If you’ve been injured in a car accident someone else caused, you understand the emotional and life-changing impact and you deserve compensation for those emotional losses. Pain and suffering is a specific type of loss that contributes to the settlement you can receive in your injury case. Though, unlike your medical bills and lost wages that hold monetary value, it can be difficult to put a dollar amount on your pain and suffering.
Finding value for your pain and suffering is one essential part of what your car accident lawyer will do when seeking the maximum compensation for your case. Learn how pain and suffering is valued after a Baton Rouge car accident by your experienced auto accident lawyer, like our team at Gauthier Amedee Personal Injury Law! We’ll go to bat for you.
Understanding Losses in a Car Accident Case
When we fight for settlement in a car accident case, the “losses” we are seeking compensation for are legally referred to as “damages.” Two different forms of damages come into play in a car accident: special damages and general damages.
Special damages are losses that are easy to assign value to since they already have financial value. This includes your doctor bills, medications, medical procedures, lost wages, lost potential future earnings, and other damages that have a specific monetary amount associated with them.
The second type of damages is general damages. These are the losses that do not have a financial loss value, which we refer to as “pain and suffering.” This can include a range of invisible injuries, such as emotional trauma, depression, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of comfort and relationships, loss of consortium, and other losses that have made life harder to live after the accident.
How To Determine the Value of Pain and Suffering After a Car Accident
Individual car accident attorneys and insurance companies have different ways of valuing pain and suffering. Attorneys try to value it high to seek the compensation their clients deserve, while insurance companies tend to value it low to minimize the amount they owe. Often, but not always, pain and suffering will be determined using a multiplier of the special damages.
For example, if your medical bills, lost wages, or other financial losses are valued at $25,000, your attorney will multiply it by a number depending on the amount of emotional suffering you have endured. If you had minimal emotional suffering, they may multiply it by two, so your pain and suffering will be valued at $50,000, for a total case value of $75,000. Though, if you have suffered severely and are facing more long-term emotional impact from the accident and your injuries, then your attorney may multiply it by a higher number.
Insurance adjusters and attorneys rarely reveal the multiplier or method they use to put a value on your pain and suffering because they don’t want to lose any advantage that they have in negotiating your case. At Gauthier Amedee Personal Injury Law, our team understands the impact a car accident and injury can have on your life. We believe you deserve fair compensation for those losses, so you can be assured that when we take on your case, we’ll go to bat for you.
Preparing Your Case
Because pain and suffering is difficult to value, it’s important to gather as much evidence as possible. If you have been to a psychologist or therapist, keep records of your visits and see if the doctor will submit a report to back up your case. Even copies of your medical bills and physical injuries can help back up your invisible injuries.
Our team of car accident attorneys highly recommends keeping a journal to document your experiences of pain and suffering. The more detail you can present about the way your injuries have affected your life, the stronger your case will be in seeking compensation.
Call a Baton Rouge Car Accident Lawyer
If you have been seriously injured in an accident in Baton Rouge, you have rights that deserve an experienced car accident lawyer to protect them. Our team is here to support you and your case by seeking the maximum compensation you deserve for all of your losses, both financial and emotional. Call Gauthier Amedee at (225) 647-1700 or fill out our online form today and let us go to bat for you!
