Legal Question in Personal Injury in Pennsylvania
Car/Motorcycle Accident
How is a dollar ($) amount determined for ''pain and suffering'' due to a car/motorcycle accident?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Car/Motorcycle Accident
There is no formula. An experienced personal injury atty will try to predict how much money a jury would award you for your injuries, wage loss, medical bills, etc. Usually, an insurance company will be able to take advantage of a victim who doesn't have an experienced personal injury atty and they'll tell you they're offering you a huge amount of money when, in fact, the experienced atty can usually get lots more money for the case just because the insurance company knows that if the good lawyer goes to trial, he'll win more money than you would w/o an atty. Call me if you want to discuss.
Richard Senker www.autocrash.biz 1 866 AUTOCRASH (toll free)
Re: Car/Motorcycle Accident
Each case is evaluated on its own. There is not a set formula for pain and suffering for any type of case. However, factors that are typically considered are the nature of the injury, whether it is permanent, how long treatment took place, and the nature of the pain.
Re: Car/Motorcycle Accident
I completely agree with my colleagues, but would add one further observation. Research has consistently shown that juries award non-economic damages (pain and suffering, for example) as a function of economic damages.
In other words, if you have twenty-five thousand dollars of medical bills and lost wages, then a jury is likely to award some multiple of $25K for the pain and suffering. That's why lawyers often demand five times economic damages to the insurance company.
But of course those other fellas are right - each case is unique. There are many factors to influence how valuable a case is. How sympathetic the victim is, how well he or she testifies, how good a jury panel you get, and how good is your lawyer - those are all factors as well. Good luck.