When you are injured due to another person’s negligence or wrongdoing, you have the right to recover compensation for your injuries. In a successful personal injury claim, you can recover both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are easier to calculate and include current and future medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and other financial losses and expenses incurred due to the accident and your injuries. Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, are not as easy to prove or accurately calculate.
You need the help of an experienced Baton Rouge injury lawyer to ensure all your current and future damages are established and accurately valued. At Chris Corzo Injury Attorneys, our personal injury attorneys understand how pain and suffering damages are calculated, and we can help maximize your compensation.
Pain and Suffering in Louisiana Personal Injury Cases
Pain and suffering are part of the broader category of non-economic damages. These are losses that lack a receipt or invoice but can be even more devastating than economic damages.
Physical pain and suffering refer to the bodily pain and discomfort caused by your injuries after an accident, including what you are likely to suffer in the future. Examples include chronic pain from herniated discs, headaches from a traumatic brain injury, nerve damage, limited range of motion, and other physical conditions that affect you now and into the future.
Mental and emotional pain and suffering refer to the psychological effects of the accident and your injuries. Examples include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. These consequences are often invisible to others but can be just as disabling as physical pain and suffering.
At Chris Corzo Injury Attorneys, our injury lawyers will build your strongest claim to include all physical and emotional pain and suffering to help you secure maximum compensation for your pain and suffering damages.
How Louisiana Courts Calculate Pain and Suffering in Personal Injury Cases
Louisiana courts typically use one of three approaches to calculate pain and suffering damages:
- The multiplier method. This is the most commonly used method by Louisiana courts. Using this method, your total economic damages would be multiplied by a number based on the severity of your injuries and the impact of your injuries on your life. The multiplier usually ranges from 1 to 5, with more severe injuries falling at higher levels. For example, if your economic damages total $100,000 and the court determines that a multiplier of 3 is appropriate for the severity of your injuries, your pain and suffering damages would be set at $300,000.
- The per diem method. Using this approach, the court would assign a daily dollar value to your pain and suffering and multiply it by the number of days you have been affected by your injuries. This daily dollar value is often tied to your daily earnings.
- The jurisprudential method. This method involves examining comparable cases decided by Louisiana courts and using those outcomes as a benchmark for valuing your claim.
Personal injury attorneys and insurance adjusters may draw on more than one of these methods when negotiating a settlement. An experienced Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer will work with medical, economic, and other industry experts to help establish and prove the accurate value of your damages so you can secure maximum compensation.
Does Louisiana Cap Pain and Suffering Damages?
The good news is that Louisiana does not cap pain and suffering damages in personal injury cases arising from car accidents between private parties.
Louisiana law caps damages in claims against government entities and in medical malpractice cases. However, in car accident claims involving non-governmental defendants, there is no statutory cap on the compensation you can recover for pain and suffering.
Having the Right Personal Injury Attorney Makes All the Difference
At Chris Corzo Injury Attorneys, our team of personal injury lawyers takes the time to fully document what you have been through and present your pain and suffering damages in the most compelling way possible. We negotiate aggressively and are always ready to take your case to trial if necessary.
Our personal injury attorneys in Baton Rouge have a proven record of securing maximum compensation for our clients’ pain and suffering damages. Let us help you. Call (225) 999-1111 or visit our contact page and schedule a free consultation to discuss your claim with a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer today.