If you are injured in a car accident, you are entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses. When pursuing an injury claim in California, you are allowed to include a claim for the pain and suffering. However, putting a monetary value on pain is quite difficult since the damage is intangible. Pain and suffering could be either physical or emotional. Physical pain is brought about by injuries you suffer from the accident, while emotional pain could result from the trauma you experience from the accident.

When claiming compensation for pain and suffering, you have the burden to prove that you suffered pain from the accident. Also, you need to deal with insurance adjusters who tend to demean this type of damage. If you or your loved one is seeking compensation for pain and suffering after a car accident in Los Angeles, you will require legal guidance from a skilled personal injury attorney to help you seek compensation.

Overview of Pain and Suffering in a Car Accident

When you are injured in a car accident and are pursuing compensation in a personal injury claim, California law allows you to include a claim for pain and suffering in your damages. Two types of pain could accompany a claim for bodily injury. The first is physical pain caused by physical injuries, while the other is emotional anguish and trauma.

There is no specific formula to determine the value for pain and suffering. There is a presumption of pain with some injuries, where there is a significant injury such as broken bones or burns. However, it is more difficult to determine pain or suffering when an injury is not obvious. Two individuals could be involved in the same accident, suffer a similar physical injury but different emotional trauma. Therefore, compensation will differ depending on the factors of your case.

Some of the examples of pain and suffering are:

  • Depression
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Loss of appetite
  • Insomnia
  • Sexual dysfunction
  • Anxiety

Sometimes emotional suffering may require long-term counseling and therapy to recover. This could affect your normal life and deny you the enjoyment of life. If you have been in a serious accident that left you with physical and emotional scars, you are not alone. Internal pain matters as much as the physical one, and you can recover compensation for your psychological and emotional trauma. If you are pursuing a claim for pain and suffering in California, you will require a personal injury attorney's insight.

Proving Pain and Suffering in a California Personal Injury Lawsuit

To win your lawsuit, you will be required to prove the pain and suffering you underwent from the accident injuries. Pain and suffering vary from case to case. When trying to prove your damages, you need to establish how your injuries have affected your lifestyle and general wellbeing.

You may also need to consider how the injuries you suffer from the accident will affect your life in the future. Current pain and suffering are what you endure from the moment of injury to the end of medical treatment. If an accident leaves you partially or completely disabled, your ability to enjoy life may be deterred. If you cannot recover completely and expect to have lingering mental health issues, you will be justified to claim more pain and suffering benefits.

Before deciding to claim pain and suffering benefits in a car accident lawsuit, you need to come up with ways of convincing the adjuster to accept your demand. Along with medical records and photographs of the accident scene, you may require testimonies from different individuals to prove pain and suffering:

  • You can use your doctor's report and testimony on your physical injuries to ascertain your physical pain intensity. When you have injuries that take a while to heal, your mental health could be affected by long stays in the hospital. Sometimes your doctor will give recommendations for activities you can't take part in due to your injuries' intensity.
  • Testimony from a counselor who treated your depression could be used to prove the severity of your mental suffering.
  • You can use testimony from colleagues, family, and friends regarding your change in behavior, mood, and feelings to strengthen your claim for pain and suffering.
  • Videos that document how your life has changed since the accident could help strengthen your claim.

Calculating Pain and Suffering

If you are injured in a negligent car accident, you may be eligible to recover compensation for pain and suffering as part of the damages. There is no specific method used to calculate pain and suffering in California. In determining the value of pain and suffering, the insurance company will review the following factors:

The Value of your Economic Losses

Damages in a personal injury claim are divided into economic and non-economic. Even though pain and suffering lie under the non-economic damages, economic losses can be considered when calculating the amount of compensation you will receive. After calculating your economic losses, the multiplier method can be used to calculate pain and suffering.

In a California personal injury claim, economic damages include e medical bills: the amount of money you spend to treat the injuries from the accident. If you have high medical bills, you are more likely to recover compensation for pain and suffering. Therefore, you need to ensure that all your injuries are documented.

Other economic damages available in a car accident lawsuit is the lost wages and lost earning capacity. If you have lost a lot of time from work, the insurance company could assume that you had severe injuries that took a long time to recover. When you seek compensation for pain and suffering, it would be wise to ensure that your claim for economic damages is strong.

The Level of Recklessness that Caused the Accident

You file a compensation claim if you suffer injuries from a negligent car accident. Two forms of negligence could result in a serious car accident. Negligence could either be gross or ordinary. Ordinary negligence is acting in a way that puts other people at risk of harm, while gross negligence is a general disregard for human safety. Most accidents resulting from gross negligence are traumatic and could result in compensation for pain and suffering.

The Strength of your Evidence

The strength of the evidence you present in your lawsuit could be considered when awarding compensation for California's pain and suffering. You could present several types of evidence to strengthen your case and prove your entitlement to compensation for your injuries. If you have strong and convincing evidence that the defendant caused the accident and suffered significant injuries, you are more likely to recover this type of compensation. Common types of evidence include:

  • Medical records. Your medical records list down the injuries you suffered from the accident, the severity of the injuries, and the amount you incurred to treat the injuries. Immediately after a car accident, it is crucial to seek medical attention. Also, ensure all your injuries and treatment are documented. Your medical records are a significant piece of evidence in the compensation claim.
  • Police report. After a car accident, you need to call the police as soon as possible. The officers will assess the accident scene, ask questions and write a report. On the police report, they indicate their version of the occurrences. A police report could help strengthen your claim. When speaking to the police, it is important to avoid taking fault for the accident.
  • Witness testimony. While at the accident scene, you can try to write down names and contacts of eyewitnesses who can testify in your case. Since witnesses are third parties, their testimony could be a strong piece of evidence.
  • Photographs and Videos. A video or photograph is a piece of evidence that is hard to dispute. Therefore, if you are not severely injured, you can take photos of the accident scene and present them as evidence to support your version of the story. When you have strong photographic evidence, you are more likely to recover compensation for pain and suffering.

