Car Accidents and Lawyers to Reduce Stress

Posted on: 25 March 2019

When you're in a motorcycle or car accident, you can suffer all kinds of injuries that may prevent you from working. If you work with a personal injury lawyer to bring a suit against the at-fault driver, you can try to obtain a settlement that covers your medical bills, lost wages, and other tangible costs.

But you may also be feeling a lot of pain. Luckily, you can also get compensation for pain after a car or motorcycle accident. How can you put a number on pain? Well, there are a few different options. Here's what you need to know:

1. The Multiplier Method

The multiplier method of pain evaluation starts with the amount of measurable losses you suffered after that accident. As indicated above, that includes medical bills and lost wages, but it can also include making modifications to your home (for instance, putting in a wheelchair ramp), medications, chiropractic care, and anticipated impact on your future income. Once you have that number, you multiply it by a factor of 1.5 to 5, and the result is your potential pain and suffering settlement.

To ensure you get the fairest settlement possible, you should work with an attorney who can help you accurately assess your direct economic losses. If a lawyer forgets to take some costs into account, that can affect your entire settlement. Additionally, you need a lawyer who can skillfully argue for a high multiplier.

When deciding if you should use a two, a five, or another multiplier, the courts usually take into account the severity of your injury, how your injuries affect your daily life and your future existence, and comparative liability.

2. The Per Diem Method

Alternatively, you may use the per diem method to put a number on your pain and suffering. The per diem method estimates the number of days you were in pain and multiples that by a daily rate. For instance, if you were in pain for a year and you used a per diem rate of $100, that works out to the equation 365 x $100 = $36,500.

The per diem method works best in situations where you are in pain for a limited amount of time. Then, you can assess the number of days more accurately. If you're going to be in pain permanently, your lawyer may guide you toward another calculation method.

If you decide to use this method, you also have to pick a daily rate. In a lot of cases, car or motorcycle accident victims use their daily earnings as the per diem rate. For instance, if you earn $200 every workday, you multiply that number by the number of days of pain.

3. Combination Calculations

Sometimes, your auto accident or motorcycle attorney may estimate a potential settlement using both methods. Then, they may advise you to try to obtain the larger amount, or they may decide that choosing the median between these two numbers is the best idea.

When you have your initial consultation with an accident attorney, you may want to talk about pain and suffering. Find out how they normally calculate pain and suffering for their clients, and get a sense of whether or not their approach feels right to you.

4. Comparative Liability

Finally, when assessing the potential settlement value for your pain and suffering, you may need to take comparative liability into account. Comparative liability is when the courts assess that the plaintiff is partially responsible for some of the accident.

For example, imagine a truck doesn't stop at a red light and runs into a motorcycle. However, the motorcycle was speeding. In a case like this, the courts might say that 10% of the accident was the fault of the motorcyclist, and then the settlement gets reduced by that amount. Note that these are just sample numbers.   

Contact an auto accident attorney in your area for more information or assistance.