What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?

In a lot of cases where someone is involved in a car accident or suffers from some kind of injury, you might hear your attorney talk about “pain and suffering damages.” For a lot of people who don’t have a lot of knowledge about the law, this term can sound a little confusing. While it’s always best to talk to your attorney about any legal question you have, here is what you need to know about pain and suffering damages.

Damages

In the legal world, the word “damages” is just another way of saying money. More specifically, it’s money other people owe you because they caused you harm. For example, if you are involved in a car accident because someone else drove recklessly, that person may have to pay you money. Depending on how badly your car was damaged and whether you suffered an injury, the other driver may have to pay to both repair your car and compensate you for the injuries you received. The driver might also have to pay you because the accident left you in pain or prevented you from going to work and earning an income. All of these types of payments are referred to as damages. More on this website

Pain and Suffering

In any case, where someone is hurt, it’s often very easy to determine the price of property damage, medical costs, and lost wages. These types of damages are known as economic damages. Yet the courts also allow for non-economic damages, or as they are more commonly referred to, pain and suffering. These types of damages are not so easily calculated because there is no fixed dollar amount associated with them.

Any time you’re hurt in an accident you might be entitled to recover pain and suffering damages because you’ve suffered pain, gone through emotional or psychological distress, have been disfigured, or have sustained injuries that have affected your ability to do things you like to do. If any of these situations occurred as a result of the accident or injury you sustained, and someone else is at fault, you can receive pain and suffering damages.

Calculating the Cost of Pain

Whenever you sue for pain and suffering damages, the question of how much you are entitled to always arises. Take, for example, a situation where a driver hits you while you’re riding your bike. In this type of accident, you can receive compensation not only for medical costs or lost wages but also for pain and suffering as a result of:

Any disfiguring scars caused by your injuries.
The pain of rehabilitating your physical injuries.
The emotional distress you experience remembering the traumatic event.
The loss of enjoyment you can no longer obtain from riding your bike.

In general, the more severe your injuries and the greater amount of pain you experience, the more damages you’ll be able to receive.

Ask a Lawyer

Pain-and-suffering damage is one of the more difficult issues involved in any personal injury case. If you are involved in such a case or simply have questions about pain-and-suffering damages, you should speak to an attorney near you. State laws differ a lot, and only our local lawyer will be able to give you advice about your case.