When you suffer a burn injury, you might have a few different types of losses. This often includes direct financial losses, like your medical bills or lost wages from the time that you take off work to recover. You may also have indirect losses from the emotional harm that you experienced, such as pain and suffering.
Unlike medical treatment, you don’t get a bill for things like pain and suffering. Instead, your West Virginia personal injury lawyer will likely use one of two methods for estimating your pain and suffering in a burn injury claim: a per diem calculation or a multiplier method. Your attorney will then use this number to develop a claim for compensation based on the unique facts of your case.
At Johnstone & Gabhart, we are fierce advocates for clients who have suffered all types of injuries, including burn injuries. We work hard to help our clients get maximum compensation for all of their losses, including pain and suffering. To learn more or to schedule a free initial consultation with our Charleston, WV burn injury attorneys, contact our law firm today.
What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?
In a personal injury case, you will likely be entitled to two main types of compensation: economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages pay for direct financial losses, while non-economic damages pay for intangible losses. In cases involving intentional or reckless conduct, a third type of damages (punitive damages) may be awarded.
Economic damages pay for things like lost wages, property damage, reduced earning capacity, medical expenses, and future medical care. They are typically fairly straightforward to calculate and prove because an accident victim will usually have documentation of these losses. For example, you can use your pay stubs to show your lost wages for the time that you took off work to recover from your injuries.
Non-economic damages pay for other types of losses, such as emotional trauma, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring, and disfigurement. These types of losses can often be harder to calculate because you don’t get a bill in the mail for things like pain and suffering.
Pain and suffering damages include two components:
- Physical pain and suffering resulting from physical injuries, medical treatment, and day-to-day physical recovery; and
- Mental pain and suffering that occurs because of the physical injuries and the trauma of the incident, including mental anguish, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, depression, and anxiety.
In burn injury cases, pain and suffering damages are incredibly important. Even if you don’t need extensive medical treatment like skin graft surgery, you might deal with a lot of emotional challenges after being burned in an accident. This can include both physical discomfort as well as things like embarrassment about your scarring or flashbacks to the accident.
While determining pain and suffering damages isn’t as easy as it is for economic damages, they should be included in any burn injury case. Our West Virginia personal injury attorneys will use our skills and knowledge to put together a strong claim for compensation.
How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Calculated in WV Burn Injury Cases?
Calculating pain and suffering damages in burn cases isn’t as simple as tallying up bills and invoices. Instead, your West Virginia burn injury attorney will use one of two methods to come up with an estimate of your pain and suffering damages. Each estimate will be based on the unique facts of your case, such as the extent of your injuries and the likelihood that you will make a full recovery.
The first method is using a multiplier. This involves assigning a number between 1 and 5 to the severity of your injuries. This number is then multiplied by your total economic damages to arrive at a number for pain and suffering.
For example, consider a situation where you suffered severe burn injuries when an LED battery caught on fire. You were out of work for 6 months and required extensive treatment for second and third-degree burns on your arms and hands. You have permanent scarring on your body from the burn injuries. If your total economic damages were $200,000 and your case was assigned a multiplier of 3.5, then your pain and suffering damages would be $700,000.
The second method that is commonly used is the per diem method. Essentially, you establish a daily value for your suffering, such as $200. You then multiply that amount by the number of days that it takes you to recover from your injuries.
In the example above, you may have been out of work for 6 months, but it took over a year to recover from your injuries. If you multiply $200 times 380 days, then your pain and suffering damages would be $76,000 (regardless of your economic damages).
Obviously, this number is far lower than the multiplier method. Your attorney will use the method that best fits the facts of your case to estimate pain and suffering damages. The per diem method might be more accurate in cases involving less serious injuries where your economic damages are relatively low. For cases involving more extensive burns, the multiplier method might produce an estimate that is closer to the true value of your pain and suffering.
Proving Your Pain and Suffering Damages
Insurance companies rarely just write a check for the full amount of a demand in a personal injury case. They will almost always make a counteroffer with a much lower number, particularly when it comes to non-economic damages like pain and suffering.
Your West Virginia burn injury lawyer will gather evidence to support your claim for pain and suffering damages. Documentation is particularly important when an injury is psychological, rather than physical. Examples of potential evidence include:
- Your medical records, which will help to show that you did have physical and mental pain from your burn accident;
- Records from therapy or counseling;
- Any prescriptions for medications prescribed for things like insomnia, depression, or anxiety after the accident;
- Testimony from a medical expert on the pain that your injuries will likely cause; and
- Statements from witnesses, such as your friends and family members, who can testify as to how your injuries have affected you mentally.
You can also keep a journal to document how your burn injuries have affected you. For example, you might make daily entries to note things like how you had difficulty sleeping or stayed home from a social function because you didn’t want anyone to see your scars. Keeping contemporaneous notes can be important evidence in a personal injury case.
The best way to get maximum compensation is by working with an experienced Charleston burn injury lawyer. Our law firm will thoroughly investigate your case and develop the necessary evidence to support your claim. If the insurance company refuses to offer you a fair settlement, we will take your case to trial and ask the jury to return a verdict in your favor.
Help for West Virginia Burn Injury Victims
Burn injuries can cause lasting physical and psychological damage. Our goal as your attorneys is to make sure that your settlement accurately reflects the full extent of your losses, including pain and suffering. We will fight to get you the compensation that you deserve.
Based in Charleston, Johnstone & Gabhart fights for the rights of accident victims. We represent people who have been hurt in car accidents, slips and falls, burn accidents, and more. To learn more or to schedule a free consultation with a West Virginia burn injury attorney, call our law firm at 304-343-7100 or fill out our online contact form.
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