How do you handle pain and suffering? It’s a good question and one that we sometimes hear from clients who want to understand how injury compensation is calculated.
Each case is unique, and pain and suffering is a subjective. Your Florida car accident lawyer, Steve Watrel P.A., and his team use years of skills and experience to put together a comprehensive package that reflects fair compensation for your case – and they will use common standards and guidelines along the way.
Special Damages and General Damages
Lawyers in Florida and elsewhere use a rubric to discuss various categories of damage. Two terms, special damages, and general damages apply to two different types of costs. Special damages are the more quantifiable and easily calculated costs – medical bills, lost wages – things that are simple to access a dollar amount.
General damages are much more subjective, and that’s where pain and suffering comes in. Your car accident attorney will talk to you about the facts of your case – how much pain you have, how it affects your life, how long it will affect your life in the future, and what quality of life you can expect after an accident. Our team will ask you questions to determine a sound calculation of what you can expect to seek in court or a settlement.
Pain and Suffering Multipliers
Another essential tool of the trade for a Florida car accident attorney is the pain and suffering multiplier. Our team will review an auto accident and the resulting injuries. He or she will total up the special damages, and then multiply those by a specific ratio to come up with values for the general damages.
It’s important to say that these multipliers are not set in stone. They are general indicators of what specific case settlement numbers could be. The process of resolving a car accident injury case means working through not just calculations, but relational processes – such as trials or court hearings, and back-and-forth communications between law firms representing various parties.
For instance, lawyers for an injury victim and lawyers for a payer will have to come together and understand what’s reasonable. In many cases, especially in Florida, injury lawyers are working with lawyers for an insurance company. This has a bearing on how these cases are resolved.
There’s a lot to representing a client involved in a Florida car accident and as a client it is vital that you have a good attorney on your side. If you have any questions about a car accident injury case, call the law offices of Steve Watrel. Our trained and professional staff are standing by, ready to help you get your voice heard in local courts. We’ll be on your side throughout your car accident case and keep you informed along the way. Call Steve Watrel for a consultation to learn more about how to handle
