Personal Injury Damages: Calculating Pain and Suffering for a Car Accident

 Posted on December 00,0000 in Car Accidents

When you are calculating the cost of a car accident, it involves more than just the damage to the car, existing infrastructure, even health incidents — pain and suffering clauses in lawsuits involving car accidents frequently result in large swaths of payouts for car accident victims.

When a person experiences a debilitating car accident for which he or she was not at fault, he or she will often have severe medical bills, physical therapy costs, and check-up financial responsibilities. These, like physical damage done to the vehicle itself, are fairly black and white costs. Hospitals will submit proof of payment or treatment to insurance companies, and doctors can provide written explanations of how long treatments are expected to last with projected cost analysis. But there are costs associated with car accidents that are much more a shade of grey as well.

This is what is known as “pain and suffering.” Pain and suffering compensation can include compensation for emotional distress incurred as a result of the accident. The amount that a person requests for a pain and suffering clause will be determined based on the specifics of the accident, and the individual’s attorney. According to several sources, there are three main ways that pain and suffering gets calculated:

• The first is for an attorney or judge to multiply the total of all black and white medical bill costs by any number between 1 and 5, depending on the severity of the accident;
• The second is a general estimation of cost; and
• The third is to use a formula based on the daily cost of suffering, and multiply this by how many days the suffering is expected to last.

Proving a pain and suffering case can be difficult. You will need photos of your injuries, medical reports, medical bills, proof of lost wages or time away from school, and a log of all activities you missed as a result of your injury.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident for which you were not at fault, you are likely eligible for compensation. Do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Lake County car accident attorney today.