Pain and suffering is a form of non-economic damages that can be awarded in car accident lawsuits. Considering the trauma involved in a car accident, these damages can be a significant portion of a settlement or lawsuit. The Nevada and Utah personal injury lawyers at Valiente Mott have experience gathering the evidence and making the arguments required to secure the compensation your pain and suffering deserve.
Pain and Suffering Defined
Pain and suffering damages may be awarded as compensation for the physical pain and emotional distress that victims suffered during the accident, throughout the recovery process, and what they will feel in the future. This includes the physical and emotional discomfort sustained as a result of an accident, such as physical pain from injuries like concussions or broken bones. Also included are less-obvious symptoms such as loss of sleep, stomach issues, or side effects from medication to treat conditions associated with the accident.
Emotional injuries are also contemplated in pain and suffering. This can include anxiety, stress, depression, and strains on relationships.
The physical and emotional component of pain and suffering resulting from a traumatic experience can result in chronic physical pain, stress and anxiety, and other issues that can debilitate the accident victim and have detrimental effects on everything from their career and earning capacity to their romantic relationships.
Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages
In any claim stemming from a highly-traumatic event like a car accident, non-economic damages can often be the highest damages awarded. This is because non-economic damages contemplate intangible things that cannot be easily financially measured, such as the value of one’s lifestyle and peace of mind.
There is no one “right” way to calculate pain and suffering, though they will often bear a relationship to economic damages. Often, an attorney will use a multiple of past and future medical bills, with the number increasing for permanent, particularly painful, or debilitating injuries. Often, this will require research into similar cases to calculate a “going rate” for a particular type of injury in a particular jurisdiction.
Pain and suffering also has highly subjective aspects. For example, a torn ACL requiring a year of physical therapy and surgery to repair will have a different emotional effect on someone whose favorite recreational activity is reading than on someone who has run in the NYC marathon every year for the past 20 years and would have set a record on their next run.
Because of the complexity of calculating pain and suffering, as well as other non-economic damages, speaking with an expert car accident lawyer can help to clarify what can be a complex and confusing process.
How Valiente Mott Can Help
If you have been injured in a car accident and have questions about non-economic damages like pain and suffering, the Utah and Nevada personal injury lawyers at Valiente Mott have answers. Our experienced attorneys can provide essential legal and industry context, review the evidence, advise on how to best proceed with your claim, and represent you at every step.