How Is Pain and Suffering Calculated in a North Carolina Car Accident Case?
Pain and suffering from your North Carolina car accident is often a significant component of your total damages award. North Carolina courts might apply multipliers or per diem formulas to assess pain and suffering damages. However, they will also focus on the severity of your physical injuries, their effect on daily activities, and the medical and rehabilitative services you need to fully recuperate.
You can improve your opportunity to collect the largest available pain and suffering damages award when you hire a North Carolina car accident attorney at Rhine Law Firm. We have the skills and experience to paint the most vivid picture of the harm you suffered. Our personal injury lawyers have honed their skills and knowledge over 34 years of representing injured North Carolina motorists in lawsuits to collect the full measure of damages they deserve.
What evidence do North Carolina courts consider when assessing pain and suffering?
Your car accident lawyer will demonstrate the severity and effect of your injuries with your testimony and other evidence that shows:
- The distress and anguish you experienced during the crash and in the day, weeks and months following the accident
- Your mood swings, anxiety, anger, and other psychological symptoms associated with your injuries
- How your injuries limit your daily activities
- How your injuries caused a loss of consortium with your life partner and the impairment of your relationships with your family and friends
- How permanent scarring and irreversible injuries affect you and the people around you.
When you describe the effects to your attorney, be as candid as possible about how your car accident has changed your life.
What formulas are used to determine pain and suffering damages?
Determining damages is difficult and always done on a case-by-case basis. Two general formulas are worth considering in determining pain and suffering damages:
- A multiplier formula, where the court multiplies the victim’s objective economic damages (the value of medical services, lost wages, etc.) by some factor, typically between 1 and 5.
- e.g., If your economic damages are calculated to be $50,000 and a court applies a multiplier factor of 3, an accident victim will recover $150,000 in pain and suffering damages
- A per diem or set daily rate for the total number of days the victim needs to recuperate from injuries.
- e.g., if the victim needs 200 days to recuperate fully and a court awards $250 per day as a per diem for pain and suffering, that victim will recover $50,000.
Call the North Carolina Car Accident Lawyers at the Rhine Law Firm
Your ability to recover the largest pain and suffering damages award after a car accident depends on how well your lawyer can argue your case. Our North Carolina car accident attorneys at Rhine Law Firm have a high success rate in maximizing pain and suffering damages. Please call our Wilmington offices for a complimentary and confidential review of your case and the pain and suffering damages that you may be entitled to receive.
