The legal phrase “pain and suffering” refers to injuries a victim suffers that impact their quality of life. Pain and suffering damages are not easy to calculate or measure, as they are more subjective and complex than straight-forward damages like medical bills or lost wages due to missed work.
Settlements that involve pain and suffering often pay out significantly, mainly when severe physical injuries occur.
Types of Pain and Suffering Damages You Can Claim
Pain and suffering settlements can vary widely depending on the nature of an accident, the degree of injuries the victim suffered, and other factors related to the victim’s life. There are generally two categories of pain and suffering cases: Physical Pain and Suffering and Mental/Psychological Pain and Suffering.
What Is Physical Pain and Suffering?
This is the pain you experience from your actual physical injuries. But physical pain and suffering consider the pain and discomfort you’re living with now and any pain and detriments you’re likely to suffer in the future because of the at-fault party’s negligence. Here are a few of the many injuries that fall under the category of physical pain and suffering:
- Chronic back pain
- Neck pain
- Paralysis
- Neurological damage
- Nerve damage
- Chronic pain
- Physical disability impairing quality of life or ability to work
These types of injuries are common and can have lasting effects on your life from the moment of the accident onward. You will need a pain and suffering attorney to help you fight for compensation while you recover from your injuries as best you are able.
Mental Pain and Suffering
In addition to your physical injuries, some of the damages you suffer may go beyond physical pain. Mental and emotional pain and suffering include damages like:
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Anxiety, depression, fear, anger, or mood swings
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Shock
- Loss of appetite or lack of energy
- Sleep disturbances
Any negative emotion you’re dealing with due to the incident that injured you can be considered emotional or mental pain and suffering. This also includes any mental or emotional harm you’re likely to suffer in the future because of your injuries.
What do I Need to Prove Pain and Suffering?
To prove pain and suffering, you will need to collect a number of documents as evidence of your injury. If you enlist the assistance of an attorney, they will be able to guide you in this process and will likely advise you to gather the following documents:
- Doctor’s notes
- Medical charts
- Photographs of the accident
- Photographs of the injury
- Weather and other incident reports
- Personal documentation of the injury
- Therapist accounts of the effects of the injury
- Accounts of medical professionals concerning the lasting effects of the injury
- The official police report of your accident
- Nearby traffic or surveillance camera footage of the event
- Testimony from eyewitnesses
- Testimony from accident reconstruction experts
- Testimony from your family and friends regarding your pain and suffering
These items are essential when building a case for pain and suffering, as they assist a judge or jury to make a decision on your case. An experienced attorney often has a team to attain these pieces of evidence for you.
How Much Can I Expect to Receive from a Pain and Suffering Settlement?
So many factors contribute to how much you can receive from this type of settlement. Often, other types of injury claims are included in the settlement. Many rulings do not publicly share how much of the compensation was attributable to “pain and suffering”.
That being said, it can be difficult to determine even a ballpark figure for how much you might expect to receive. This is especially so, considering that amounts range based on the type of accident, the severity of your injuries, and the specific details of fault. Some estimates consider that the majority of claims result in less than $15,000 for plaintiffs.
Other estimates consider the average to be around $70,000. It is vital that you discuss the particulars of your case with your attorney to get an accurate estimate of what you might expect to receive.
How do I Calculate Pain and Suffering?
A personal injury lawyer will often measure your pain and suffering damages through a multiplier method. Your lawyer will multiply these damages with other accident costs using a number that most accurately represents the severity of your injuries.
Insurance companies often use this method to calculate pain and suffering damages to gauge the severity of your pain and suffering related to your general damages with a multiplier of 1.5 to 5.
Since these calculations can be so subjective, it’s essential to work with a lawyer who understands pain and suffering cases and can seek the most accurate and substantial recovery for your suffering.
Common Pain and Suffering Settlement Examples
The following are brief examples of instances in which pain and suffering may be factored into a personal injury settlement:
- A car accident victim suffers whiplash and a concussion and, because of these injuries, the victim can no longer exercise as they did before, which prevents them from training and participating in a triathlon they had been preparing for all year. The victim suffers from unhappiness, depression, and frustration at missing the triathlon.
- A truck accident leaves a victim with a visible scar on their face that they’ll have for the rest of their life. This leads to emotional distress and constant feelings of embarrassment.
- A man is involved in a severe pedestrian accident and left with several broken bones. Because of his injuries, the victim becomes depressed and experiences loss of appetite and sleeping problems.
In other cases, the victim could be prevented from returning to their job due to their mental or emotional state even after they’ve recovered from their physical injuries. This may force them to adjust to a new occupation that better suits their situation.
Alternatively, the victim could end up unable to work at all. They could also miss out on important activities or events (such as birthday parties, their children’s school activities, etc.), lose their quality of life, or have trouble maintaining personal relationships.
These situations represent harm caused by the at-fault party’s negligence or actions. Thus, they should all be considered when determining an appropriate amount of compensation for the injured person.
Is There a Cap on Compensation for Pain and Suffering?
In some states, victims of injuries are limited in the amount they can seek for their pain and suffering. While these caps may be well-intentioned to avoid frivolously high payouts, they often force injured people to settle for less than they truly deserve.
Luckily, Georgia does not limit pain and suffering compensation. As your Atlanta personal injury attorneys, our team is free to argue for as much compensation as you need to cover the harms you’ve endured.
Factors that Could Lower Your Settlement Amount
One crucial reason to get help from a skilled Atlanta personal injury attorney is to ensure that you get the total value of your compensation. The most important factor that could lower your settlement or jury award is fault.
Georgia uses a theory known as comparative negligence when determining compensation. This theory reduces your payment by the percentage of fault attributed to you for your injury. If you’re 10% at fault, the amount of money you can sue for is also reduced by 10%.
This evidence, properly used, can lower your portion of the blame for the injury, thereby increasing the amount of compensation you can receive.
Determining Whether You Have a Pain and Suffering Claim
If you were injured in a personal injury accident, you could potentially make a pain and suffering claim. But pain and suffering damages are easier to claim if you have more serious injuries. Courts and insurance companies are more likely to recognize serious injuries as impacting your quality of life and causing you great degrees of pain.
Get in touch with a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta who understands pain and suffering damages and can help you determine whether you have a potential claim.
Talk to an Atlanta Pain and Suffering Claim Lawyer for Free
If you were injured in an accident, you might be able to pursue a pain and suffering settlement. Our attorneys know what courts and insurance companies look for when they approve pain and suffering damages.
For a FREE consultation with one of our attorneys to look at your own case, contact us today. Call us or complete the form to your right for your free consultation.
