Pain and Suffering Awards: How the Claim Adjuster Values Your Damages...

Pain and suffering awards are sometimes difficult to assign a dollar value. Suing for pain and suffering isn't always an easy thing to do, but it's necessary. Without it no one would ever receive personal injury compensation beyond strictly financial losses.

Some think that would be best, and say too many frivilous lawsuits get pain suffering settlements. They argue awards have gotten out of hand and need to be stopped.

The insurance claim adjuster will agree with that point of view, since it brings their personal injury lawsuit settlement costs down. But they are aware that pain and suffering reimbursement will somehow be worked into the final settlement figure.

Are pain and suffering damages really worth it?

For the injured person collecting compensation they are. For people outside the claim though, it's often thought that pain and suffering awards aren't necessary. Some feel that the overall costs of frivilous lawsuits far outweigh the benefits.

Those people believe that no-fault insurance is best, since it compensates for financial losses and expenses, but doesn't allow profit from outrageous lawsuits. They feel that over-valuing pain and suffering results in higher insurance settlements and higher insurance premiums. So in the end, everyone suffers.

The flipside is that not allowing pain and suffering awards and exacting punitive damages on negligent parties would mean people wouldn't be held accountable for their actions.

This is especially true for big business. Many people argue that without people suing for pain and suffering, big business wouldn't feel a need to ensure the wellbeing of others. Regardless of the controversy, your settlement will involve these types of damages at some level.

How the Claim Adjuster Puts a Dollar Value on Your Pain and Suffering...

The claim adjuster will total your monetary damages and multiply that based on the percieved extent of your suffering. In most circumstances no insurance claim adjuster will reveal their exact formula, but you can figure one out yourself to use with your claim.

Say your injuries cost $6000 in medical bills, and the settlement offer is $8000. In this example, the special damages are $6000, so the extra damages are $2000. The insurance adjuster therefore felt that pain and suffering, and other non-monetary losses, were only worth one third of the special damages. There's a chance the adjuster got the impression that the injuries weren't very serious or that the suffering wasn't extensive.

In more serious injuries, and where the insurance company believes their client is 100% liable, pain and suffering awards would increase. A back injury may multiply damages twofold, while a head injury may multiply them fivefold. Again, there are no exact figures.

Another important task when determining your pain suffering settlement amount is to research what juries have awarded in previous similar injury lawsuits in your area.

Different counties often have different standards when it comes to court awarded damage amounts. Try VerdictSearch.com to get a feel for what what might be awarded if your case ultimately goes to court.

Understanding all this puts you in a position to figure damage amounts for yourself. Before the claim adjuster makes a personal injury settlement offer, you'll present a dollar amount in your demand letter.

The amount you demand in your letter should reflect how severe you feel the injuries were and the impact your bodily injuries have had on your life. Like the claim adjuster, you must take into account things like lost experiences and your personal suffering. You then decide how extensive they are on a small scale. This scale would usually be between 1x - 5x hard costs.

If you think your pain and suffering damages rank a three, then multiply your special damages by three. If you think they rank four, then multiply your damages by four. Of course, the figures can get higher in extreme cases and especially if defendant negligence was drastic.

If injuries resulted from a bad car accident where the liable party failed to obey a stop sign that was partially obscured by a tree branch, the punitive damages won't be as high. If the driver was street racing and missed the stop sign, then punitive damages will likely go through the roof because they were more negligent.

When calculating pain and suffering awards, claim adjusters take such things into account using their formula, and you should too.

The adjuster is more likely to award a high settlement figure when the plaintiff is suing for pain and suffering in extreme cases. They won't want a jury hearing that the defendant was street racing. In those dramatic cases, juries like to punish the negligent party.