This post was originally published in June 2019. It has since been updated with new information and was most recently updated on November 21, 2020.
After a serious injury, you know that an insurance company will pay for your medical expenses, damage to your vehicle, and your lost wages. However, what about your pain and suffering. In most cases, you can seek pain and suffering damages from the insurance company, but the amount you receive might not be as high as you hoped for.
Accident liability insurance is there to protect a policyholder from using personal assets to pay for any injuries they cause. Typically, these policies allow for the injured party to file a claim with their insurer and request compensation for automobile damage, personal property damage, medical expenses, and sometimes pain and suffering.
Insurance companies widely scrutinize pain and suffering requests, and they will do what they can to lessen how much they pay out – even when their client is obviously at fault. After all, insurers are businesses, and like all businesses, they want to protect their revenue and never pay more than necessary – even on a valid claim.
While you can recover pain and suffering damages, it is essential to understand the limits of each policy and how much of that the insurer is likely to pay.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
What Is Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering is a portion of compensation in an injury lawsuit that focuses on your mental anguish, emotional distress, and physical pain that result from someone’s careless actions that resulted in a serious injury. It may include pain you experience immediately after the accident, but it can also include any future pain, such as chronic pain after a serious neck injury.
Pain and suffering are highly subjective and hard to value. Unlike your lost wages and medical expenses, which you can back with receipts and pay stubs, the court must put a dollar amount on your anguish, and both sides will try to argue as best they can to lower or increase that amount.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
What Is Payable By the Insurance Company?
An automobile insurance policy will payout for pain and suffering damages in an accident case. They typically use the bodily injury liability portion of the policy for these payments. It will also cover any lost wages or medical expenses that stem from the accident.
Bodily injury liability coverage has its limits, and those limits are based on the amount of coverage the driver purchased in their policy. Therefore, if the driver only has $50,000 in bodily injury liability, then the insurer is only required to pay up to $50,000 in medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you have a catastrophic injury, it is unlikely that that amount even covers your medical expenses and lost wages – let alone damages for pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, the insurer is not liable to pay much after the benefits are exhausted. Therefore, once the policy maxes out, the defendant is legally liable to pay the rest – if they even have the assets available to cover that expense.
Insurance Claims Adjusters Will Scrutinize Every Piece of Evidence
An insurance claim’s adjuster will look at each piece of evidence and try to find ways to dispute your requests for pain and suffering damages. They may try to say you had pre-existing injuries or that you were exaggerating your injuries after the accident. They might also look to see how long it took you to get medical treatment. If your injuries are severe, but you waited over a day, they might question how you made it a full 24 hours without treatment for something so catastrophic.
You do not need to worry about this if you have an attorney working on your case. Your attorney knows the games insurance companies play, and they know the arguments they will use against your claim. That means they will already have evidence prepared to refute any denials, and they will work hard to negotiate a settlement that ensures you get the compensation you need.
Using the Modifier and Formula to Calculate Pain and Suffering
Insurance companies typically use a modifier when calculating how much pain and suffering damages they feel you deserve. They will use the total amount of your medical expenses and then multiply by a number they feel is suitable for your injury. The more serious or permanent the injury, the higher that multiplier goes. The less severe and permanent, the lower it goes.
After they have multiplied your medical costs, they will then add in the lost wages and any loss of earning capacity claims you made to come up with their pain and suffering amount – which will always be lower than what your attorney estimates.
Your Attorney Will Fight for the Compensation You Deserve
Your lawyer will negotiate back and forth with the insurance company using his numbers and their numbers. Often, this process alone takes a few weeks as each party will offer counters with evidence as to why their counter is appropriate.
If you cannot settle out of court, your attorney may feel going to trial is best. In this case, the lawsuit would go to a judge or jury for a decision. Judges and juries do not use the same calculation for pain and suffering, and they can be highly unpredictable.
Regardless of Court-Ordered Settlement, the Insurance Only Pays Up to the Policy Max
Regardless of what the court decides, the insurer is still only liable to pay for the policy maximum. From there, you would need to look for assets that the defendant has to pay the remaining balance – if any are present.
If you have suffered severe injuries from a car accident, do not worry about arguing with the insurance company on how much compensation you deserve. Instead, speak with an attorney who will serve as your advocate and fight for the compensation you need.
To get started, meet with attorney Seth Gladstein from the Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC. He has helped countless clients just like you secure the pain and suffering damages they deserve. Schedule a free case evaluation by calling us or contact us online with your questions.
The Importance of a Thorough Investigation
As discussed above, while an insurance company will compensate accident victims for their pain and suffering as well as other non-economic damages, payment is only available up to the policy maximum. Often, this amount will be insufficient to fully compensate an accident victim for their injuries. For example, currently, Kentucky law requires all motorists to maintain bodily injury liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident. This means that, if a driver only has the minimum amount of coverage required by law, there will only be $25,000 in total compensation available.
An experienced injury lawyer can help accident victims by conducting an in-depth investigation into the accident. This is a crucial step in the process, because it may uncover additional theories of liability against other parties. For example, if a negligent driver was on-the-clock at the time of a collision, an accident victim may be able to pursue a claim against both the negligent drive and their employer.
If an accident victim is able to establish liability against multiple parties, they may be able to tap into multiple insurance policies, significantly increasing their chances of obtaining full compensation for their injuries.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
