You need to seek a personal injury settlement if someone causes you to experience pain and suffering. The settlement must be reasonable because the injury has negatively impacted the quality of your life. You can also seek compensation for physical and financial losses that you experience because of the negligence of another person.
A Reasonable Settlement For Pain And Suffering
You can seek compensation from the insurance company of the party that caused your injury if you were involved in a car accident. But you need proof that the at-fault party is liable. The amount you receive as compensation can cover things like ambulance costs, lost wages, medical bills, and other expenses.
But it’s not just your finances that are affected by a car accident. You need compensation for all the other ways your life is affected. The negligent party that may have caused your pain and suffering can be another individual, business, or agency.
What Is Pain And Suffering?
You can claim compensation for pain and suffering if you suffered physical pain and emotional distress due to personal injury. Emotional or psychological distress can be in the form of anxiety, shame, or psychological trauma.
But unlike expenses related to medical care, lost wages and so on, it’s not easy to assign a dollar amount to something as abstract as mental health. That means calculating what a negligent party owes you for pain and suffering can be tricky. This is why it’s more appropriate to seek compensation for pain and suffering when you have suffered significant distress such as in a serious accident.
People are more likely to be awarded compensation for pain and suffering in cases involving:
- Workplace injury
- Medical malpractice
- Motorcycle accident
- Bicycle accident
- Slip and fall
- Car Accident
- Drugs
- Animal bite
Average Settlement For Pain And Suffering
The average dollar value of pain and suffering costs in personal injury cases varies depending on the circumstances of your case. You can estimate what you may get by including the type of accident, losses you suffered, and other factors in your calculations. You also need to consider the state where you live because different states award different amounts to claimants.
Some states place a cap on the amount that can be awarded as compensation for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. These damages are the losses incurred because of injury. It is much easier to calculate what compensation you may receive for general damages such as:
- Losing you job
- Repair for a vehicle or other property
- Lost wages
- Rehabilitation costs
- Ambulance costs
- Accommodations for permanent disability
- Medical bills
Non-economic damages are harder to quantify in value and they include:
- Mental anguish
- Disability
- Loss of companionship
- Lower quality of life
- Loss of your sense of sight or hearing and more
Factors Considered When Calculating Cost of Pain And Suffering
The state laws, type of injury, and severity of the injury are some of the factors that determine the cost of pain and suffering. But you only file an insurance claim to cover pain and suffering after filing a claim for covering general damages.