer’s job is to ensure the insurance company fully hears your side of the story.
Seek a free consultation today if you suffered a preventable injury.