You may already know that you are entitled to financial compensation for your accident and injuries once you can prove that someone else was to blame for what happened.
However, you may have yet to understand the full range of what you can get compensation for and how much you can receive for each element of your damage. You need an experienced personal injury lawyer for many reasons, and knowing the value of your case is one of the most important.
Insurance companies should pay for pain and suffering because your legal rights require it, but whether they end up paying you and how much you get is another story.
Without a personal injury lawyer to fight for you, you can receive the short end of the stick for compensation. Even though you deserve full financial payment for all your injuries, insurance companies will do everything they can to deny your legal rights.
To give yourself the best chance of full compensation for pain and suffering from insurance companies, always hire a Grapevine personal injury attorney to file your claim from the very start.
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Your Damages Are More than Just Economic
If all insurance companies had to do was pay you for your economic losses, you would not receive compensation for everything you lost in an accident. Think of what your life was like for you at the very minute before an accident occurred.
If you lived with any pain, it was because of a condition that you already had. You may have had hobbies and other things that you enjoyed and looked forward to each day without the worries of having to deal with the effects of your accident.
The insurance companies must pay for all the damages you have suffered from an accident caused by their policyholder. Of course, your settlement check should cover your actual financial losses from your injuries.
Although you deserve this compensation, insurance companies often try to get away without paying for your total economic losses. Then, you must fight for your non-economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages Are a Very Broad Category
Numerous things will fall under the large umbrella of non-economic damages, and the person responsible for your injuries must compensate you for all your losses. It does not matter whether they are easily quantifiable. You deserve payment if you have suffered an impact from the accident.
The most obvious component of pain and suffering damage is the actual discomfort that you are experiencing after your injuries. Any injury will have physical effects that you will have to endure.
You Can Suffer an Emotional Injury from Your Accident
The physical impacts of your injury can also cause emotional effects. It is difficult to live with pain and discomfort, but the actual physical feelings that you are experiencing can come with depression and anxiety. The knowledge that you must live with these injuries can also cause you angst that can keep you awake at night.
Emotional injuries are damage, just the same as a physical injury, and you must live with these feelings at all times. They take away from your quality of life, and they are something that you did not have to endure before you suffered an injury in an accident.
Your Pain and Suffering Damages Are Individualized
Your pain and suffering damages should compensate you for your unique and individualized experience. For example, suppose you were more likely to suffer a specific type of injury because of a preexisting condition.
In that case, the defendant must pay you for the damages from that particular injury. The defendant must compensate the individual victim - or "you take the victim as you find them." If you had a prior back injury that this accident aggravated, the responsible party will need to compensate you in full because their actions still caused you damages.
Insurance companies often try to write you out of the story, and the only thing that is a part of their calculation is supposedly objective math that they will apply to your case. It does not matter who you are (or were before the accident) and your own experience. They will try to use a standard formula to prevent you from getting the money you deserve.
Even if insurance companies use mathematical measures, it should result in you getting full and fair financial compensation. They should not ignore you and your experiences. This is where your personal injury attorney can fight for you and what you truly deserve.
Insurance Companies Try to Underpay Pain and Suffering Through the Use of a Multiplier
The multiplier method is the most frequent culprit for the insurance company's low offer for pain and suffering. Rather than listen to you and what you have endured, they will assign a number to apply to your medical expenses.
For example, if you have suffered a fracture or a torn ligament, the insurance company may claim that the multiplier should be one. If your medical bills were $25,000, you will also receive $25,000 in pain and suffering. This calculation is very simplistic, and insurance companies have their reasons for using it.
Insurance Companies Consciously Choose a Low Multiplier
You may think that the multiplier is a way for insurance companies to be lazy and avoid doing work, yet there is a reason why they use this practice. They will pick a low number that understates your experience to save money at your expense, and in doing so, their multiplier will not accurately depict your reality. Insurance companies know this fact full well.
Insurance companies can use the per diem method to estimate pain and suffering damages. They will use this method for injuries where you will completely heal within a specific time. For example, if you suffered a fracture, you will likely be better after the bone sets or the doctor performs surgery. Then, the insurance company will assign a daily value to how much pain and suffering you endured.
