DAMAGES FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING HAVE A MONETARY VALUE.
You start speculating about your potential settlement as you get closer to full recovery from your car accident injuries. Your friends and relatives feel the same way. They tell stories about how someone’s cousin Joe won $50,000 for a fractured finger. On the news, they discuss the guy who was awarded a two-million-dollar judgment for a whiplash injury. These chats, although fascinating, don’t help you grasp how much you should be compensated for your pain and suffering damages since they aren’t about you. Continue reading to find out what variables are most important and how a car accident lawyer may assist you in determining the worth of your claim.
Unfortunately, when you’re ready to settle your injury claim, that’s how it works. Everyone you know gives you ideas, but there’s one significant flaw: Your injury claim is one-of-a- kind. Even if the court or your attorney has seen the same injury many times before, the individual impact the injury has had on you, your family, and your career will never be the same.
Even if you recognize that your claim is unique, the negligent driver’s liability carrier may refuse to recognize it. They save money by approaching each wounded individual from the same angle. Because it’s the simplest way to reduce a claim payout, they offer low settlements for pain, suffering, and other non-economic damages. Unless a legal expert handles your claim, they will typically drag you down with low offers until you ultimately accept.
HOW MUCH COMPENSATION CAN I GET FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING FOLLOWING AN ACCIDENT?
Until the liability carrier agrees to pay a reasonable amount and you accept it, or until a jury renders a verdict, the amount of your pain and suffering settlement remains a mystery. In contrast to Colorado worker’s compensation payments, pain and suffering damages are not a one-size-fits-all benefit. WC payments are standardized by state legislation. By entering a few numbers into the Division of Worker’ Compensation’s online Benefits Calculators, injured workers can figure out how much they’ll get.
That is not how a pain and suffering payment works. It’s based on your injuries and your post-accident healing experience, in theory. Other circumstances, in reality, play a role in why one person can get $50,000 while another with the same injuries, pain, and suffering receives $10,000.
Investigation: Identifies the person or parties liable for your injury.
Evidence: Provides proof of guilt, as well as your injuries, discomfort, medical care, and other matters.
Negotiation and presentation skills: A smart negotiator makes a stronger argument. An attorney: Injured victims who have legal counsel often earn bigger payouts.
IT’S ABOUT YOU IF YOU CLAIM PAIN AND SUFFERING.
When someone offers you a settlement for a Colorado car accident lawsuit, or when a court decides on an award, it’s usually divided into two categories: economic and non- economic damages. It’s an easy arithmetic issue to calculate the economic losses. The insurance company totals your medical costs and lost wages. Emergency care, doctor bills, hospitalizations, medicines, prosthetic equipment, and anything else they can simply compute a cost are all examples. Your Colorado PIP carrier normally covers Out-of-pocket expenses up to $10,000.
Because they are dependent on your sentiments and subjective reactions, noneconomic losses are significantly more difficult to assess. Courts have yet to figure out how to quantify a person’s actual suffering. When you explain how your injuries caused you to suffer, they must take your word for it, and it is often essential to depend on expert testimony or facts to substantiate subjective effects.
They also take into account the following factors:
WHAT WAS THE EXTENT OF YOUR INJURY?
If you have a complicated fracture that requires open reduction surgery, pins and plates, and physical therapy, the person reviewing your claim will understand it was a lengthy and difficult process. In contrast, the major reason why insurance claims people disbelieve back injury discomfort is because of looks. A person who has had a back injury is often in excruciating agony. Claim handlers downplay the severity of the pain and the severity of the injury since injuries typically begin as minor soft tissue discomfort that worsens over time. Furthermore, there are no outwardly evident indicators that a person suffering from a back injury is experiencing.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET BACK ON YOUR FEET?
Everyone heals at a different rate. While a complex fracture is significant and unpleasant, your pain and suffering claim may be reduced if you recover quickly.
DID YOUR DISCOMFORT KEEP YOU FROM DOING THINGS YOU NORMALLY WOULD?
It speaks something about your discomfort if you’re back at work, mowing the yard on Saturday, and playing golf on Sunday. If it’s terrible but not bad enough to prevent you from working, insurers will use it to lower claim payouts.
HAS YOUR PAIN HAD AN IMPACT ON YOUR CONNECTION
WITH YOUR PARTNER? Your claim will be evaluated by an attorney who will inquire about how your pain and suffering impacted your marital connection. The specifics assist them in determining the extent of your loss of consortium damages.
You’ll have little justification to support a consortium claim if you refuse to discuss your marital connection or disclose personal information.
The impact of your injuries or discomfort on your connection with your children is also considered in a settlement.
WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS?
When a claim investigator wants to determine whether your discomfort is troubling you, they use social media to seek you down. Whether injured or not, some individuals can’t seem to stop posting about their lives on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Others use Tik Tok to show off their dancing talents. If you often post on social media, you may be indicating that your pain isn’t as severe as you claim.
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR NEIGHBORS WILL SAY?
It could not simply be paranoia if you believe someone is observing you. Insurance firms use private detectives who speak with your neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances. Unfortunately, even if they don’t know the whole situation, some parties may speak out. Investigators also keep an eye on you to see whether you’re hurting as badly as you claim. Someone may be standing in front of your house with a camera, recording you on digital video.
AFTER A CAR ACCIDENT, KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PAIN AND SUFFERING.
You are the only one who can truly describe how your pain impacts your life. It’s up to you to write down your narrative and share it with the professionals who will be evaluating and negotiating your injury claim. The feelings are obtrusive and frequently debilitating just after an injury. You believe you’ll never forget them, yet the grief fades, and your physical and mental suffering lessens as time passes.
