Car Accident Suing For Pain And Suffering – Can You Get Sued For Them?
The mental and physical damages an accident victim faces after being involved in a car accident is what people refer to as pain and suffering. It might not necessarily be a car accident but can also occur as a result of suffering personal injuries. If there is a physical injury present then you can go ahead and sue for pain and suffering and there are some pain and suffering damages features that differentiate them from other common damages a person might suffer after a car accident.
If you have been involved in an accident and you are looking forward to sue the at fault driver for pain and suffering then here are some things that you need to know.
Car Accident Suing For Pain And Suffering
In Georgia, the statutes doesn’t have a particular definition for pain and suffering damages but by general knowledge, pain and suffering refers to the discomfort and pain a car accident victim would feel after getting involved in a car accident. They can include mental anguish and physical pain and these things arise as a result of physical injuries suffered in the car accident. The negative emotion a person suffers because of a car accident is what is classified as mental pain and suffering damages and some of the examples of mental pain and suffering includes;
Mental disorders
Mood swings
Depression or Anxiety
Humiliation, Anger or Fear
Shock
Loss of life
Even though other car accident damages can be calculated easily and are more straightforward because they include vehicle repairs, missing from work, cost of prescription and medical bills, calculating pain and suffering is a more difficult thing to do. When it comes to personal injury, the only way to get compensation is for what you must have lost as a result of car accident is by getting money for losses and damages. However, in the case of pain and suffering, damages like loss of enjoyment of life and mental anguish cannot be replaced by money.
Since there is no way by law that one can make up for mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life damages, it is up to a judge or jury to calculate whatever amount that you are owed for pain and suffering damages after a car accident. You might be thinking how one can be able to calculate pain and suffering damages and that is the next thing we want to address.
How To Calculate Pain And Suffering Damages
There is no particular standard or way one can calculate pain and suffering damages so if you decide the sue the driver at fault for the accident for pain and suffering then it would cost you a lot of work to be able to come up with an amount that would be sufficient for your pain and suffering damages. As odd as that might sound, it remains the only way a person or law can be able to handle matters that are as delicate as this. Furthermore, there are couple of factors that one can take into consideration when calculating pain and suffering damages;
How you explain your pain and suffering
Amount of treatment required for your pain and suffering damages
The extent your physical pain has lasted and how long it would last in the future or coming days
Observation of other people on how you act now versus how acted before the car accident
How pain and suffering affects you physically and if there are permanent injuries or loss of body part
How severe your physical injuries are is one aspect insurance companies consider when trying to calculate pain and suffering and this means that the more severe or permanent your physical injuries are then the more amount of money you are going to get compensated with. Multiplying your medical bills using severe injuries is one other way of calculating pain and suffering damages and all of these factors that we have listed can be considered in order to come up with an amount that would be suitable for your circumstance.
Moreso, the judge or jury can also act on their common sense, experiences and background when trying to calculate pain and suffering damages.
Suing For Pain And Suffering After A Car Accident
You would definitely need to have an experienced car accident lawyer on your side if you want to sue an at fault driver for pain and suffering. It is very important that you seek legal help because of how complex calculating and suing for pain and suffering damages are. Having an experienced lawyer on your side would help in calculating pain and suffering damages easily before going ahead to send your amount to the insurance company of the at fault driver. This would make things easy because you are your lawyer can easily explain how you were able to come up with an amount for pain and suffering damages.
How solid and reasonable your explanation is would make the judge or jury see how valuable your claim is and without having a very good lawyer by your side then you would not be able to convince the judge or jury accurately. Calculating pain and suffering damages is not an easy thing to do. This is because it cannot be seen in a person so how do you calculate what you can’t see? It is possible for a doctor to observe some symptoms like redness in the throat, tenderness when a body part is touched or limited motion in one part of your body.
These are just mere indicators of what pain a person might be going through after getting involved in a car accident. Even if the pain cannot be questioned, it is also very difficult to calculate the severity of the pain a person feels. This is because a person is different from another person and we all have different ways of handling discomfort. This is why it is very important to seek medical attention after a car accident. If you don’t the the insurance company might not attach so much value to your claim.
This is because there is no proof that you are actually in pain but a statement claiming that you suffered injury in a car accident and you are experiencing pain and suffering. There are certain evidences an insurance company might need to agree that you were truly involved in an accident and these includes documents from your employer attesting to the fact that you skipped work, receipts for over the counter medications that you must have taken, pictures of the injuries suffered, record of prescription, medical records and also your medical bills.
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