What Is Pain and Suffering? Guide for 2024

What Is Pain and Suffering?

In many injury cases, victims suffer from the effects of pain and suffering. Pain and suffering do not have a strict monetary value. Instead, an injury victim, insurance company, and/or judge must look at the impact of the injuries on the victim’s quality of life. Injuries that have a greater impact on a victim’s normal life will justify greater compensation for these non-economic losses.

Injured people experience two types of losses. Economic losses encompass all their monetary expenses, such as medical costs, lost income, and reduced future earnings. Non-economic losses cover all their non-financial losses. Thus, the legal category for pain and suffering is “non-economic loss” because you cannot easily put a price tag on it.

Some categories of losses that qualify as pain and suffering include the following:

Physical Pain and Suffering

The phrase “physical pain and suffering” encompasses the discomfort associated with injuries. For example, a car accident victim might not be able to turn their head after suffering a neck injury in a motorcycle accident. Similarly, a slip and fall accident might cause back pain that prevents you from finding a comfortable position for sitting at work.

The suffering you experience can also arise from the effects of your injuries. Thus, you might be sleep-deprived because your pain keeps you awake at night. Or you might develop pain in your shoulders and armpits from using crutches after breaking a leg in a motorcycle accident.

There is a distinction between the economic and non-economic aspects of physical pain and suffering. The money you pay for steroid injections or pain medication is an economic loss. The inconvenience of getting treatment and the pain you experience during and between treatments is a non-economic loss.

Mental Pain and Suffering

Mental pain and suffering can come from the distress of your accident and the injuries you suffered. For example, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from a horrific pedestrian collision qualifies as mental pain and suffering. Anxiety and worry about paying the bills for your medical treatment also qualify as mental pain and suffering.

Counseling costs for PTSD are an economic loss. The toll that nightmares and flashbacks take on your quality of life are non-economic losses.

Disability

“Disability” simply means that you have some functional loss that prevents you from doing something you used to do. For example, a broken leg after a slip and fall accident might prevent you from driving. You might not be able to exercise after tearing your rotator cuff after construction injuries. Playing with your kids might become impossible after you suffer a concussion from a collision in a rideshare vehicle.

Disfigurement

You can seek compensation for the social anxiety and embarrassment from disfiguring injuries like amputations and scars. Burn injuries, in particular, can disfigure a victim’s body with visible contractures and scars.

Dismemberment

You will experience grief and loss when you lose a body part. You will also lose the function of the amputated body part, even when you lose a toe or a piece of a finger. You can get pain and suffering damages for the losses you experience beyond the economic impact on your ability to earn a living without the body part.

Putting a Value on Pain and Suffering

Plaintiffs do not need to “prove” pain and suffering losses. Instead, insurers and jurors are supposed to arrive at a fair number based on the case’s facts, including the injuries suffered.

For example, Georgia uses the term “general damages” to describe these losses. The state defines general damages as those that are presumed to flow from any injury. Once an accident victim presents their case in court, Georgia’s Pattern Jury Instructions tell jurors to use their enlightened conscience to arrive at a fair amount for pain and suffering damages.

The Florida Civil Jury Instructions give a little bit more for jurors to use by defining the following losses as non-economic:

• Disability or physical impairment

• Disfigurement

• Mental anguish

• Inconvenience

• Loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life

However, Florida goes on to explain that there is no exact standard for measuring pain and suffering and that the jury should award a fair and just amount based on the evidence.

The California Civil Jury Instructions go a bit further in explaining what qualifies as pain and suffering losses. These instructions include both past and future non-economic losses in the following categories:

• Physical pain

• Disfigurement

• Physical impairment

• Anxiety

• Mental suffering

• Loss of enjoyment of life

• Grief

• Inconvenience

• Humiliation

• Emotional distress

Some jurisdictions allow plaintiffs to guide jurors’ calculations. In these states, a pain and suffering lawyer can present testimony from a damages expert to give jurors concrete equations for calculating pain and suffering damages. These damages experts typically rely on the following two methods when testifying:

Multiplier Method

In the multiplier method, the jury chooses a factor and multiplies it by the economic losses. The outcome of the equation is the total damages, including both economic and non-economic losses.

For example, suppose the jury picks a factor of 2.5 based on the severity of the victim’s injuries. If the victim had $50,000 in economic losses, they would receive $125,000 total, with $50,000 in economic compensation and $75,000 in non-economic compensation.

Per Diem Method

For the per diem method, the jury assigns a value to the victim’s daily losses. The jury multiplies the daily loss by the number of days the victim’s injuries lasted to determine the non-economic losses.

Thus, a jury could choose a daily loss of $200 for a broken leg. If the leg heals in eight weeks, the victim would receive $11,200 in pain and suffering damages. This number would be added to the economic losses for the overall award.

Learn More About Pain and Suffering From ConsumerShield

Pain and suffering are often a significant part of your injury claim. ConsumerShield can help you understand the rules for measuring pain and suffering in your state and refer you to a lawyer for assistance. Contact us for a free case review.