If you are submitting an injury
claim after a car accident, then the good thing is that most of the states will
allow you to make a claim for your pain and sufferings. Well, of course judging
the monetary value of the pain you suffered is not easy, and there are several
aspects that affect such a claim.
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| image:en.wikipedia.org |
Usually, there are two types of
pain, physical and mental. After a car accident, most people are suffering from
both. You are recovering from your physical injury as well as trying to calm
your mind and forget what happened. Law recognizes these pains as “general
damages”. So far, there are no particular formulas set to determine the value
of general damages.
Point
of view of insurance companies:
Any insurance company, which is
handling your claim for pain and suffering,
will consider one point - if you did not go to a doctor then you are not in
pain. This means, if you are feeling any discomfort or pain and are planning to
file a claim against it, then it is crucial that you visit a doctor.
Next, most insurance companies
believe that the injuries, which need more medical treatment and longer
recovery time, involve more pain and suffering. Assumptions like these will
help the insurance adjuster to value your pain and suffering.
An insurance adjuster will place
higher value on injuries, which are supported by medical reports. This means,
when you are consulting a doctor, don’t forget to mention every small detail.
Your doctor will put this in his report, and this report will give a clear idea
about how much pain are you exactly suffering from.
Following
are the evidences which an insurance company will review:
·
Medical
reports
·
Medical
bills
·
Doctor’s
Prescription
·
X-Ray
and photos of your injury
·
Receipts
of all the medicines you purchased over the counter
·
Documents
proving you could not attend work
Methods
adopted by the insurance company to calculate pain:
There are generally two methods in
use, when it comes to calculating the value of pain and suffering.
1.
Multiply the amount of your special
damages
Special damages are those damages,
which are easy to calculate. Usually, depending on your case, you can multiply
that amount with 1.5 to 5. Now it is obvious that you would want to multiply
the amount with a higher number, whereas the insurance company will want to
multiply it will the lower one. You can consult a car accident attorney to understand what factors help in
determining the appropriate multiplier.
2.
Calculation as per your daily rate
In this approach, your per day
income is multiplied with the number of days you took to recover. For instance,
if you were off your work for say a 100 days with the daily wage of $100, then your
settlement amount will be $10,000. This method seems simple, but it falls apart
when long-term injuries are involved.
Lastly, when you are planning to
claim for your pains and sufferings after a car accident, it is wise that you
consult a doctor and get yourself examined. Also, it is advisable to hire a
lawyer who can help you file the claim properly.
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