Should Your Car Accident Claim Include Pain and Suffering?

As far as a car accident case is concerned, whether it is an insurance claim or a lawsuit, the injured individual’s “pain and suffering” will be duly considered while assessing a claim for the purposes of a settlement or evaluating a damages award in court.

Here is some information concerning the compensation for pain and suffering that your Philadelphia, PA accident lawyer already knows but you should be familiar with this too:

Damages in Car Accident Cases

There two key types of damages in any car accident case, economic or special and non-economic or general.

Economic damages constitute all your medical bills, lost income, cost of repairing or replacing your automobile, along with other easily assessed losses caused by the accident and your own injuries. Non-economic damages are the kind of losses that are not easy to evaluate, and such losses include “pain and suffering” which belongs to the sub-category of damages.

The phrase, “pain and suffering”, signifies all the physical pain, discomfort related to the injury, and the discomfort suffered from needed medical treatment. Besides, the phrase also means emotional distress, worry, anxiety, depression, frustration, and the many negative effects that accompany the accident and the resultant injuries.

Compensation for Pain and Suffering

In car accident cases that involve comparatively minor injuries, the insurance adjuster who represents the at-fault driver might offer a small sum of money to compensate for your pain, for instance, $1,500. This shows that the insurance company duly recognizes the need for recompensing for your pain. Now the important question remains: how much money you really deserve?

It is difficult to place a precise amount on your pain, for the impact of the car accident in your day to day life. However, Pennsylvania accident attorneys (who can be found on this phenomenal website: https://usattorneys.com/) mention several factors that have to be considered while trying to reckon the pain and suffering, you have suffered:     

• Severity of the injuries
• Degree of discomfort and pain related to the injuries
• Impact of the injuries on your job, quality of life including hobbies, sports, relationships
• Scope and nature of the necessary medical treatment due to the injuries
• Probable time taken for you to recover from the injuries
• The need to take pain medication, as a result of the injuries and essential medical treatment

Negotiating with the Insurance Adjuster should Rarely be Done by Yourself

For the most part, don’t expect the insurance company to hand over large amounts of money to you. Instead, you should create your case, and then negotiate. If your injuries are very serious, the possible value for your pain will be larger, although the insurance adjuster will make every attempt to pay a negligible amount.

If you have suffered only minor injuries, you can negotiate for an amount you are satisfied with. This is only for the smallest of cases such as if your arm is scratched or the air bag hit your chest and there is some soreness. Any serious wounds, sprained ligaments, getting knocked unconscious, you need to hire a Philadelphia accident lawyer because you will have enough on your mind and going up against a trained insurance agent and their team is just irrational and will almost certainly be costly to you.

You will not receive what you should and could if you do not hire some legal help. Any accident that is even slightly alarming, that is just a little worse than a fender bender, you will need some legal muscle by your side. The other side insured a sloppy driver or someone who made the mistake; do not make a mistake and try to take them on when you have personal issues to handle (your car is damaged, your commute to work is compromised, medical bills, insurance, and so on).

You think you are upset now? When you realize that hiring an accident lawyer could have garnered you much more money than what you just signed off for, you will be kicking yourself for years to come.