When a person is injured because of someone else’s negligence, they usually know that they should be compensated financially but also have a vague understanding that they should get something for their “pain and suffering.”
In a lawsuit, pain and suffering are referred to as non-economic damages and represent various types of negative experiences victims have after an accident. Unfortunately, the subjective nature of pain and suffering makes its value hard to calculate and where most settlement negotiations between opposing attorneys stall. Our experienced NYC car accident lawyer can explain exactly what constitutes pain and suffering, including how to document it and how recovering it might be limited in certain situations.
For a free and confidential case review, call The Carrion Law Firm’s NYC personal injury lawyers today at (718) 841-0083.
What is Pain and Suffering Exactly in NYC Lawsuits?
Pain and suffering can typically be separated by the physical pain a victim experiences during and after an accident, as well as the emotional suffering permanent or long-lasting injuries cause.
Physical Pain
Virtually every injury causes pain. If you break your nose in a car accident or your wrist in a slip and fall, the immediate pain can be incredible. That pain may continue while you receive emergency treatment and follow-up care after an accident.
The more serious the injuries, the greater the likelihood of physical pain moving forward. For instance, you might experience bad pain during physical therapy sessions or after surgery. You could even have chronic physical pain after your injuries heal, especially if you suffered neck and back injuries. Our attorneys will include any form of pain stemming from your accident in calculations for damages.
Mental Suffering
Forms of emotional harm and distress are also considered pain and suffering. Accident victims often develop different psychological issues because of incidents.
Some people experience anxiety because their sense of safety has been compromised. Others get depressed because they might not have the same physical abilities as before, impacting their professional and social life. It is also common for victims to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause responses to stress triggers that they cannot control.
These types of emotional distress are not mutually exclusive, and suffering one form can further increase the damages caused by another, especially when you feel like you are not in control of your own mind.
Ultimately, our lawyers will look at how the accident has impacted your quality of life and enjoyment of it. Do you now miss out on hobbies you once enjoyed? Has intimacy in your marriage lessened because of your injuries? If so, you should be compensated for it.
Do All Injury Victims Qualify for Pain and Suffering Damages in NYC?
Even if your injuries appear relatively minor, they can still impact your daily life. Underestimating pain and suffering is common and leads victims to think they deserve less compensation than they actually do.
During settlement negotiations, we won’t let the defendant minimize your injuries or their “intangible” harms. These are all the non-financial damages you have incurred. In addition to pain and suffering, you can get compensation for embarrassment, inconvenience, or, if your loved one died and you file a lawsuit, loss of consortium and grief.
How Do You Quantify Pain and Suffering in NYC?
Quantifying pain and suffering before filing is important so that you know your claim’s value. We can use both calculation methods to quantify pain and suffering and see which yields larger amounts.
Per Diem Method
When using the per diem method, our NYC personal injury lawyers assign a daily rate to your non-economic damages. We base this rate on your daily earnings and the severity of your injury. We then multiply the daily rate by the number of days we anticipate you incurring non-economic damages. Based on your injuries, that may be months or years. The result is what we may request in non-economic damages in your lawsuit.
Multiplier Method
We can also choose a multiplier based on the severity of your injury, and multiply that by your total economic damages. Multipliers generally range from 1.5 to 5, with the most severe injuries getting a multiplier of 5.
How Do I Prove Pain and Suffering in My NYC Lawsuit?
Proving pain and suffering can be challenging, but our lawyers can help organize evidence in a way that clearly illustrates how an accident has turned your life upside down.
Medical Records
The kind of injury you suffered will have a major impact on pain and suffering damages. For example, broken bones can be extremely painful but are far more likely to heal with the proper treatment. Comparatively, spine and traumatic head injuries can affect a victim for the rest of their life.
Injuries will also dictate the treatment needed to recover.
Relatively minor injuries usually have a set timetable in which treatment should get you to maximum medical improvement, such as placing a broken wrist in a cast for a few months. More serious injuries might require extensive treatment long into the future if an injury victim needs surgery or physical therapy to recover if they fully recover at all. We can use your medical records and doctors’ reports to prove the extent of your treatment.
Testimony
Of course, you will also have the chance to testify to the negative impacts following an accident. You are the best person to describe the pain and suffering another person’s negligence has caused. Friends and family can also support your claims by testifying about how you have changed since the accident.
When Can’t You Recover Pain and Suffering Damages in NYC?
States that use a no-fault auto insurance system typically have restrictions against recovering pain and suffering damages from a vehicle accident. For instance, New York allows injury victims to sue for pain and suffering only if they suffer “serious” injuries. The definition of seriousness ranges from broken bones to permanent injuries, which is why it is important to have our lawyers organize your medical records to get over this threshold.
You also can’t get non-economic damages if you miss the statute of limitations. Most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of an accident, according to C.V.P. Law § 214(5).
The statute of limitations for medical malpractice lawsuits is two and a half years, while the statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is just two years from the victim’s death.
We’ll confirm your filing deadline based on the accident’s date and how you were injured. Even if it’s been almost three years since your car crash, fall, or other accident, reach out to our lawyers about your case.
What Can I Do to Help My Claim for Pain and Suffering in NYC?
You can help your claim for pain and suffering by documenting your intangible damages and contacting our lawyers to handle your case.
Keep a Journal
After a bad fall, car crash, construction accident, or other incident, you can document your non-economic damages in a journal. Victims can use journals to note changes to their daily lives, increased feelings of anxiety and depression, and other intangible harms.
See a Therapist
Mental health experts aid victims’ recoveries of non-economic damages. They can assess victims after accidents, gauging their reduced quality of life. Experts may diagnose victims with anxiety, depression, or PTSD. They can testify during trials, supporting victims’ own testimony about their pain and suffering.
Contact Our Lawyers
Pain and suffering are often evident from the accident and injuries, but you still need to prove it. Working with an experienced law firm that understands how to quantify non-economic damages is the best way to recover compensation for the wide-ranging losses even a minor injury can cause. We can help you understand how pain and suffering are likely to affect your life moving forward and calculate a value for it so that you do not lose compensation that’s crucial to making a full recovery.
Does New York Limit Damages for Pain and Suffering?
Some states limit how much compensation victims can get for non-economic damages, but New York does not. This favors plaintiffs, who can recover whatever amount juries see fit when they win at trial.
New York doesn’t limit pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice or wrongful death lawsuits, either.
New York’s lack of damage caps does not guarantee a good recovery. Our lawyers must still prove your pain and suffering and convince the jury you deserve substantial damages.
What Qualifies as a Good Injury Settlement in NYC?
Injury settlements don’t always cover non-economic damages. Our lawyers will analyze every offer you get to make sure it’s fair before advising you to accept. Accept a bad offer, and you might have to cover some of your damages, which we’ll work to avoid.
Good settlement offers should cover both economic and non-economic damages, like pain and suffering. Don’t underestimate an injury’s effect on your life, especially if you can’t work, play with your kids, or engage in hobbies you once enjoyed.
We can get better injury settlements by leveraging evidence like eyewitness statements, expert witness statements, and video footage. Indicating we may go to court may yield better offers, too. Even if you want a settlement fast, waiting for a superior settlement benefits you. We won’t make you wait too long, however, and can go to court if the defendant stalls negotiations.
Call Us to Talk About Your NYC Injury Case
Call The Carrion Law Firm’s NYC personal injury lawyers today at (718) 841-0083 for a free case assessment.