Pain and suffering are difficult to quantify. And so it really just depends on the nature of your injuries. The more injured you are, in theory, the more pain and suffering that you would have.
And generally, that’s a decision that the members of the jury make if your case is taken all the way to trial. And a jury is going to decide, “Well, how much is that injury worth, and how much pain and suffering did the person get through?” So that’s pain and suffering can be hard to identify because, you kind of have to compare what your life was like before the collision, to what your life was like after the collision. And one of the things that I encourage clients to do is to start keeping a diary about things that are going on. How their life has changed.
For instance, I’ve had a client that had a pretty serious … she had a shattered hip and after her collision, she was a young mom and she couldn’t pick up her child. She had difficulty caring for her family, all those things. And sometimes it’s hard to articulate those things, but if you keep a calendar and if you write like, “You know, today I had to have a friend pick up my child from daycare because I can’t lift him or her.” And that’s a great example of how your life has changed as a result of the collision, and that kind of emotional distress and additional logistical problems that people face in their lives because of a serious injury, that is all relevant to how injured you are, and how much it’s worth.
So if you can document those things, you’re in a lot better position to show the seriousness of your injury and how that impacted you. So another question I get is, “Is it worth it to have a lawyer? Will the lawyer helped me get a better result than what I can negotiate with, for the insurance company?” And my answer to that question is, if you’ve got the right lawyer, the right lawyer should develop your case and build your case in a way that any money that you would have to pay for your attorney’s fees, is going to be outweighed by the amount of money going to you, in your pocket, for your injuries and for your pain and suffering to make you whole.
*This is a transcript of the Facebook Live video from 6-21-18 Click here to watch the video.