Filing a personal injury lawsuit against a person or organization isn’t an easy decision to make. You probably aren’t filing a lawsuit to get even with someone—you’re doing it because you’ve suffered real losses.
Your losses could include financial hardships like the cost of medical treatment or the time you’ve missed at work.
But what about the mental anguish you’ve experienced as a result of your accident? What about the physical pain you went through due to your injuries? For good reason, you’re probably wondering how pain and suffering is calculated in lawsuits.
Pain and Suffering Can Be Subjective
There’s no perfect way to calculate or place a monetary figure on your suffering. Every person experiences situations differently; every injury affects people differently; everybody has different pain thresholds and different life experiences.
For example, you and a friend could both experience a broken arm, but that doesn’t mean your broken arms will impact you both in the same way. One of you could take longer to heal, one of you could suffer more difficulty because you have more responsibilities, and one of you could experience more pain than the other.
Let’s get into the basics of how pain and suffering is calculated when filing a personal injury lawsuit.
Putting a Monetary Value on Your Pain and Suffering
There are two common ways to calculate pain and suffering damages. The first is to add up your monetary damages and multiply that figure by a number between one and five. Which multiplier is used will depend on a number of factors, including the seriousness of your injuries. Other factors are as follows:
- The extent of your injuries
- Whether you’ll be able to make a full recovery
- How your injuries have affected your daily life
- How much pain you’ve endured
The second commonly used method is to designate a per diem calculation. A figure will be assigned to each day of your suffering, and you’ll seek the sum of that daily rate until you’ve made a full recovery.
Again, these calculations can’t always fully reimburse you for everything you’ve endured, but they can help make you whole again.
Meet with a Detroit Personal Injury Attorney
If you’ve been injured because of another person’s negligence, you may be owed compensation for your suffering. In addition to the monetary losses you’ve faced, you may also deserve pain and suffering damages. It’s a good thing you now know how pain and suffering is calculated in lawsuits.
Contact a personal injury lawyer with Christensen Law to learn more about how much your case is worth. We offer free case reviews. To reach us, just fill out the form below or call 248-900-9000.
