What Qualifies As Pain and Suffering?

According to the Pattern Jury Instructions, these damages are intangible, and the plaintiff does not have to provide any evidence of their value to them. Instead, the courts instruct juries to consider what amount will fairly compensate the victims for their damages. This compensation should be no more or no less than what is fair, and juries are not to award a higher amount of damages to punish a defendant as part of the compensatory damages award. However, the courts can impose punitive damages for this purpose. The goal is to make the victim whole again after suffering losses from the accident caused by the negligent party. The jury instructions further state that “there is no exact standard” for determining the value of this form of compensation, and any award must be “fair in the light of the evidence.”

Proving Pain And Suffering

To establish either physical or emotional pain and suffering, documentation and evidence must support the claim. This evidence may include:

• Doctor’s notes
• Medical evidence such as X-rays, MRI reports, etc.
• Photographs
• Personal journals that document the victim’s pain
• Testimony from the victims, friends, neighbors, and relatives
• Therapist or mental health counselor’s notes

The more evidence provided, the more the insurance company, judge, or jury will see how this accident negatively impacted the victim’s life due to pain and suffering. While you may be able to collect most of this evidence yourself, our lawyers will work to collect this evidence for you so that you can focus on recovering.

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