How Pain & Suffering Damages Are Calculated: Understanding Your Rights After an Injury

If you’ve been injured, you may have heard of ‘pain and suffering’ damages. Unfortunately, too many people hear that term and only think of physical pain. I have clients tell me all the time, ‘I can handle the pain; what I can’t handle, and what’s really hard for me, is knowing that I’m not the person I used to be.

When we’re representing people, we’re proving their losses, and a big component of that loss—or that pain and suffering—is the loss of time. Time with family, friends, whatever it is. What changes people for the rest of their lives is when their child says, ‘Can you pick me up?’ and they have to say ‘no’ because of pain. When their family had a vacation planned for five years, and they can’t go because they’re hurt.

When we talk to our clients, the things that they are most upset about, the things that impact them the most, are their ability to live a pain-free life, to do activities with friends and family, to do their job. Those things—insurance companies don’t really care about unless you make them care.

So, a lot of times, it’s not just about talking about the case. I’ll learn a lot about their families, their children, what they like to do, and how their injury has affected their hobbies or enjoyment of life. In order to effectively represent them, you have to know someone on a human level so you can get them the best settlement.

All too often, insurance companies ignore these damages and losses and try not to pay people for them. But I’ll make sure they can’t ignore it.