Understanding Pain and Suffering Damages in Montgomery County Injury Cases

Medical bills and property repair costs are not the only expenses that individuals incur when dealing with an accident or injury. A serious and unexpected accident can impact all aspects of your life, including your ability to work, enjoy hobbies, socialize, and navigate day-to-day life. These impacts are often known as pain and suffering damages.

Understanding Pain and Suffering Damages

Damages in Pennsylvania fall into two categories: economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages are those losses that are easy to document and calculate. For example, medical bills are economic damages because they are clearly quantifiable–the number is right there on the page. Economic damages can also include lost wages as well as anticipated future medical care costs.

Noneconomic damages are all of the damages that are not immediately quantifiable and which may not have a clear price tag attached. These damages, while more difficult to calculate, are critical to fully compensating an individual who has been injured and making sure that they are whole. Pain and suffering damages are meant to address these types of impacts and provide a path for full recovery after an accident. 

Pain and Suffering damages can vary widely depending on the circumstances of an accident and often include:

• Physical Pain and Discomfort: Pain and suffering damages can compensate you for physical pain that you experience, including both the immediate pain in the aftermath of an injury, as well as any lingering or chronic pain, even if that pain continues for years. 
• Emotional Anguish: Accidents and injuries have real and lasting mental consequences. Victims may experience ongoing fear and anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder, based on the circumstances of their accident. Emotional anguish can also include depression after an accident and during recovery. 
• Loss of Enjoyment: When an accident impacts your ability to continue to enjoy your life, including engaging in hobbies or activities that you once loved, pain and suffering damages allow you to recover these losses. For example, if you used to coach your child’s sports team, but no longer have the ability to do so, this would be a loss of enjoyment in your life. 
• Loss of Consortium: Accidents and injuries can also impact your relationship with your partner or spouse. This is known as loss of consortium, companionship, or intimacy. 

All of these types of noneconomic damages are highly individual and personal, but deeply important to the recovery process. An experienced Montgomery County personal injury lawyer can help you evaluate your circumstances and determine whether any or all of these types of damages might apply to you. 

Calculating Pain and Suffering in Pennsylvania

As noneconomic damages, pain and suffering damages are not always easy to calculate. There is no one bill that adequately captures what it means to not be able to participate in the sports you once loved, or the impact of ongoing anxiety on your life. Instead, insurance companies and courts have developed alternative methods for calculating pain and suffering damages. 

One of the most common approaches is known as the “multiplier method.” The multiplier method takes the total of your economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.) and multiples that amount by a number, usually between 1.5 and 5. The exact multiplier used depends on a number of different factors, including the severity of injuries experienced, the difficulty of recovering from such injuries, and the long-term consequences of those injuries and any permanent impact they may have. 

For example, bruises and sprains that are quick and easy to recover from might warrant using a 1.5 multiplier because they are relatively minor. But an injury that results in paralysis and a permanent impact on your life could be considered a catastrophic injury that justifies a multiplier of 5. Because injuries are highly individualized and specific, there is no one rule that can be used to determine what multiplier applies. 

Although less common, an alternative “per diem” method is sometimes also used. This method compensates an individual on a daily basis for each day they are in pain. The amount of daily compensation is often equivalent to what they are paid on a daily basis at their job. Under the “per diem” method, an individual only receives compensation for their days in pain up to a point where they reach “maximum medical improvement.” This means that someone experiencing ongoing chronic pain may not be entitled to per diem compensation every day for the rest of their lives. As such, this method is not always a good option for individuals dealing with long-term or permanent damage. 

Limits on Pain and Suffering Damages

In certain instances, Pennsylvania state law limits the amount of damages that an individual can recover for pain and suffering when suing a state or local government agency. Pennsylvania law limits the total amount of damages, including pain and suffering damages, that one can recover from the state to $250,000 per incident or $1,000,000 per incident. And if suing a local government, a plaintiff can only recover a maximum of $500,000 in damages for a claim. 

It is important to note that when suing a private individual or corporation for your injuries, these statutory limits on damages do not apply, and a jury may award damages at any number they believe is fair to compensate you for your losses. 

Our Montgomery County Personal Injury Lawyer Team: Getting the Compensation You Deserve for Your Pain and Suffering

If you have experienced an accident or injury that has had a significant impact on your well-being, mental health, and enjoyment of life, you may be entitled to pain and suffering damages in your negotiation with an insurance company or through a lawsuit filed in court. The Montgomery County personal injury lawyer team at Anthony C. Gagliano,  III, Esquire, P.C. can help you evaluate the possibility of pain and suffering damages, as well as how such damages might be calculated in your case. For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact us today.