Either calculation is unreasonable because it will underestimate your pain and suffering damages and not make you whole. However, insurance companies are not in a role where they can act as the sole judge of how much you may be due. They do not get to sit down with their skewed calculator and get the last word about your damages.
Insurance Companies Only Have the Power to Make You an Offer
Insurance companies only have the power to make a settlement offer that you have the legal right to consider. In the end, you are the one who decides whether the offer is fair and reasonable and whether it makes sense for you to accept it.
You will review the offer with your personal injury lawyer, who will advise whether to reject or accept the offer. If the insurance company's settlement offer is insufficient to compensate you, then you should refuse the offer.
You Can File a Lawsuit for Full Compensation
If the insurance companies do not offer a fair settlement, you have additional means of recourse. Insurers often want to avoid litigation, as when you file a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible party in civil court, the insurance companies must pay the costs of defending the lawsuit.
Then, they might also face a jury, which may see things differently and often in a victim’s favor. In most cases, the last thing that the insurance company wants to do is go in front of a jury.
Litigation can be the most effective card you have to play - or at least the threat of it. Without an experienced personal injury attorney at your side, there is little credibility when you threaten to sue. When the insurance company sees that you have hired a strong lawyer, it demonstrates that you will file a lawsuit if you do not get what you deserve in compensation.
A jury is far likelier to consider you as a whole person than an insurance adjuster. Jury members listen to your testimony about what happened and how the accident affects your life, and they do not use the insurance company's objective methods to evaluate you.
Cases that go to a jury are more likely to result in higher damages than settlement agreements. However, that does not necessarily mean you should go to trial. You will add time to your case by going to trial, and there is still a risk of getting nothing. This is a decision you must always carefully weigh with your personal injury lawyer.
How to Document Your Pain and Suffering Damages
You can do things on your own to increase the size of your award for pain and suffering. Everything is about your documentation when you are trying to prove damages.
It all begins with your medical records. You should have sought treatment as soon as possible after the accident, at the first sign that there was anything physically wrong with you. The doctor will document your care, both the diagnosis and the treatment. The insurance company reviews the medical records when determining what you may be due in lost income and pain and suffering.
Then, you should also create documentation of your experiences since your injury, and it is helpful to create a log of what you may have been dealing with each day. Then, it would help if you also compiled statements from people who frequently saw you so they can relate what they observed.
Although the insurance companies are bound and determined to take you out of the equation to the fullest extent possible, they will also know that you have a solid case to present to the jury.
Your Lawyer Knows How Much You Deserve in Compensation
Your lawyer will lead the charge as you seek justice for what happened to you, and an essential task they will perform is helping you understand how much you may be due in compensation. You need to know how much you can get to avoid receiving insufficient reimbursement.
There is virtually no way that you can or will understand the concept of pain and suffering if you are handling your case on your own. You cannot argue with the insurance companies when they tell you how much you should get because there is no basis that you can use to dispute them other than by saying that they are wrong. This argument will hold little water with the insurance companies, adept at couching their determinations in enough legalese to confuse everyone.
Your attorney can cut through the red tape and fight back. They can speak a language the insurance companies can understand, threatening them when necessary and countering their self-serving arguments.
Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney Costs Nothing Out of Pocket
You may wonder how much it costs to get legal help for your personal injury case, and the answer is that no money will come from your pocket. The only way that you owe your lawyer anything for their services is when you win your case.
Then, your lawyer gets paid directly from the proceeds of your case before you receive your check. If you do not win, you do not pay. Thus, you do not need to worry that it is a financial risk for you to hire a lawyer.
Discuss Your Pain and Suffering With a Personal Injury Lawyer Today
You don't have to face an accident that caused pain and suffering alone. By reaching out to a personal injury lawyer, you can discuss your pain and suffering and explore your legal options for seeking compensation.
When discussing your pain and suffering with a personal injury lawyer, it's important to be open and honest about your experiences. This will help them understand the effects the accident has had on your life and determine the appropriate amount of compensation you may be entitled to. They will also be able to guide you through the legal process, seeking the maximum compensation possible.
Don't wait to seek legal help - discuss your pain and suffering with a personal injury lawyer today to protect your future.