Personal injury is a legal term that describes a physical injury to the body or a psychological injury to the mind. Personal injury can be caused by accidents, defective products, wrong prescriptions, etc. If you suffer from a personal injury, you will get compensation through legal proceedings, but exactly how much is this compensation? And how it is determined? This depends upon various factors.
Figuring out the value of your personal injury claim is not an easy task since there is no standard formula to calculate it. Every accident and every injury has it’s unique and exclusive facts, so it is important to have an experienced and reliable lawyer so that you can get the compensation you deserve.
Factors that determine the value of a personal injury claim
- The total medical bills in your case
- Liability
- The Insurance coverage of the defendant
- Lost wages
- The severity of damages
- Causation of the Injuries
- Financial consequences of the death of a loved one
- The property damage
- Total economic damages
- Psychological or emotional distress.
Pain and Suffering
Apart from the above-mentioned factors, another factor to take into consideration is “Pain and suffering” which is a legal term. Pain and suffering include not just the pain and discomfort that the victim has endured, but also the detrimental effects that he/she is likely to suffer as a result of the defendant’s negligence in the future.
Pain and suffering cannot be counted, it is of an intangible amount. It’s not like we can say, “Your pain and suffering was worth this many dollars”
How are the pain and suffering calculated and compensated? It depends on how has this accident affected your life, what are the things that you used to be able to do and you can’t do now, What has been taken away from you, what are the things that you still do because you have to do them, but they’re really hard to do right now?
There are two types of pain and suffering.
Physical pain and suffering
Physical pain is the pain of the of victim’s actual physical injuries. This kind is compensated by a “multiplier” where pain and suffering are calculated as being worth some multiple of the injured person’s total medical bills and lost earnings (which are also called the claimant’s “special damages”).
Mental pain and suffering
Mental suffering is a by-product of bodily injuries. Mental pain and suffering include depression, mental anguish, emotional distress, PTSD, fear, humiliation, and anxiety disorders. In other words, Mental pain and suffering is any kind of negative emotion that an accident victim suffers as a result of having the traumatic experience of the accident. You will be compensated for these sufferings as well. The defendant will pay for your psychological treatments even if he/she cannot fully compensate for the pain you endured.
Conclusion
In the end, the total worth and the value of your personal injury case is a combination of all of these factors, the main ones being; liability, pain and suffering, total damages, and insurance. Make sure to hire a personal injury lawyer who can rightfully estimate the value of your claim.
