Victims in car accidents and other personal injury cases are entitled to financial compensation for their losses. There are several different types of compensation available in these cases.
One of the most difficult to understand is meant to cover what are referred to as your “pain and suffering.”
What is Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Case?
If you get into a car accident caused by another driver and get hurt, you are going to suffer in numerous different ways. Some of these are physical, like breaking your leg. Some of these are financial, like having medical bills to pay, property damage to replace, and losing income from missing time at work. Others are mental or emotional, like the pain that you feel from the broken leg, the frustration at missing time because of someone else’s negligence, and the fear and anguish that comes with the uncertainty of having to recover from a serious injury.
The compensation for your pain and suffering in a personal injury case is meant to cover these forms of mental and emotional anguish. After all, you would not have felt them were it not for the other driver’s negligence. Therefore, they should have to compensate you for your losses. If it were not for them, you would not have gone through all of that anguish.
What are Some Examples?
Eight examples of the types of mental and emotional conditions that can lead to compensation for pain and suffering are:
- Physical pain
- Emotional distress, particularly if the injuries lead to a serious disfigurement
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life due to the injuries, especially if they are debilitating in ways that prevent you from doing what you most enjoyed doing
- Lost self-esteem
- Losing sleep
- Anxiety
- Depression
Note that all of these are things that you, the victim of the crash, suffer. Mental and emotional suffering by your loved ones would be compensated through loss of consortium damages.
Many Victims Underestimate Their Pain and Suffering Losses
After a car accident, many victims tend to underestimate how much they are owed for their pain and suffering. They generally think that the lion’s share of their losses are in the form of their medical bills.
That is rarely the case.
Generally, the amount you are entitled to receive for your pain and suffering is significantly more than your medical bills and other losses, combined.
However, insurance companies often leverage this lack of understanding when they make an initial settlement offer after a car accident. These offers typically only cover the medical bills that you have already accrued. They do not cover your future medical expenses, your lost income, or anything for your pain and suffering.
Car Accident Lawyers at the Smith Law Office in St. Joseph
If you have been hit in a car accident and hurt, you need legal help to recover the compensation you really deserve. Call the personal injury lawyers at the Smith Law Office at (816) 875-9373 or contact them online for help in western Missouri, including the cities of St. Joseph, Kansas City, or Springfield.