Learning If and How to Qualify for Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Compensation Case

Many people wonder what qualifies as pain and suffering and how they can qualify for it. Many insurance companies have lobbied against pain and suffering being added into settlements, but that was quickly shot down because without the pain and suffering claim; then big businesses, especially, would not learn or ensure the well being of those injured due to their negligence. In essence, pain and suffering not only aids the injured person financially to compensate for their new found lack of independence they had before, but it also teaches those that are negligent the importance of what their actions and negligence cause.

How Much Money Can I Get for Pain and Suffering?
Depending on the incident or accident that occurred that caused your injuries will greatly depend on the amount of extra damages, i.e. pain and suffering, you will qualify for. If gross negligence on the other party's side is in play, then you can expect a rather large pay out for your 'pain and suffering'.

What is the Legal Definition of Pain and Suffering?
According to Washington State law, the definition of Pain and Suffering is: pain and suffering as both mental and physical, and shall include all subjective non-monetary losses, including but not limited to, inconvenience, mental anguish, and emotional distress, that has been experienced and with reasonable probability to be experienced in the future.(From www.injurylawyer.com)

Pain and Suffering Laws in Your Area

Although this definition is from Washington, most other states and counties consider this to be roughly the same definition. However, state to state and even county to county have different laws regarding pain and suffering in personal injury cases and the amount of settlements in court can be capped or not capped; check with your local legal system to learn the rules based in your county. It is also a good idea to do some research about cases heard in your area that are similar to the injuries you incurred to get a good idea of what monetary extra damages monies you can expect to receive.

Dealing with the Insurance Claims Adjuster

After your injury, the claims adjuster from the negligent parties insurance company will either come to your home to visit, will request you get medical screening from one of their doctors, or will simply study your case and make a claim based solely on that. You will be hard pressed to convince an insurance claims adjuster to give you his or her formula for determining the amount of pain and suffering or extra damages amount that they give out. Yes, it is fair to assume that pain and suffering rewards are generally given out on a case-by-case basis, but it is safe to say that no one, other than the insurance company and claims adjuster knows the actual formula used to calculate how much pain and suffering money you will receive.

For an example, let's say a woman is injured due to negligence by a business. Her medical damages and missed work equals $10,000. The claims adjuster offers her $12,000. This means he has factored that her pain and suffering is worth $2,000. Depending on the case, that may be more than enough money to suffice this individual.

But, you do not have to accept any offer that the other insurance company offers you. In fact, if gross negligence is in play, for example, a car accident due to the negligence of the other party where he ran a stop light because he was street racing. The insurance company for this client will not want this case to go to trial. Most juries tend to give larger pain and suffering pay outs if gross negligence such as this are in play and think that by offering you a large settlement, they are in some way punishing the negligent party.

How to Determine How Much Pain and Suffering Money You Deserve

To figure up your own pain and suffering amount and submit to the insurance company you can use this formula. Total up all medical bills you have incurred due to the negligence of the other party. Also, factor in any future medical bills that you know will be occurring; such as physical therapy charges, etc. Also, factor in any missed work wages as well. You will then honestly base the amount of pain and suffering you endured during the entire ordeal and into the future (look back to the definition of pain and suffering) and rate the pain and suffering on a scale of 1 to 5. One means the pain and suffering is not too bad and five means the pain and suffering is by the book definition and with no chance of getting better any time soon. This should only be reserved for extreme gross negligence.

Now, take the monetary damages incurred through medical bills and wage loss total and multiply it by the 1 through 5 scale number you have chosen. Take this amount and submit it in a demand letter to the claims adjuster for the negligent party. In this letter, mention why you feel you deserve this amount of money and detail some of the reasons how your life has and will be changed forever due to their client's negligence and how you came to the conclusion of this dollar value. You do not have to include the formula, but you could mention the fact of what medical bills you reasonably expect to incur, the wages you assume will be lost, and the enjoyment of life you will miss due to the injuries sustained by the negligent party.

Why Settling Out of Court Can Be a Good Thing
make it to court. They may make it to the lobby of the court house, but generally the insurance company will strike a better deal with you outside of court because they do not want to risk a large pay out given by the jury. Sometimes they just want to call your bluff, sometimes they win. So, if the money they offer is reasonable enough, take it. The chances of receiving multimillion dollar settlements are few and far between and the people that receive those types of awards are so badly injured and their pain and suffering are so great that they never would be able to enjoy the money received. This is not a time to be greedy, this is a time to get the money you are owed.

Sources:
www.injurytriallawyer.com/faq
www.wikipedia.com
www.law.org