A car accident can leave you with significant pain and suffering. Even minor injuries can make you suffer physically and emotionally. You may suffer chronic pain for several months or years following an accident. You can hold the party who caused your accident responsible for your pain and suffering damages, along with your financial losses. But, it is often difficult to calculate pain and suffering damages because of a lack of statutory formula to place a value on your pain and suffering.
What Constitute Pain and Suffering Damages?
Pain and suffering are non-economic damages you can recover as a victim of an accident that resulted from another party’s negligence. They include your injury’s physical pain, mental anguish, loss of quality of life, and disfigurement. Every accident victim has unique experiences, which makes calculating these damages challenging. Thankfully, an experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer can help you with this matter. They want to ensure you can make the most out of your compensation claim.
What Affects the Value of Your Pain and Suffering?
When your attorney calculates pain and suffering, they consider several factors. These include the kind of injury you suffered, the severity of this injury, your contribution to the accident, the length of time it takes for you to recover from your injury, whether your injury can leave you disabled or disfigured, as well as the financial damages associated with your injury and accident.
Often, your non-economic damages will increase in value the more severe your injury is. This is because the cost of treating catastrophic and traumatic injuries is higher than treating minor injuries. A lot of insurance companies use several methods to calculate your pain and suffering. These include the multiplier method and the per diem method. Your attorney will ensure you will end up getting fair compensation for your pain and suffering.
What to Expect When Your Case Goes to Trial?
When your accident case goes to trial, the jury will determine the value of your damages. The jury may also use either of the calculation methods mentioned above.
Your attorney will use the facts in your cased and evidence both parties present at trial to highlight your suffering due to the accident and your injuries. A great attorney will expertly weave evidence into a story that details your physical pain, mental anguish, loss of life enjoyment, and other sufferings in a convincing way.
