Has your life been altered due to someone else’s negligence? Are you unable to work and worried about falling behind on your bills as a result?
This is the unfortunate circumstance that affects many individuals who suffer an injury. They fear for their current way of living, wondering how they will be able to pay the bills during their recovery period.
If this has happened to you, then you know you need to be compensated. But how much? What do you need to receive to ensure you can maintain your normal life?
In this instance, many insurance adjusters will bring up what is called a pain and suffering calculator. This will give a glimpse into the expenses accrued over the recovery period as well as money lost due to their inability to work.
When you’ve been injured, your pain and suffering are more than a math formula. Personal injury attorneys will look much deeper into your case to determine just how much your life has altered due to the injury—or injuries—sustained.
What is a pain and suffering calculator?
Ask anyone who has been injured before and they’ll tell you that their mortgage company doesn’t care that they’re out of work—they want their money. The same goes for their car loans, utility bills, and so on.
But when you can’t work as a result of a sustained injury, you can’t make the money needed to pay such bills. So how will you continue to maintain your current way of living? What if the activities you used to enjoy are no longer possible due to the injuries sustained? What if you can’t throw a ball anymore, walk your dog, or play with your kids? How much is that worth?
Below are two calculations you will often see used in a pain and suffering case:
– Multiplier method – adds up all of your medical expenses related to the injury and then multiplies that number by a “multiplier” which ranges from 1.5 to 5 based on the severity of your injury
– Per diem method – calculates the days where the injury has affected your way of living and how much money you are losing each day because of it
But these can’t be the only measures of damages for pain and suffering, can they? Of course not, because no case is the same as another, nor is any one client the same as another. Adjusters will try to use these one-size-fits-all methods for what your case may be worth, but a good lawyer knows better.
This is why we choose to go deeper than these two simple calculations.
It cannot be summed up by a math equation
Numbers are completely arbitrary. This is why it’s so important to have a personal injury attorney who knows you and cares about your case.
While the two common calculations listed above can be good indicators of how much you need to maintain your current lifestyle, there’s more to it. Your personal situation shouldn’t be dictated by a single number. This holds especially true with regard to cases that go in front of a jury.
If they are the ones determining whether or not you deserve pain and suffering compensation, they will need to hear your story and understand how your life has been impacted.
In the instance you aren’t working with a jury, you will be working with an adjuster that’s simply looking at a piece of paper to determine your case’s value. Again, if there’s no story behind those numbers, there’s no chance of being able to recoup the full amount of money you deserve for your pain and suffering.
To ensure you get the compensation you deserve, you need an effective personal injury lawyer who can communicate:
– Who you are as a person
– What you’re going through
– And how this event altered your life
It is essential to clearly relay this information to make sure you receive what you deserve from the parties responsible. After all, you shouldn’t need to alter your way of living because of someone else’s negligence.
What constitutes pain and suffering
In order to have a claim, you need to have endured pain and suffering in the eyes of the law. But what constitutes pain and suffering?
In personal injury, this means that you have suffered damages that cannot simply be objectively calculated and repaid. This means you have suffered additional damages that include:
– Physical limitations or pain
– Emotional distress
– Psychological trauma
– Loss of a loved one
While a price can’t be put on any of the above damages, they are certainly life-altering and deserve compensation.
Make sure you get the support you need by working with a personal injury attorney that knows you and cares about what you are going through. This will be someone who works closely enough that they know your story and the emotion behind it.
While it is important to receive damages for pain and suffering, you will also want to make sure you recoup the amount you owe on any medical bills and associated costs. For this reason, it is also important to save things such as hospital bills, transportation receipts, and out-of-pocket costs for additional procedures and prescriptions.
Personal injury attorneys are experienced in getting the most for their clients and most charge nothing up front to work with. Speak with us today to put yourself in the best situation.