Calculating Damages for Pain and Suffering

Did you know that in Michigan there is no legal maximum under the law as to how much money you can recover for pain and suffering after a car accident?

The thing is, calculating damages for pain and suffering is tricky. After all, pain and suffering are harder to put a number on than economic damages such as calculating lost wages from an accident.

And each case will be unique. The limiting factors are what the insurance company will agree to settle for, or what a jury or judge will award. This is where an the deep car accident case experience of the Kajy Law car accident attorneys is essential.

What Are Considered Pain and Suffering Damages?

Generally speaking, the at-fault driver’s car insurance company pays for pain and suffering damages in Michigan after a car accident. If the damages exceed the limit in the at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability insurance policy, then the at-fault driver may have to pay for some of these damages.

Michigan law lays out specific conditions that are considered pain and suffering damages in a car accident. They are as follows:

physical pain and suffering that can persist long after the accident and even after treatment and rehabilitation
mental anguish such as depression, anxiety, fear, and anger from the accident
fright and shock that could include symptoms of emotional trauma such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
denial of social pleasure and enjoyment because physical pain renders once enjoyable activities unenjoyable
embarrassment, humiliation, or mortification – particularly in cases where physical disfigurement to the face or body causes shame

In order to sue the negligent driver for these damages, the victim must meet the Michigan bodily injury threshold and prove that he or she has a “serious impairment of body function” as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. Again, a Michigan car accident lawyer well-versed in these laws is indispensable in helping clients prove this and get the compensation they need. Especially when it comes to pain and suffering.

The Difficult Business of Calculating Damages for Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering are considered non-economic damages. And there is no set formula for how to calculate them because there are so many factors for each case. The multiplier method and the per diem method are commonly used in other states and are not required for use by courts in Michigan. However, they are helpful in providing insight into the thought process for how one party could arrive at an amount for injury compensation.

The Multiplier Method

When dealing with personal injury claims, the multiplier method is fairly common. This method assigns a value, typically between 1.5 and 5 – depending on the severity of the injury. Then that number is multiplied by the economic damages.

For example, a broken leg that heals entirely within a few weeks would result in much less pain and suffering than, say, a traumatic brain injury that results in chronic headaches and prolonged medical treatment. The broken leg case might be assigned a multiplier of two, while the traumatic brain injury case would likely receive a multiplier of five.

So if each victim has $100,000 in economic damages, the broken leg case would receive $200,000 in pain and suffering while the traumatic brain injury would receive $500,000.

Determining the multiplier can be tough though. If it’s too low, there won’t be enough compensation. If the multiplier is too high, the insurance company can claim that the case is over-valued and call the victim’s credibility into question.

Speaking with your personal injury attorney to determine the appropriate multiplier for your pain and suffering case.

Per Diem Method

By contrast, the per diem method assigns a dollar amount per day, week, month, or other designated time period to cover pain and suffering damages. For example, a jury might assign a per diem of $50 per day for pain and suffering damages. This will be paid for each day from the date of the injury until it has resolved. So if someone’s injury lasted 200 days, they would receive $10,000 (200 x $50) for non-economic damages.

Per diem can also be modified based on the victim’s healing. For instance, if another victim takes 200 days to heal but experienced severe suffering for just the first 30 days, then the per diem may go down to $20 per day after that 30 days. In this case, the victim would receive non-economic damages of $1500 ($50 x 30) plus $5100 ($30 x 170) for a total of $6600.