You’ll need a detailed account of those dreadful days to share with the professionals who will ultimately assess and pay your damage claim. You’ll have first-hand knowledge if you maintain a daily notebook for a year or two. Keep a notebook when you need to convey your pain and suffering at a consultation, deposition, or hearing.
Your paperwork doesn’t need to be official. To keep track of your days, use a diary or a basic spiral-bound notebook. Include details about your pain and suffering, emotional setbacks, and everyday activities and limits in your notes.
Your pain and suffering immediately after the accident
Discomfort from treatment and hospitalization, surgeries, procedures, injections, restrictions, etc.
Your pain’s location and intensity
Any emotional meltdowns you experience Household tasks you can’t do because of pain Tasks you try but can’t
How pain and suffering prevents you from preparing or serving meals
A diary might help you keep track of your everyday post-accident experiences while you recuperate. Make careful to mention your diary if you meet with an attorney. It helps in the assessment and negotiation of your claim.
THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF YOUR SUFFERING AND PAIN
When you ask an artist why his not-so-great paintings sell for $10,000 apiece, he’ll probably repeat an adage: “It’s not the value, it’s the perceived worth.” When lawyers, juries, and claim-handling specialists examine damage claims, this is often the case. In his Psychology, Today piece Perception is Not Reality, Jim Taylor, Ph.D., explores perception.
Perception serves as a lens through which we experience reality, as he says. It may seem strange, but the worth of your pain and suffering is determined by how others see it—after all, it is others who ultimately decide your compensation.
Based on their ideas, claim handling experience, and personal biases, each individual participating in the appraisal and bargaining process assesses the worth of a claim. When two individuals describe their suffering, one person’s agony may seem more extreme than the other’s. When two persons report painful responses to similar injuries, perceptions come into play. One individual will typically be considered more credible than the other by the claim manager. When it comes time to settle, such views often result in a larger or lower settlement offer.
The personal judgments of claim handlers frequently guide the internal review and negotiating process of insurance firms. When a claim includes catastrophic injuries with values exceeding the handler’s power, they earn authority by persuading higher-ups that their judgments are correct.
PAIN AND SUFFERING DAMAGES CLAIM EVALUATION SOFTWARE FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES
Like DXC’s Colossus, claim assessment software hasn’t taken over every insurance company’s claim department yet, but it’s on the rise. The software’s creators and users both argue that it ensures that assessments are fair and consistent. They emphasize that it is beneficial to claim handlers, particularly inexperienced ones.
Software for claim assessment makes the procedure far more productive and efficient. On the insurance company’s side, the list of perks is impressive. It does nothing to improve the process for plaintiffs who have been hurt. The concept of human experience is dismissed by any automated method. While the program considers symptoms and severity levels, it ignores
the human details that distinguish each claim. It’s the equivalent of increasing an injured person’s medical expenditures by a random factor to have a computer evaluate a claim.
Proponents of replacing people with software argue that this improves the consistency of statements. While this is likely true, consistency has historically been a non-factor in injury claims. Each individual who has been hurt is unique, and no two injuries are the same. Ten persons with the same injury recover at various speeds and react to the same painful stimuli differently.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies may one day learn to analyze claims more effectively. Claim evaluation software is now just that: cold software.
CALCULATORS FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING DAMAGES FOR ONLINE PERSONAL INJURY SETTLEMENTS
CAR ACCIDENT LAWYER JEREMY D. EARLE, JD
You’ll probably discover multiple variations of the Claim Payment Calculator online if you’re looking for methods to calculate your pain and suffering settlement. These online tools are comparable to benefit calculators for workers’ compensation. You enter your injury details, hit calculate, and you’ll be given a monetary settlement range.
These straightforward forms combine old-school component analyses with cutting-edge claim evaluation algorithms. They’re both used for the same thing. They give a simple solution for those who have been hurt. They provide lawyers with a quick and easy approach to answer queries regarding possible settlements. Attorneys remind users, however, that a settlement calculator is not legal advice; don’t place too much faith in these figures until you’ve spoken with a qualified accident injury lawyer.
PAIN AND SUFFERING STATISTICS FROM COURT SETTLEMENTS
Some lawyers pay for publications that give information on recently decided cases. Attorneys use the data as a guide to determining the worth of a claim and bolstering their negotiating position. These records do not contain instances that were resolved directly with insurance companies, but they may assist lawyers in determining settlement estimates for injury claims.
CALCULATING PAIN AND SUFFERING DAMAGES BASED ON EXPERIENCE
Formulas and software are often avoided by those who have a long experience examining, negotiating, and fighting damage claims. They frequently deal with accusations based on their previous experiences. They understand values and potential settlement ranges after investigating, evaluating, and settling so many claims over the years. They resolve issues by using their expertise. The most experienced people also realize that it’s impossible to know how long a case will take to settle until they’ve started the negotiation process.
A CAR ACCIDENT ATTORNEY CAN ASSIST YOU
Contact a car accident lawyer if you want to learn more about filing a claim for pain and suffering. A law firm researches damage claims, calculate claim values and seeks a fair settlement or judgment. You may share your tale with an attorney during a consultation. You may find out more about your legal choices without committing to filing a claim or a lawsuit. They’ll deal with the insurance companies and their lawyers while you rest and heal.
You can reach Warrior Car Accident Lawyers by calling 719-300-1100 or filling out an online contact form to schedule a free consultation on your claim.
