Injuries, regardless of who caused them, always have a cost. Many of those costs are monetary in nature. You might need emergency medical care, which can be expensive. It might be necessary to take you to the hospital in an ambulance, which can also be quite costly.

If your injuries are severe, you may have to undergo emergency life-saving surgery or be admitted to the hospital for days. After your life is saved, you might be forced to undergo weeks of rehabilitation.

Every day you’re recovering or participating in rehabilitation is a day you’re out of work, which means not only do you have a lot of medical bills but you’re also losing out on the wages you would be earning had you not been injured.

All those monetary costs are quantifiable. Your medical bills can be added up and your lost wages can be calculated based on your salary or past pay stubs. These types of damages are referred to as “economic damages” or “special damages.”

Those tangible expenses are far from the only costs you’ll bear as a result of your injuries. You’ll also be saddled with an untold and unquantifiable level of “pain and suffering.”

Pain and suffering is a personal injury term that covers a broad range of emotional and psychological consequences people suffer due to injuries inflicted upon them by negligent parties.

These injury side effects can be obvious, like the actual physical discomfort you feel due to a broken leg or the concussion you suffered in a car crash, or more peripheral, like the anxiety a person may experience every time they hear a dog bark after being injured by a dog bite.

The emotional and psychological toll of traumatic injuries can vary greatly and are highly dependent on the individual’s unique experience.

Some people may experience PTSD after a car accident or assault, while others might not. A person injured in a fire may have disfiguring burn scars that make them embarrassed to go out in public or wear a bathing suit, while a person involved in a slip and fall might suffer no lasting damage to their appearance.

Assigning a dollar amount to an individual’s experiences isn’t easy since there’s no defined rubric or agreed upon cost chart for psychological suffering. It’s often up to insurance companies, personal injury attorneys and juries to negotiate and decide what an appropriate recovery for pain and suffering should be depending on the circumstances.

How Much Money Can You Sue for Pain and Suffering?

You can sue for emotional distress or pain and suffering in Florida, but it’s less common than seeking non-economic damages

related to a physical injury. What your pain and suffering (non-economic damages) are worth depends on the extent of your suffering.

Being uncomfortable for a few weeks after a car crash is worth far less than suffering a permanent disability after a truck accident. The permanence of an accident’s consequences can significantly alter the eventual pain and suffering damages to which you will be entitled.

The extent of an accident’s impact will also be a major variable. For example, someone who is left with visible scarring on their face after a crash might be entitled to more pain and suffering damages than someone who suffered a more serious injury but recovered fully with no visible scarring.

There are all types of psychological issues or emotional traumas that may justify seeking pain and suffering damages. These can include things like:

• Anxiety
• Grief
• Embarrassment
• Humiliation
• Depression
• Loss of companionship
• Sexual dysfunction
• Fear
• Indignity
• Reduction in quality of life
• Disfigurement
• Mental or physical impairment / disability
• Even inconvenience or undue ordeal

Some of those consequences may seem to be more serious than others. Being inconvenienced by someone else’s negligent actions is less serious than suffering a permanent physical or mental impairment, and the recovery to which the victim will be entitled will vary based on the extent of the loss.

How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Calculated?

There are a couple of common methods used to assign an appropriate dollar amount to intangible pain and suffering losses:

• Per diem method
• Multiplier method

The per diem method, or “daily rate” method, involves multiplying a dollar amount by the number of days it takes for a person to fully recover. This method generally isn’t used for someone who suffers permanent injuries or disability due to an accident since it’s impossible to accurately predict how long the plaintiff will live with their injuries.

The multiplier method is the more common of the two. The plaintiff’s legal team and the insurance company will negotiate to determine a fair multiplier, which is usually between 1.5 and five. The injured person’s economic damages (the quantifiable damages based on lost wages and medical costs) are then multiplied by the multiplier to determine their pain and suffering (non-economic) damages.

The multiplier will be based on factors like the severity of the injury, its long-term impact on the plaintiff’s life and whether the plaintiff will ever fully recover.

A person who loses a limb or the ability to walk may be entitled to a multiple on the higher end of the scale, while someone who was only inconvenienced or suffered temporary embarrassment might get a multiplier on the lower end of the spectrum.

For many plaintiffs, the multiplier method is the better of the two options, and it’s the calculation most personal injury attorneys push for in negotiations.

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How Much Can I Recover for My Pain and Suffering?

This really depends on the extent of your suffering, the severity of your injuries and the cost you incurred due to the defendant’s negligence. If your injuries had a profound long-term negative impact on your quality of life, you might be entitled to significant pain and suffering damages. If you suffered temporary inconvenience or simply felt personally insulted by the gall and carelessness of the person who caused your accident, you might not be entitled to high non-economic damages.

If you have questions about the recovery you might be entitled to, it’s likely in your best interest to discuss your situation with a Florida personal injury attorney. Explain exactly what happened, who was at fault and how your accident or injuries affected your life. A personal injury attorney can give you a better idea of the factors that may influence your recovery and explain your options for pursuing a claim against the at-fault party.

Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney for Car Accidents in Boca Raton

Life in Boca Raton isn’t always free of troubles, despite the beautiful weather, friendly disposition of locals and relaxed vibe of this vacation and retirement destination. Accidents, malicious behavior and the negligent actions of drivers, professionals or normal people going about their lives can cause severe, future-altering injuries.

When people are injured by the careless, reckless or criminal actions of others, the injured party should be fairly compensated. You shouldn’t have to bear the financial burden of someone else’s mistake. Although money won’t ever reverse pain, suffering or the loss of a loved one, it is the best way to at least partially make things right.

The personal injury lawyers at Kanner & Pintaluga have dedicated their practice to righting the wrongs inflicted upon residents of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County. Every member of our team, from founders Howard Kanner and Eric Pintaluga to our associate attorneys, paralegals and support staff, is passionate about our mission to make people financially whole after a serious injury or death in their family.

While it’s true that no amount of money can reverse a disability or bring back a loved one, it can help ensure your family is cared for and you can live as comfortably as possible.

We use our extensive resources and decades of combined experience to thoroughly investigate car accidents and other injury incidents to ascertain the truth of who is responsible. We thoroughly prepare for all insurance company negotiations and leverage what we find to fight for the best possible claim settlement for our clients. If the insurance company refuses to offer fair recovery, we won’t hesitate to take them to court and pursue the compensation you deserve at a jury trial.

Find out why so many people in Boca Raton with car and truck accident injuries turn to Kanner & Pintaluga. Call us at 800.586.5555 to get started.