Yes. Car accident settlements should include support for your non-economic damages. That must include the pain you endure with an injury. It should factor in the emotional toll that a scary impact and a long recovery can take on victims. Support should include money to pay for any counseling and pain management therapy victims require.
At-fault drivers are liable for the physical, financial, and emotional damages they cause in accidents, but their car insurance providers can challenge fault and limit what you receive. If you are injured in a crash, you may need a lawyer to help keep the blame in the right place and to fight on your behalf for the maximum in compensation.
Contact Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield for a free case consultation to find out how to hold a car insurance company fully liable for your pain and suffering.
What Is Compensated with Pain and Suffering Benefits?
A rear-end collision on a busy road like Oswell Street or a side-swipe impact along the fast-moving Highway 99 can leave drivers and passengers with major injuries. Hospital bills can pile up quickly, and days lost at work and forfeited paychecks can multiply.
These economic damages should be the driver at fault’s responsibility. But there are other damages that victims face that must be considered in any car accident settlement. These are the non-economic damages, largely covered by “pain and suffering” support.
Pain and suffering is a legal term that is meant to cover, among other things, the pain that victims must endure in a car accident. How long pain sticks around is difficult to predict. Support may be needed to cover long-term pain, such as chronic pain and arthritis.
Also included under the pain and suffering damages is the emotional trauma that a frightening collision and serious injury may cause.
These are just a few of the emotional pain and suffering factors that may factor into a settlement check.
- The anxiety a powerful impact and a stressful aftermath may cause for victims.
- The PTSD symptoms that may arise. Victims may be forced to relive the moments of their accident over and over again in their minds.
- The depression that may develop as victims mount a long and discouraging injury recovery.
- The loss of enjoyment of life as an injury prevents victims from doing the things they once loved. An injury may cause physical limitations that prevent victims from enjoying their favorite hobbies or participating in family activities.
- The loss of intimacy an injury causes with a spouse.
These damages and others can and should raise car accident settlements considerably. Victims must receive compensation for what they are asked to go through. They should also have the funds to pay for mental health therapy and physical therapy to help them cope with the emotional and physical challenges an injury causes.
A skilled Bakersfield car accident lawyer would make sure pain and suffering hardships figured into any settlement offer
How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Calculated?
Pain and emotional damages aren’t things that can be totaled up like doctor bills. They are very real, but their effects are harder to communicate to those who aren’t going through it.
But car accident victims who are left with greater pain levels and more life-altering emotional challenges should receive more for their suffering. Your attorney would work with your doctors and mental health professionals to document what you are going through and how your hardships have altered your day-to-day life.
The testimony of medical experts can weigh heavily in the calculation. However, in some cases, a pain and suffering multiplier is also used as a guideline to determine how much beyond economic damages victims should receive.
This method multiplies the economic damages (things like hospital bills and lost income) by a factor of something like 1.5 to 5. The multiplier is determined by how much the victim has and will suffer with pain and emotional damages. 1.5 would be the lowest on this particular scale, with a 5 being the most suffering victims experience.
As an example, a victim with $20,000 in economic damages might receive 2 times (for moderate physical pain and mental anguish) that amount for pain and suffering damages. So, pain and suffering in this case would be $40,000 extra, added to the compensation for financial damages of $20,000. The victim would take home $60,000 in total.
When Should I Have a Lawyer for a Bakersfield Car Accident Case?
It’s a good idea to speak with a real Bakersfield car accident lawyer after any accident involving a serious injury that you weren’t at fault for. We offer a free, no-obligation case consultation. Have this meeting before talking to any car insurance representative for the at-fault driver.
You should contact a lawyer before entering into negotiations with unhelpful insurance companies. But if you are already in talks with the insurer, and you feel you aren’t being offered enough for your economic hardships or pain and suffering, you can always consult with our lawyers at any point in the settlement process.
Insurers will tell you that you don’t need a lawyer, no matter the circumstances. They’ll also try to convince you that your injuries aren’t worth very much money.
And if you do need a lawyer to represent you, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield. We don’t charge anything unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check that an insurer must write for you.