What Is a Fair Settlement for Pain and Suffering?

If someone’s negligence injured you, you likely have questions about your compensation. People filing insurance claims or personal injury lawsuits may ask: what is a fair settlement for your pain and suffering.

Pain and Suffering is Challenging to Calculate

Injuries from an accident can cause pain and suffering for victims. The damages calculated for the pain and suffering are subjective because no two accidents, people, or injuries are the same.

Here are a few situations that make pain and suffering calculations challenging:

• When the victim loses their life—If a victim dies in an accident, insurance companies may be reluctant to grant pain and suffering damages. The instant loss of life means the victim may not have had time to experience pain or suffering.
• When the injuries are non-life-threatening—While a victim with a broken bone is likely to suffer pain, broken bones can result from many activities. Therefore, the insurance company is likely to suggest the victim would have suffered this type of injury regardless of the other person’s fault and may seek to have these types of damages reduced.
• Lack of documentation—Unlike medical costs, lost wages, or physical damage, pain and suffering is difficult to document. If a victim suffers serious mental health issues resulting from their injury or accident, the pain and suffering are typically easier to prove.

These are several reasons why pain and suffering can be challenging to calculate. An accident victim should always seek the guidance of an experienced personal injury lawyer when someone’s negligence caused their injury.

Types of Pain and Suffering

No two victims are the same, and their pain and suffering aren’t either. Pain and suffering may include:

• Loss of enjoyment of life—Depending on the extent of a person’s injury, they may be unable to enjoy activities they enjoyed before their accident.
• Post-traumatic stress—Accidents can cause lasting mental pain and suffering as well. Some accident victims may develop a new fear of driving, walking in public, passing through dark areas, or meeting a dog on the street. These injuries are genuine but can be challenging to demonstrate to an insurance adjuster.
• Mental anguish—An accident victim may have visible permanent scars following an accident. A victim may experience lasting mental anguish from seeing their scars, others staring at them, or others questioning what caused them.

Determining a dollar amount to compensate a victim for pain and suffering is complicated. A professional must evaluate each victim to determine the extent of their injuries and any long-term consequences.

Age May Also Play a Role in Pain and Suffering

Age can play a part in the type of accident a person faces, and it can also impact the damages sustained. For instance:

• Dog bite victims—When a child is bitten or attacked by a dog, they may develop a lifetime irrational fear of all dogs. Helping a child overcome this fear may involve mental health counseling and may persist throughout life.
• Victims of direct attacks—Anyone attacked in an unsafe parking lot or walking on the street could develop a life-long fear. People may develop agoraphobia, an irrational fear of leaving their homes. This disorder can require mental health counseling and impact a victim’s life long-term.
• Car accident victims—Someone involved in a car accident may develop a fear of driving or being a passenger in a car. This type of reaction can be debilitating, especially for younger victims who can experience it for years to come. This fear is known as motorphobia or amaxophobia.
• Victims of slip and fall—If a senior falls in a store, on a sidewalk, or down a flight of stairs, they could develop a fear of being unsafe in their daily life. People may abandon their daily activities because they fear a future injury.
• Victims of falling items—If something is dropped on someone at a construction site or in a store, victims can become irrationally wary of falling objects at all times. They can become tense in situations where they fear something could fall, and they may avoid walking under structures or become overly cautious in unfamiliar surroundings.

The impact of these psychological injuries can vary significantly from case to case, making it even more challenging to determine what a fair settlement would be for the victim’s pain and suffering.

Insurance Company Approach to Pain and Suffering

Some insurance companies use specific and often complicated formulas to minimize the amount of compensation a person may seek for pain and suffering.

These formulas use factors including the amount of the overall claim for lost wages, medical bills, and other monetary losses. Insurers use formulas because they are purely objective, making it easier to reduce the compensation someone can seek. Victims should always speak with the lawyer handling their personal injury claim to discuss their options and a fair settlement.

There are two standard insurance claim formulas used for calculating pain and suffering. One formula places a dollar amount on pain and suffering based on the total settlement awarded. The other formula uses a “per diem” (or daily) basis meaning the victim would be awarded an amount of money for every day between their injury and maximum medical improvement (see below). Your personal injury lawyer can help you understand how these formulas work and which formula may be more beneficial in your case.

Maximum Medical Improvement and Pain and Suffering

Florida Statute 440.02(10) defines Maximum Medical Improvement as “… the date after which further recovery from, or lasting improvement to, an injury or disease can no longer reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability.”

Maximum Medical Improvement does not mean that a person has fully recovered—it merely means that no further improvement is anticipated, regardless of how much additional treatment or care the person may receive.

Let’s assume for a moment that someone was involved in a car accident and, as a result, suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The victim may never fully recover. People who suffer from a TBI may reach maximum recovery and still cannot care for themselves. When a victim has reached Maximum Medical Improvement and continues to suffer from debilitating effects from their injury, it can be difficult to calculate the compensation for their ongoing pain and suffering. Determining pain and suffering is increasingly challenging if the victim cannot speak or communicate due to their injuries.

Accident Injury Lawyers and Pain and Suffering

Your personal injury lawyer will discuss your case with you before making a settlement demand to the insurance company covering the party liable for your injuries. Your lawyer may make the amount you should demand for your pain and suffering part of the discussion.

Your lawyer will likely ask about:

• The extent of your injury
• The impact of your injury on your job
• The impact of your injury on your family life
• The impact of your injury on your social life
• The amount of pain you suffered in the immediate aftermath of the accident
• The pain you are suffering on an ongoing basis
• Medications prescribed to help you deal with new pain
• Mental health issues you have faced since your accident
• Other trauma you have faced due to your injury

These factors, and others, will help your lawyer determine a reasonable demand to cover your pain and suffering following an injury. You should not be surprised if the insurer pushes back against the amount demanded. You should expect they will not meet the demand initially and negotiate to lower the amount.

Having an Accident Injury Lawyer on Your Side

While some accident victims are reluctant to hire a lawyer following an accident, doing so ensures you get the best possible settlement for your pain and suffering. Remember something: insurance companies don’t want to help you as a victim. Insurers also have a team of legal experts to advise and push you toward settling quickly and for as little as possible. They also know the financial burden on someone injured in an accident, and the insurer will use that as leverage to get you to settle quickly.

Negotiating a personal injury claim yourself is unwise as the insurer is experienced and can outmaneuver you if you don’t have someone equally versed in the law. Insurance companies hope you will not get an attorney because they know that the attorney will push back and is less likely to accept a lower settlement offer.

Fair Settlements Start With Sound Legal Advice

If you want a fair settlement for pain and suffering, you should seek legal help as soon as you are well enough to contact a personal injury lawyer. Remember, you can get a free consultation and have your questions answered by someone who understands Florida’s personal injury laws and who will always keep your best interests in mind.

You do not have to negotiate with insurance companies on your own, and you should not if you want a fair settlement. Don’t let an insurance company dictate what your pain and suffering are worth. Instead, work closely with a personal injury lawyer who can advocate for you and ensure you get what you deserve.