The severity of the Physical Injuries you Suffered from the Car Accident

Even though one can suffer pain and suffering without a physical injury, the presence of these injuries heightens the pain. If there is physical evidence of injuries you suffered, you are in a better position to recover non-economic damages. In addition to physical injuries, permanent disfigurement and loss of body function are likely to attract compensation for the non-economic damages. Some of the common injuries that could help you prove physical pain and suffering in your compensation lawsuit include:

  • Broken Bones

Car crashes can be devastating, and the tremendous force on your body could result in broken bones. Depending on the severity of the accident and impact on your body, anyone in your body could be fractured. Most serious bone fractures may require surgery to correct, and this causes immense pain on car accident victims. Regardless of your injury's severity, the person responsible for your accident must compensate you for the injuries.

Fractured bones take a long time to heal, and this could cause you to spend a significant amount of time in the hospital. In addition to paying your medical bills, you can claim compensation for pain and suffer from the broken bones.

  • Burn Injuries

Sometimes car accidents result in burn injuries. This often occurs when a hot liquid or gas spills and comes in contact with the skin. The skin is the largest organ in your body and performs numerous functions. Suffering burns from a negligent car accident could be particularly traumatizing. You may have to undergo numerous procedures to restore your skin after burns. Unfortunately, some burns may leave scars that cause psychological pain and loss of self-esteem.

If you or your loved one has suffered a burn injury from a car accident, you can claim compensation for pain and suffering as part of your lawsuit.

  • Traumatic Head Injuries

A traumatic brain injury is one of the life changing injuries you could suffer from a car accident. An injury to the head could be caused by an impact from a blunt object or penetration of a sharp object to your brain. Traumatic brain injury causes severe physical and psychological pain. Some of the most common symptoms of head injury you could experience after an accident include:

  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Severe headaches
  • Poor Vision
  • Unconsciousness

A moderately severe brain injury could require a lengthy and costly recovery. Sometimes, a traumatic brain injury could be irreversible, and a car accident victim will live with the consequences of the accident for the rest of their lives. If you can prove that you suffered a brain injury from the car accident, you are entitled to compensation for pain and suffering.

  • Spinal Cord Injuries

Car accidents are the leading cause of back and spinal cord injuries in California. Back and spinal cord injury is a result of a heavy impact on your back. Back injuries range from sprains to fractured vertebrae. A spinal cord injury is likely to cause immense pain, and the healing process could take a long time.

A serious back injury could affect your ability to return to work or lead a normal life. If your spinal cord is completely severed, you may be confined to a wheelchair for a lifetime. This will affect your quality of life and cause emotional suffering. Sometimes a back injury may take some time to manifest. Therefore, it is vital to go for a medical checkup if you are involved in a serious accident. Having a spinal cord injury in your medical record can help prove pain and suffering and help you recover compensation.

  • Whiplash Injuries

A whiplash injury is an injury to the neck muscles. Whiplash injuries result from a forceful impact in a car accident that over stretches the neck muscles. Neck injuries are common in rear-end collisions and could cause immense pain and stiffness of the neck. If you experience any whiplash symptoms after an accident, it is crucial to visit a doctor and ensure the injury is documented. 

Dealing with Insurance Companies When Claiming Compensation for Pain and Suffering

If you sue a fault party for injuries in a car accident, their insurance company will be required to compensate you after a successful lawsuit. Insurance companies are a business, and their goal is to protect their wellbeing. Insurance providers will rarely offer you a fair settlement and will always try to offer a low settlement even when they realize the damages you have suffered from their client's actions.

When considering the compensation you deserve, insurance companies assume that you probably did not suffer an injury if you did not seek medical attention. Also, they tend to attach the pain and suffering to injuries that led to more medical bills. Immediately after an accident, you need to seek medical care. Ensure that all injuries are documented, and any slight pain you feel should be noted.

The insurance providers will access your medical records to determine the time you sought medical care. If you waited some time to go to the doctor, they might attach less value to your injuries. Sometimes the insurance adjusters will call you after the accident and try to trick you into saying that you were not injured. Anything you say to insurance adjusters may be noted down and used against you in the claim. Therefore, you should avoid speaking to insurance adjusters without guidance from your attorney.

Limits on Pain and Suffering Damages in California

In California, there are limits to collecting compensation for pain and suffering. This exception is meant for uninsured motorists who have no right to recover compensation for non-economic damages. However, if a driver under alcohol influence hits an uninsured motorist, they could be eligible for pain and suffering damages.

If you are involved in a minor accident that resulted in less severe injuries, it can be hard to recover compensation for California's pain and suffering. This is because it will be difficult to prove expensive emotional and mental suffering. If you have suffered injuries from a negligent car accident and hope to recover non-economic damages, it is crucial to seek legal representation.

Find a Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney Near Me

When you are involved in a car accident resulting from negligence in California, you can seek compensation for your injuries. If you are successful in your lawsuit, you can recover compensation for economic problems such as medical bills and non-economic damages like pain and trauma. Pain and suffering is a difficult thing to quantify and even harder to prove. Even though a doctor can note the pain during diagnosis and treatment, you cannot prove its severity.

Guidance from a competent personal injury attorney is vital in recovering compensation for pain and suffering in California. At Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney, we will offer you legal guidance and representation to ensure you recover compensation for non-economic damages from the car accident. Contact us today at 424-231-2013 and allow us to guide you through the claim and ensure maximum compensation.