You may know that if you get into an accident that isn’t your fault, or is at least less than 50 percent your fault, you can recover damages from the person who injured you. This includes money to cover doctor bills, medications, hospitalizations, surgeries, physical therapy, and even lost wages or lost future earnings.
But accidents and injuries affect people in intangible ways. Maybe you spent weeks or months in the hospital, or maybe your quality of life has been affected by the accident. Anyone who has been injured experiences pain, anxiety and stress that they would not have experienced if it weren’t for the accident. Because of that, accident victims are entitled to compensation for paid and suffering.
Pain and suffering is harder to put a dollar sign on than a doctor’s bill or a day missed from work. There are two ways attorneys generally put a dollar sign on pain and suffering. The first is the multiplier method. You simply add up all your past and future medical expenses, then pick a multiplier, generally somewhere between 1.5 to 5, and multiply the total cost of expenses by that number to get the amount your attorney will ask for.
The other method is to assign a daily rate and then multiply that by the number of days you were in pain. A personal injury attorney can help you determine an amount that is reasonable and best represents your injury.
Even though general damages for pain and suffering for your accident may seem subjective, they are still part of your settlement.
At Bouchillon, Crossan & Colburn, L.C., our attorneys have more than 40 years dedicated to giving clients the attention, advice, support and empowerment they need to effectively meet their goals. We are committed to the principle that all persons shall have equal justice under the law. If you or a loved one has been injured and is seeking a qualified personal injury attorney, contact our Huntington, West Virginia office to speak with an attorney about your case, or call 304-521-4636.