Accidents can have a really negative impact on a person’s life. The victim could end up with a disability or even worse fatal injuries. A Greenville personal injury claim helps to aid some of the victim’s damage.
Besides the loss of health, there are a lot of other things that a person loses in an accident. While filing a claim, the victim can even demand a “pain and suffering” compensation against the person at fault.
Many people overlook this claim considering that they aren’t eligible for it or consider it unimportant. This is because they aren’t educated on the matter. Even if you haven’t suffered through an accident, this information can be helpful to prepare you beforehand because accidents never come invited.
“Pain and Suffering” Under South CaRolina Law:
When a person ends up in an accident, they become entitled to claim compensation. This claim could be for economic or non-economic losses of the victim of the accident. The former stands for the damage that a person suffers financially such as lost wages, medical bills and expenses, costs of repair, etc.
This type of claim is easy to calculate. Non-economic losses, however, aren’t that easy to calculate. You can’t just add two and two here.
“Pain and Suffering” is one example of non-economic losses. If you get in an accident, you suffer through pain, it could be less or more. This “Pain and Suffering” is entirely subjective.
It depends on the pain you experience because of injuries you sustain, the surgery or treatment you get, or the therapy you take to become whole again. Even though you can’t directly sum it in money, you would still be entitled to seek compensation for it.
Factors Considered by A Personal Injury Lawyer in Greenville, SC:
Since “Pain and Suffering” is subjective, there is no hard and fast method to measure it. But your attorney will present the case in front of the jury and they will decide how much compensation the victim deserves based on certain factors.
Here is what the jury for your Greenville personal injury claim might take into account:
- Severity of injury
- Type of injury
- Number of days of the hospital stay
- Number of surgeries and/or other medical procedures sustained
- Occupational and/or physical therapy requirement and duration
- Testimony from experts or doctors and others with experience concerning the pain and suffering for victims with similar injuries
- Medical procedures nature— non-invasive to mildly invasive to extremely invasive
- Testimony from the victim and his/her family
- Level of pain medications prescribed to aid the injury — customarily prescribed and prescribed
- Age of the victim
- Photographic and/or other direct evidence of the injury
- Aggravating factors from the person at fault.
- Routine impact of the accident injury on the victim’s ability to function — loss of activities
Estimating Value of Pain and Suffering in a Greenville Personal Injury Claim:
There are two main methods for determining the value of pain and suffering.
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Using a Multiplier:
The first method, using a multiplier, is probably the most common one. The jury uses a multiplier of all the economic losses of the victim. In most cases, the multiplier is set from one to five.
Choosing the multiplier is a form of art; you can’t precisely define it. The choice of the multiplier is impacted by the factors involved in the accidents including the ones mentioned above.
For example, a person bears an economic loss of $100,000 for the severe injuries caused by the accident and involves no aggravating factors. The multiplier that most attorneys would suggest would be three in this case.
In that case, hiring an experienced attorney will help you get a compensation of $300,000 for pain and suffering. If the accident was caused due to a fire, then the possible multiplier to select will be five.
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Per Diem Method:
Another method that is considered in a personal injury case is the “Per diem method.” Using this method, the attorney or the victim themselves would demand a reasonable “per day” value for pain and suffering.
Per diem is usually calculated on the person’s daily earnings. Lastly, the jury is asked to decide the pain and suffering compensation based on per diem multiplied the number of days, from the injury till the day the victim is fully recovered from the injury.
Contact a Greenville Personal Injury Attorney Today:
If you have been in an accident, you can file a claim to compensate for each and every “Pain and Suffering” loss you sustained. This won’t take away the suffering. However, the compensation will allow you to deal with that injury without worrying about the finances.
You can contact a South Carolina personal injury attorney to get a free evaluation of your case. They will guide you thoroughly and get you the compensation you deserve.
