How Is Pain And Suffering Measured In A Personal Injury Case?

The first thing that would pop into the mind of the regular person when it comes to compensation in a personal injury case is pain and suffering. These are also commonly referred to as general damages. People often mistakenly presume that damages for pain and suffering are the most lucrative in terms of compensation. While this might be true for certain situations, there are a lot of different headings for damages, which are definitely more prosperous, so to speak.

So, how to determine the amount of damages for pain and suffering?

This is the age-old question which troubles each plaintiff. A lot of you may have watched USA TV series in which these damages often range in the millions and that’s really the case. However, that’s the reality in the USA. In Canada, it’s a whole other story. Back in time, the Supreme Court of Canada limited the amount of possible compensation for general damages to exactly $356,000. Well, this amount is known to increase with every year, but the increase is rather inconsiderable. Thus, if you are trying to represent yourself, you might end up with a paltry amount.

The power to quantify damages resides within the judge and no one else. And, this power is discretional. This means that the judge can award $10,000 for damages in pain and suffering for a broken arm and $100,000 for damages in pain and suffering for a broken wrist, for instance. Seemingly, the first injury is much more serious. However, consider the fact that the broken wrist belonged to famous basketball player and it was broken as a result of a DUI accidents while he was crossing on a crosswalk. These are additional factors which need to be taken into account when assessing general damages.

Things to consider

As always, things are far from being simple. The best threshold to stack current condition and determine the amount of the damages is to compare it to the condition of the victim before the accident had taken place. This could be attested and determined by witnesses, doctors and even the victim himself.

However, the important thing is that these damages can’t be determined and established with documents. Unlike physical injuries which are easily measured and established, general damages are particularly challenging when it comes to the assessment. However, keep in mind that the roof for compensation set to $356,000 is also rather questionable. When you count out all of the applicable deductibles, you will quickly see that this amount gets even lower.

It’s important to handle these issues before you file your lawsuit because there are a lot of complications. You could really end up with a lot less than what you could have bargained with the insurer. That is one of the reasons that you need to hire the services of a personal injury lawyer