- April 15, 2021
- Personal Injury
Car accidents can result in injuries ranging from mild to serious or even critical. The more severe injuries cost you more than the medical expenses – they have a very real impact on the quality of your life. This is why South Carolina laws allow you to recover pain and suffering damages in lieu of non-economic damages in a car crash claim.
What are Pain and Suffering?
In South Carolina, non-financial damages in a crash claim are divided into different categories. One of these is known as ‘pain and suffering ‘. It’s a general term used for physical and mental, emotional, social, or psychological suffering.
Pain here is defined as physical pain caused by traumatic accident-related injuries, physical impairment, and disfigurement while suffering means psychological damage such as anxiety, depression, injury-related stress, mental anguish, injury to reputation, and emotional effects of the injuries you sustain.
Suffering and pain both can be temporary or permanent and both can impact your life differently. Everyone experiences pain and suffering in their own unique way, though it provides an opportunity for significant financial recoveries provided that the victims give sufficient evidence to claim their compensation.
Factors Used in Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages
Judges and juries consider a variety of factors to determine the authenticity of claims and to calculate the precise amount of damages. These factors take into account victims’ financial and personal circumstances.
Factors typically considered include the victim’s age, health condition before the accident, the severity of the physical injuries, the extent of medical needs and expenditures, duration of recovery, the day to day limitations faced due to the accident, impact on the victim’s ability to spend meaningful time with family and friends, and any other limiting effects on the victim’s life.
It’s important to remember that here no single factor is decisive. In different crash claims, different factors may be given more weight in calculating pain and suffering damages.
Methods Used For Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages
Though the above-mentioned factors are also taken into account while determining the cost of damages, insurance companies adopt formula-based approaches to calculate pain and suffering damages. Currently, there are two methods that are commonly used by insurance companies for calculating damages. One of these is the Multiplier Method while the other is called the Per Diem method. Your attorney can help you choose a method that is to your advantage.
Multiplier Method
In this method, the victim’s financial losses are multiplied by a number between 1 to 5 in order to calculate damages. The more severe the victim’s injuries are, the greater is the multiplier number.
Per Diem Method
In this method, the victim receives compensation based on a daily rate that is applied to the number of days that he or she is expected to go through this issue.
Proving Pain and Suffering
You are required to prove that your injuries have resulted in pain and suffering before you can collect damages for it. To do this, you must present relevant documentation and evidence such as medical bills, notes from your physician, reports of medical tests, and so on.
Any physical injuries or psychological harms can be diagnosed by psychologists, psychiatrists, physical therapists, and other medical experts. You can also show the effects on your life in front of the jury.
As a victim, you can take some steps to demonstrate the effects in the following ways:
- Maintain a thorough record of all the ways through which pain and suffering impact your life
- Provide a more visual estimate by rating the severity of your pain on a scale of 1 to 10
- State the social, work, and personal activities you can no longer undertake due to pain and suffering
- Other effects of your injuries on your real-world life
Hire a Reliable Car Accident Lawyer in Greenwood SC
If you have suffered a car accident in Greenwood, SC, we can help you recover a fair amount of compensation. Here at ASB Law Firm, we help you file a crash claim in time and seek both economic and non-economic damages from the at-fault party. We also work with you to create an estimate of the pain and suffering damages you can expect to receive in your accident claim. Call us today to discuss your claim in detail.
