What is My Pain Worth?

Experienced Lawyer

When you’ve been injured in an accident, it is not unusual for the responsible party’s insurer to try to rush you to a settlement. Even if you’ve been offered an amount that covers your current medical bills, who pays for future medical needs? The answer is you do if you’ve already accepted a settlement. But how is a fair and adequate value for a personal injury claim determined? The legal term for losses and injuries due to an accident is “damages”, and that is where the valuation begins.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the quantifiable, or measurable, losses incurred due to another person’s careless or willful acts resulting in harm. Also known as specific damages, the value is determined by adding up the total out-of-pocket expenses. These may include:

• Lost salary
• Loss of business opportunities
• Loss of, or damage to, property
• Present and future medical bills, including medications, physical therapy, medical equipment and in-home medical care

Medical expenses typically comprise the majority of the total specific losses. Even though most of the losses can be easily documented, expert witnesses may need to weigh in on valuing lost opportunities or future medical bills. However, economic damages are not always available to the defendant in some states. The concept of comparative negligence may impact the recoverable losses by the amount of shared responsibility for the accident.

Non-Economic Damages

This loss category is also known as general damages. These losses are not as easily quantifiable as specific damages and may involve complex analysis to determine the total value. Examples of general damages are:

• Disfigurement
• Disability
• Loss of enjoyment
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of companionship – in the case of death, this is a loss that may be recovered by a spouse

This category is subject to the laws of the state in which the case is filed. Some states require a finding of specific damages before allowing the plaintiff to seek general damages. There is frequently a formula used to arrive at the value of general losses and they are frequently subject to a cap, or limit, on how much can be recovered. The limits may vary but a common rule of thumb is that the plaintiff may receive no more than 10 times the value of economic damages for non-economic damages.

Before signing off on any offers from the insurance company for your injuries, you should contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in Salt Lake City, Utah to understand your rights under the laws of your state. Your lawyer can help to determine what a reasonable settlement should be.

Thanks to Rasmussen & Miner for their insight into personal injury claims and what your case is worth.