With over 15 years of experience practicing personal injury law in Florida under his belt, Jason Deitch knows the ins and outs of negotiating a settlement in a pain and suffering case. In September 2009, he founded I-Need-a-Personal-Injury-Lawyer.com to aid clients in finding the best Florida personal injury lawyers.
There is no cookie-cutter formula for calculating the amount of a settlement in a pain and suffering case. The reality is that nobody can actually put a price on pain and suffering. What a person goes through and the loss he has to deal with after experiencing an injury are often so emotionally overwhelming that it is hard to assign a monetary value. But, the injured party has to be compensated, so there are certain guidelines for figuring out how much an individual’s pain and suffering are worth.
The first thing to keep in mind is that pain and suffering is the loss of enjoyment in someone’s life. So the more enjoyment you have lost (as in the less you are able to do) now that you are injured, the larger the settlement is going to be.
Somebody who runs marathons, plays tennis, and is generally active all the time and can no longer do these things because of his injury is going to get more money than somebody who has no hobbies and just goes home after work to watch TV. The first person’s quality of life has suffered more than the second’s. A happy person who gets depressed as a result of his injury is going to a get a larger settlement.
“Hobbies” don’t have to just be sports. So, as a general rule, anything you did before the accident that you can no longer do is going to increase your pain and suffering settlement. Playing with their children, for example, a significant activity for many people, can count toward their pain and suffering settlement.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Neither publication of this article nor your receipt of this article create an attorney-client relationship.
