How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Awarded After a Car Accident?
Were you injured in a car accident caused by another driver’s negligence? If so, you could be entitled to earn financial compensation for injuries followed by a car accident including hospital bills and vehicle repair costs. Be aware that the amount of compensation given can highly differ based on the accident’s jurisdiction and how the accident transpired. Continue on to discover the process of a car accident claim.
Different Kinds of Damages
In multiple jurisdictions, injury suits create damages which are split into two distinct categories: special damages and general damages. Special damages refer to damages distinguished by economic harm like wage losses from missed work, vehicle or property damage, and medical bills. However, general damages blanket “non-economic damages” which include:
Pain and suffering
Physical disfigurement or impairment
Potentially shortened lifespan
Mental anguish
Loss of reputation
Loss of companionship
Loss of enjoyment of life
Emotional distress
Calculating Car Accident Pain and Suffering Damages
Damages like property harm or hospital expenses are usually simple to determine as they can easily be proven via receipts for medical costs or quotes from a vehicle repair shop. However, pain and suffering caused by a car accident are a lot harder to prove in comparison to the previous damages tangibly. There is little tangible evidence that can permit someone from assessing the amount of pain and suffering the victim is going through or how much money should sufficiently compensate the victim for their suffering.
In legal practice, there are several factors that courts use to determine what damages should be awarded to the victim for pain and suffering, they are:
Severity of the injury
Location and nature of any scarring or disfigurement
Recovery time needed
Potential for ongoing consequences
Amount claimed in special damages
Socio-economic or political factors
Personality and charisma of the injured party
Personality and charisma of the attorney
State damages caps
The ‘Multiplier’ Method
Some lawyers utilize the multiplier method to determine pain and suffering damages. This method requires a lawyer to use a multiplier on the total special damages. The idea is to use easier to account for injuries such as hospital bills and property damage and weigh them more than the harder to calculate damages that result in injuries. While this is frequently the case in the majority of car accidents, there are two issues this method has that is often critiqued.
- Arbitrary multipliers: Commonly, lawyers will use a variety of multipliers with this method. One lawyer could triple the special damages whereas a different attorney could only double them. Neither choice is incorrect, but with the different variety of multipliers between calculations typically results in inconsistencies.
- Possibly misleading results: A clothing model who was disfigured as a result of a car accident could have lower medical bills than a computer engineer who broke some bones. Their injuries, however, could potentially result in significantly more emotional and psychological trauma, primarily because models heavily rely on their physical looks to earn their wages.
As evident from the above, the multiplier method isn’t always perfect, however, it does provide a start to determining how much a car accident victim should be awarded for pain and suffering damages.
Get Legal Assistance Now
Objectively presenting car accident pain and suffering damages can be incredibly difficult, this is where an experienced car accident attorney can make a huge difference in how much compensation you may recover in a claim. A Vancouver car accident lawyer can review and provide crucial information regarding your case and can level with insurers and local juries if you decide to make a claim. Contact CCRS Law today to learn how you can begin taking the necessary steps in earning financial compensation for injuries caused by another driver’s negligence.
