Determining Pain and Suffering Damages in a
Personal Injury Case
In a personal injury case, pain and suffering refers to injuries you suffer as the result of an accident. The term “pain and suffering” encompasses physical injuries as well as emotional and mental pain. Many people recover from some amount of pain and suffering after an accident. Pain and suffering is often broken down into two categories: physical and mental. Physical pain and suffering is based on the physical injuries you suffer. It includes pain and discomfort as well as the effects you may suffer in the future. Mental pain and suffering is more of a side effect of your physical injuries and includes things like emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anger, humiliation, anxiety, and shock. In other words, it’s basically any kind of negative emotion that you suffer as a result of having to endure the physical pain of an injury. Multiplier method: With this method, you add up all of your damages and multiply that amount by a number that’s usually somewhere between 1.5 and 4.0. This number, called a “multiplier,” depends on a variety of factors related to your case, including the seriousness of your injuries, who was at fault, and more. Per diem method: “Per diem” is Latin for “per day,” and the idea is to request a certain dollar amount for every day you’ve been living with the pain caused by your accident. This method is difficult to use because you then have to justify the daily rate you request. Oftentimes, people use their actual daily earnings as the daily rate. In this case, the argument is that having to HOW TO CALCULATE PAIN AND SUFFERING
deal with the pain caused by your injuries is comparable to the effort of going to work each day.
DOCUMENTATION TO PROVE PAIN AND SUFFERING
When you’re trying to recover damages for pain and suffering, you’ll need to provide evidence to support your personal injury claim. Whenever you’re receiving medical treatment, it’s important that you thoroughly communicate your pain with health care professionals. Some of the documentation you can use to support your claim includes the following: • Medical reports • Prescriptions • Receipts for over-the-counter medications • Medical bills, including therapy, ambulance costs, X-rays, emergency room visits, and more • Proof of lost wages or time off from school • A log of medical treatment, pain, and missed activities • Photos of your injuries
HEAR FROM A HAPPY CLIENT
“I can’t express enough my gratitude that I have the Dellutri Law Group team in my back pocket. I was recently in a car accident where I was not at fault. As anyone knows, when you are in an accident, it’s a tense and stressful situation. I have known the folks at Dellutri for some time now, and it gave me such peace of mind to call them directly at the scene and get their advice right then and there on what to do and how to
handle the situation so that I would be fully covered. I remained calm, took their advice, got the info from the other driver, got the police there, and everything went very smoothly. I ended up with no out-of-pocket expenses and, most importantly, peace of mind when I needed it most.”
- D.C.
Haveyou heard the goodnews?
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation].” (Matthew 11:28 AMP)
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