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Pain and suffering can be a significant part of personal injury compensation. To get the award you deserve, you need to know what your case is worth in SC. Our experienced Columbia personal injury lawyers at Shealey Law Firm explain.
What Is Pain and Suffering in a South Carolina Personal Injury Case?
Pain and suffering in a South Carolina personal injury case is compensation for the physical discomfort and emotional response to actual pain resulting from the personal injury. It is an award of non-economic damages that compensates a person for the physical and emotional suffering that results from a physical injury.
Understanding Pain and Suffering in Personal Injury
In a personal injury claim, there are economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are direct, financial losses. Medical bills and lost wages fall into this category.
Non-economic damages are non-monetary losses that result from personal injury. These are very real losses, even though they can’t be directly totaled with a calculator. Pain and suffering is a type of non-economic damages.
What Types of Pain and Suffering Damages Can You Claim in SC?
The term pain and suffering is often used broadly to refer to all non-economic damages. But technically, pain and suffering only refer to the physical pain and emotional anguish. But there are other types of non-economic damages, such as loss of enjoyment of life and disability. Loss of enjoyment of life represents activities that the person can no longer do because of their injuries, and that person’s knowledge of this loss.
A personal injury pain and suffering lawsuit may include all types of damages that a person qualifies to receive, both economic and non-economic. An attorney can help you identify and quantify non-economic damages for your claim.
How Is Pain and Suffering Calculated in a South Carolina Personal Injury Case?
There is no precise formula for calculating pain and suffering in a South Carolina personal injury case. It might be tempting to measure pain and suffering in relation to medical bills, with the presumption that the more it costs to treat a person, the more they’ve likely suffered. But that isn’t correct. A person can experience extreme physical suffering even when there’s little that can be done medically.
Measuring pain and suffering requires evaluating the actual physical and emotional pain the person endures as a result of the personal injury.
The plaintiff may present evidence of their physical and emotional suffering. They may then argue to the jury to use whatever calculating method they like. Common methods for calculating pain and suffering are the multiplier method and the per diem method.
What Is the Multiplier Method for Calculating Pain and Suffering in SC?
The multiplier method assigns a value to pain and suffering, which is multiplied by the injured person’s medical bills. Medical bills are fixed. They are whatever the person’s actual medical treatment is. Future damages may be included.
The plaintiff selects a multiplier relative to their degree of physical and emotional suffering. The multiplier typically ranges from 0.5 to 5, with 0.5 appropriate for minor injuries that heal quickly and 5 for a catastrophic, life-changing injury. The multiplier is applied to the medical amount to determine the pain and suffering award.
Your Pain and Suffering Award May Be Greater Than You Think!
Using the multiplier method can result in a pain and suffering award that equals or even exceeds economic damages. Many personal injury victims undervalue their pain and suffering damages. A multiplier of 5 is rare, but even still, many victims are surprised at what they can claim for pain and suffering. The amount is determined individually, based on what the person has experienced and is likely to experience in the future.
What Is the Per Diem Method for Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages?
The per diem method for calculating pain and suffering damages assigns a dollar amount per day to a person’s suffering. This amount is then totaled for the number of days that a person endures suffering, resulting in the award amount. The more serious their suffering, the greater the daily award should be.
Multiplier vs. Per Diem Method in SC Pain and Suffering Lawsuit
Often, these methods produce similar results. These methods are not the law, and they’re not evidence either. But they can be helpful illustrations for the jury since non-economic damages can be hard to quantify.
What Factors Impact How Much Pain and Suffering You Can Recover in SC?
Factors that affect how much pain and suffering you can recover in SC include the severity and duration of pain. In addition, factors like the strength of the legal claim and the ability to collect compensation may influence the total award amount.
Is There a Cap on Pain and Suffering Damages in South Carolina?
South Carolina limits non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, only in medical malpractice claims. There are no pain and suffering damages caps for car accidents, premises liability, or animal attack claims.
How a Columbia Personal Injury Lawyer Maximizes Your Pain and Suffering Recovery
A Columbia personal injury lawyer can maximize your pain and suffering recovery in several ways. They can claim pain and suffering in your complaint, gather evidence, and illustrate the severity of your suffering to the jury.
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