In many personal injury cases, plaintiffs ask for compensation for expenses they accrue along with pain and suffering. Costs for medical and drug bills are simple to authenticate with evidence like invoices and receipts.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury because of a car accident, there is an excellent chance you will be able to get reimbursed for your losses. When most people think of compensation for an injury claim, they think of getting coverage for lost wages, property damage, and medical expenses.
Table of Contents
Pain and Suffering Defined
Physical Pain and Suffering
When you get injured in a car accident, you’re probably going to feel plenty of aches, pains, and discomforts. Pain may be short-term or chronic, persisting for weeks, months, or years. Moreover, some injuries are permanent and could result in a lifetime of difficulty and pain. Physical symptoms that could be a part of a pain and suffering settlement include:
- Headaches
- Soft tissue damage – sprains, inflammation, soreness, bruising, etc.
- Broken or fractured bones
- Paralysis
- Tinnitus
- Internal organ damage
- Back and neck stiffness and tightness
- Vertigo
- Nerve damage
If you’re suffering from physical pain after a car accident, this is usually a good sign that you should contact a Denver car accident attorney as soon as possible.
Pain and Suffering (Non-Economic) Damages
In Colorado, the legal term for pain and suffering damages is non-economic damages. Economic damages are pretty straightforward. If you’re in a car accident that wasn’t your fault, you’re owed compensation for damages including loss of time from work, medical bills, and repairs to your vehicle.
However, there is a completely separate set of non-economic expenses that people also incur that should be part of a jury case award or insurance settlement. These are called pain and suffering (non-economic) damages.
Non-economic damages vary from other damage types because they are more incalculable than the economic costs an individual acquires. We say they are immeasurable since there aren’t really bills or receipts that come in that can be totaled. There are various types of non-economic damages you should know about such as:
- Physical pain and suffering a person experiences after a car collision
- Psychological and emotional distress because of the car accident
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of quality of life
- Loss of consortium for a loved one
These types of losses might not be as apparent as physical injuries after a car accident, but they are quite real. Car accident victims and their loved ones may both have pain and suffering after these distressing incidents.
However, it is practically impossible to put a price on intangible damages. There isn’t a dollar amount that can compensate car accident victims for psychological trauma or permanent physical damage.
The Amount of Compensation Available
There is no exact amount of compensation available for non-economic damages. It might feel like these are complex to calculate. Encouragingly, there are several techniques a car accident attorney can use to calculate pain and suffering damages after an auto collision effectively.
The most familiar of these is the multiplier method. This is where a lawyer will compute the economic expenses an individual acquires and multiply this by a set number, typically a number between 2 to 5,
contingent on how bad the car accident was and what sort of injuries the victim suffered. A minor injury with swift recovery may receive a multiplier of 1.5. On the other hand, a serious, incapacitating injury with lifelong effects may receive a multiplier of 4.5. An experienced auto accident lawyer in Denver could help collect all your economic damages and expenses and come up with a fair multiplier for your case based on your emotional and physical suffering.
If the case goes to trial, a jury will compute the total sum of special or economic damages the victims endure. This is decided by computing the particular amount for expenses like:
- Property modifications
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
The jury then picks a number between one and five and multiplies it with the entire amount of special damages.
The number the jury chooses is determined by the extent or seriousness of the pain and suffering, with one being the lowest and five the highest. For instance, a car accident that results in severe brain injury might be eligible for a 5 on the compensation scale.
Another form of the multiplier method is the per diem method. Per diem implies per day and this indicates that a lawyer will give a dollar value for every day that a person is anticipated to feel pain and suffering after a car accident.
Therefore, if someone was in an auto collision and had to endure broken bones and attend physical therapy for a while, the lawyer would use this daily rate to approximate how much they should receive for their pain and suffering.
Proving Pain and Suffering
Recuperation for physical pain and suffering could be determined through the testimony of the plaintiff who might explain the symptoms and reveal any injuries to the jury. Therefore, if you have endured pain and suffering due to someone’s negligence in an auto accident, you can get compensated by the at-fault party. It is critical that you record any evidence that will aid your case. Documents that will verify your pain and suffering claim such as:
- A detailed report from a medical professional that confirms that you were injured and that there are legal bases for a pain and suffering claim
- A report from a mental health specialist verifying that your state of mind was harmfully affected by the car accident. This is needed if you want to be compensated for issues like insomnia, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues
- Prescriptions including drugs used to remedy physical pain and mental health problems
- Your friends or loved ones’ written or oral testimony of your pain and suffering
- Your written or oral testimony to your pain and suffering, including a journal or pictures
When filing a personal injury lawsuit including pain and suffering damages, you might question if you must have a physical injury from the accident. This is not the case for every situation. You might still get pain and suffering compensation since the jury contemplates things such as:
- The shock from the collision
- The stress caused by the accident
- The difficulty of recouping after the auto accident
There are caps on pain and suffering damages in Denver, Colorado, and other non-economic damages. However, there aren’t any caps on economic damages.
Pain and suffering are capped at $250,000, although that amount could go up to $500,000 if there is credible evidence that a bigger amount is necessary. Permanent physical impairments aren’t capped.
Special Damages and General Damages
Several types of damages are typically alleged in personal injury lawsuits. For example, special damages and general damages are quantified in various ways. Special damages include:
- Loss of income
- Medical bills
- Property damage (loss of vehicle)
Quantifying special damages is very straightforward. If you have a stack of medical bills due to a car accident injury, you could file a lawsuit to get reimbursed to pay those bills.
General (non-economic) damages include:
- Emotional distress
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Scarring
- Inconvenience
- Grief
- Shock
- Physical impairment
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Humiliation
- Inability to partake in activities you once liked
General damages are more difficult to calculate than special damages. If you lose your vehicle in a collision, it is simple to decide the value of your car. Who needs a Denver car accident attorney for that?
However, if you lose a limb in the same auto accident it is not as simple to determine the value of that limb. This is where the courtroom knowledge of a Denver auto accident lawyer could come into play. An attorney will know precisely how to calculate general damages.
One of the first things your lawyer will suggest is that you start to record your experiences immediately after the collision.
Postponing the documentation of any pain and suffering and emotional distress that you are undergoing can drastically diminish your case and decrease the compensation amount you may otherwise have been given. Documentation produces evidence. Evidence produces a strong case.
Furthermore, only solid cases get the full amount of compensation. As stated before, this is why plaintiffs are encouraged to document the pain and suffering they are experiencing.
Are You Experiencing Pain and Suffering Because of a Car Accident?
If you or a loved one are experiencing pain and suffering due to a car accident, know that you aren’t alone. You’ll find nobody better to take on your fight for full compensation for pain and suffering than The Paul Wilkinson Law Firm.
If there’s one thing we know from our years of experience, it’s that the faster you get in touch with a car accident attorney in Denver, the better your odds for the greatest possible outcome.
Give us a call or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.
