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After an accident, people tend to throw around the phrase “pain and suffering.” However, many victims involved in devastating accidents in Northern Mississippi don’t understand what this phrase means and how it may impact their pursuit of fair compensation for their injuries.
There are numerous misconceptions about pain and suffering. An experienced Southaven and Hernando, MS personal injury attorney can walk you through what pain and suffering damages are and how you can recover compensation that accounts for all your accident-related injuries and losses.
What Is Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering mean different things to different people because pain and suffering are both objective concepts. In a legal context, “pain and suffering” generally refers to an accident victim’s physical and mental pain and daily quality of life struggles that result from an accident caused by someone else. It can mean physical pain, emotional distress, and psychological trauma associated with Mississippi accident-related injuries. Pain and suffering may also relate to the significant daily struggles and quality of life adjustments of an accident victim when injuries cause significant, permanent limitations.
Calculating Compensation in Mississippi
Most compensation falls into two categories: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are compensation for an accident victim’s measurable or tangible losses, such as medical expenses, lost wages, and property damage. These are generally easy to calculate because they leave a paper trail, such as medical bills and repair receipts.
Non-economic damages are more challenging to calculate because they are compensation for subjective quality-of-life issues like pain, suffering, and emotional distress. Mississippi has no set formula for how it calculates pain and suffering. Instead, several factors can influence the value of a case and how much compensation may be recoverable for pain and suffering. Some of these factors can include:
- Extent of physical injuries
- Length of the person’s recovery
- The overall amount of current and future medical treatment required to treat and recover from injuries
- How accident injuries interfere with a victim’s daily life
- How injuries interfere with the quality of life
- Whether there is disfigurement or scarring
- The potential loss of job opportunities or ability to hold employment
- Alterations to a person’s home or family life
Two accepted methods insurers and lawyers use to calculate pain and suffering are the multiplier and the per diem methods. The multiplier method begins with the value of a person’s economic losses. That number is multiplied by a factor between one point five and five in most cases. The more significant the injury, the higher the number that is used. This calculation produces a number assigned as the value of pain and suffering.
The per diem method involves evaluating a person’s income to determine what one day’s wages are. Then, the number of days the injured person endures “pain and suffering” are determined. The days of suffering are multiplied by the daily wage to arrive at the value of pain and suffering.
The courts are not bound to use either of these methods.
Mississippi law caps the amount an individual can recover for non-economic losses at $1 million for most personal injury cases. Medical malpractice cases can be limited to $500,000.
Evidence that Can Strengthen Cases
Examples of evidence that can help an accident victim build a solid compensation case can include:
- Medical records
- Witness statements
- Statements from family and friends
- Accident or police report
- Photographs and videos of the scene
- Surveillance or dash-camera video of the accident
- Expert witness testimony
Proving how pain, emotional distress, and suffering affect a person’s quality of life can be challenging without evidence and expert witness testimony to outline how these injuries impact an accident victim’s daily life. An attorney can gather and preserve the documentation needed to support your claim and show how your injuries affect you.
A Personal Injury Attorney in Southaven or Hernando, MS Can Help
At Chatham Gilder Howell Pittman, our legal team will listen to you. We want to know how your accident-related injuries impact you so we can advocate for your rights and pursue maximum compensation on your behalf.
Contact our Southaven, Memphis, or Hernando office to arrange a free consultation today.
