While many personal injury attorneys focus on the financial losses that a personal injury victim has sustained, intangible losses are often overlooked. Though no less important, pain and suffering significantly affect a person’s life.
Pain and suffering damages include emotional distress, psychological turmoil, and physical discomfort that a personal injury victim is forced to endure, long after the accident is over. Given that pain and suffering damages have no associated dollar amounts, they are more challenging to calculate. Still, failing to recover pain and suffering in a personal injury suit leaves you far from being “whole” again.
For the past 25 years, Silverman Tokarsky & Forman, L.L.C., has dedicated its time to empowering our clients. If you or a loved one has experienced emotional, physical, or psychological distress following an accident, do not hesitate to contact our Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys.
What are Pain and Suffering Damages?
Pain and suffering damages (also known as “non-economic damages”) are the intangible losses associated with a personal injury or accident. Unlike economic damages, non-economic damages have no financial component. Therefore, attorneys often underestimate these calculations or overlook them entirely.
Common pain and suffering damages in a personal injury include:
- Infliction of emotional distress
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Damage to reputation
- Humiliation
- Scarring and/or disfigurement
- Permanent disability
- *Loss of consortium (spousal claim)
- *Bystander recovery for emotional distress (close family member claim)
*Spouses and family members are allowed to bring claims against the defendant as well, known as a derivative claim. Recovery for a derivative claim depends on the success of the plaintiff’s claim. If the defendant is not found liable, then the derivative claim will fail as well.
How are Pain and Suffering Damages Calculated?
To determine pain and suffering damages, our personal injury attorneys will gather information to document the severity of your injury, your estimated recovery timeline, and what effect your injuries have had on your life. This information will be submitted to the insurance company to support your request for compensation.
There are two different approaches to calculating pain and suffering damages: either using the per diem or multiplier method. At Silverman Tokarsky & Forman, L.L.C, our legal team typically uses the multiplier method. The multiplier method first assigns a pain severity rating on a scale from 1.5 to 5. Your medical records, a pain and symptom journal, and testimony from therapists will help to support your pain severity rating. Next, this figure is multiplied by your total economic damages to calculate your total non-economic damages.
An example:
[$15,000 lost wages] + [$10,000 medical bills] + [$2,500 vehicle repairs] =
$27,500 economic damages X 2.5 (severity scale rating) = $68,750 non-economic damages
How Long Do I Have to Recover Pain and Suffering Damages in PA?
Pain and suffering damages will be sought as part of your personal injury claim. According to 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, you will only have two years to claim compensation for a personal injury, including pain and suffering. Even if you believe you have missed the statute of limitations, certain exceptions may apply. Before you assume you missed the deadline, you should speak with our personal injury attorneys.
Pennsylvania Personal Injury Attorneys Providing Aggressive Representation
No price tag can match the pain and suffering an accident victim is forced to live with. Even though pain and suffering damages are valued significantly higher than economic damages, the amount certainly does not reflect what you have endured. If you want to make sure your legal recovery is complete, our Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers are by your side. To arrange your consultation with an attorney, contact Silverman Tokarsky & Forman online or by calling (814) 536-8600 today.
