Dealing with injuries after a car accident can be incredibly difficult, both physically and financially. In addition to medical bills and lost wages, crashes often result in hardships like emotional trauma and physical pain.
While you work to recover, you may be questioning if the at-fault driver should also be held accountable for these non-economic damages, known as pain and suffering.
Let’s examine what types of pain and suffering are considered and how a Phoenix car accident attorney can value these losses appropriately.
Understanding Pain and Suffering Claims
Pain and suffering refers to non-economic damages that are difficult to place a strict dollar amount on. Here are some key factors considered:
Physical Pain
Physical pain encompasses both short-term injury-related suffering as well as long-term or lifelong limitations you may face due to the accident. This includes things like time spent hospitalized, ongoing medications needed, inability to participate in activities you once enjoyed, and more. Documenting your pain journey is important.
Emotional Distress
Emotional distress resulting from the accident, like anxiety, depression, PTSD, or anger, are qualifying factors. Keeping a pain diary of how you felt both during initial recovery and now can help prove emotional impacts.
Disfigurement
Any disfigurement lingering, like scarring, would also be part of a suffering claim, as it causes self-consciousness and social impairment. Photos over time can evidence this.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
An accident may limit previously enjoyed hobbies or time with loved ones due to injuries sustained, warranting compensation for loss of quality of life.
Your car accident lawyer in Phoenix will convey your story to validate the accident’s impact on your life. This will help justify your pain and suffering damages when negotiating with insurers or presenting your claim in court.
John (Jack) Zinda
Founder / CEO
Over 100 years of combined experience representing injured victims across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationProving Pain and Suffering Damages
To receive adequate financial damages for pain and suffering, a Phoenix car accident attorney can help you prove your claim by showing the following:
- Causation: That the suffering and limits you face are direct medical results of the accident itself through expert testimony and records.
- Severity: More severe injuries with greater impacts on daily life typically warrant higher awards. Depicting your day-to-day challenges helps us to illustrate this.
- Duration: Both past suffering and any projected lifelong consequences need to be proven to receive compensation for future expected pain.
- Precedent: We may use prior similar court case results to argue an award amount proportional to the effects you outlined according to guidelines from past rulings.
Neil Solomon
Partner
Real results matter. We do not get paid unless we win your case.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationWhat Are Some Factors Insurance Companies Consider When Negotiating a Pain and Suffering Settlement?
When negotiating a pain and suffering settlement, insurance companies will typically consider several key factors:
- The severity of injuries: Less severe injuries may result in a lower settlement offer compared to those that are more grave or permanent.
- Likelihood of full recovery: Injuries with a good prognosis to fully heal may get a lower value than chronic, lifelong conditions.
- Pre-existing medical conditions: If prior illnesses or disabilities are present, they may argue this impacts the suffered pain.
- Causation questions: They may challenge if all claimed suffering was directly caused by the accident specifically.
- Plaintiff’s employment/income status: Higher earners may be seen as losing more daily due to impacts.
- Settlement history for similar cases: Insurers will compare demands to prior localized payout averages.
- Expert testimony strength: More compelling expert evidence robustly linking injuries to accidents hurts their stance.
- Sympathy factors: Things like a plaintiff’s age and family circumstances influence monetary views of intangible harm.
- Litigation risk: The stronger the liability aspects of a case, the more they must offer to avoid an expensive trial. When you are represented by legal counsel, their perceived threat of litigation increases because they know you are taking your claim seriously.
They aim low at first to gauge the plaintiff’s resoluteness, so an attorney is important to understand the true value of your claim.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
Standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to answer in your time of need.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationMaximizing Your Pain and Suffering Settlement
An experienced Phoenix car accident attorney can help to increase the settlement or award in your case in multiple ways. Your lawyer will:
Prepare Comprehensive Medical Documentation
Ensure your full medical history, bills, imaging, therapy notes, and doctor questionnaires are organized and portray the accident’s aftereffects.
Assess the Monetary Value of Impacts
Determine an initial demand amount accounting for all economic and non-economic suffering based on comparable closed cases, evidence, and testimony.
Negotiate with Insurance Companies
Leverage legal expertise to aggressively negotiate a fair offer, or be prepared to litigate if responsible parties won’t acknowledge the real costs of your suffering.
Present Your Case in Court
Proving pain and suffering damages through trial involves compellingly telling your story of how the accident has continued altering your daily life experiences if an out-of-court settlement can’t be reached. Court cases may be warranted in cases of catastrophic injuries, such as loss of limbs, paralysis, or severe burns covering much of the body.
A skilled lawyer understands what evidence is needed to provide suitable compensatory damages for your pain and recovery burdens per Arizona law. Your health should remain the priority – we can fight to see you rightly compensated.
Cole Gumm
Attorney
We are here to ensure you won’t have to face this difficult time alone.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationContact Us to Learn About the Pain and Suffering Damages That May Be Available in Your Car Accident Claim
Our goal is to ease your mind with practical knowledge of your potential legal options. With an understanding of Arizona personal injury law, you can make an informed decision about pursuing fair compensation for all losses faced due to another’s negligence.
For more information on suing for pain and suffering after a car accident, contact our Phoenix personal injury lawyers at Zinda Law Group for a free case evaluation.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
We have successfully represented clients in a wide variety of cases across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free Consultation
