After you have been in a car accident in Kentucky, your personal injury attorney may ask for certain details about the damages you are seeking in your case against another party, whether it is an insurance company or another individual. The term “damages” relates to any sort of loss you experienced as a result of your accident.
There are two types of damages to consider — economic and non-economic. Economic, also referred to as special damages, consist of any easily calculable damages related to an accident. This includes damage to property, medical bills, and lost wages. Anything with proof of loss falls into this category. Non-economic, sometimes referred to as general damages, cover more complex things like pain and suffering. Essentially, general damages cover the things that are not so black and white or easy to assign a dollar value.
What is Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering is not always easy to calculate, but compensation for this is sought in nearly every personal injury case. An insurance adjuster who is preparing to make a settlement offer to a person seeking damages in Kentucky will be responsible for coming up with a number for pain and suffering, which he or she can do one of a few ways.
The most popular tactics used buy insurance adjusters looking to calculate pain and suffering are the multiplier method and the per diem method.
When using the multiplier method, the agent will add up all the economic damages and multiply that by a number that reflects certain details of the case, usually between 1.5 and 4. The multiplier reflects things like the seriousness of your injuries, how quickly you may be recovering, who is at fault in the accident, and more. Many personal injury attorneys in Kentucky have also adopted this method because of its popularity among insurance adjusters.
The per diem method, which translates to “per day,” refers to how much compensation a person is seeking for each day he or she has to deal with pain caused by an accident. It can be hard to justify this amount, which is why it is not as popular as the multiplier method, but it can be done. Many who use the per diem method will use their income as a base number. If you divide your salary by the total number of days you work per year, you will get your daily income. Multiplying this number by how many days you were unable to work will get you your pain and suffering total. This method is a tricky one to use, but hiring a knowledgeable personal injury attorney can help alleviate any confusion or misunderstanding about the process.
Choosing a Fair Settlement for Pain and Suffering
An insurance company, in most cases, will offer the plaintiff in a personal injury case a settlement to avoid any court hassle. When you receive a settlement offer, it is important to know exactly what you are looking at before accepting it.
At Roberts Law Office, we know how settlement offers work and what may be the most fair option based on your individual case. If you have a personal injury case and are seeking pain and suffering compensation, contact us today for a consultation.