How are personal injury damages calculated? The answer to this question can vary on the basis of different factors, but there are some helpful general principles.
The key factor dictating the size of your settlement will, of course, be the extent of your injuries. However, when it comes to certain accident-related costs and noneconomic damages, the extent of your entitlements may vary depending on the way in which they’re calculated. It’s therefore important to understand how this process works so you can use it to your advantage.
In this post, we take a look at everything you’ll need to know about calculating injury damages.
Before diving into the specifics, it’s important to know that there are two main types of damages: economic and noneconomic. Economic damages cover tangible losses (such as medical expenses and lost earnings), while noneconomic damages focus on more personal issues that do not have a literal financial cost (such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life).
Economic damages are designed to cover your actual financial losses. These include medical bills, lost wages, and any future medical care you may need. You’ll want to keep records of all expenses to ensure you’re compensated fairly.
Noneconomic damages account for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the overall impact your accident has had on your quality of life. These damages are, for obvious reasons, much more difficult to calculate. There are a few different methods that can be used to assign values to noneconomic losses, and the specific approach employed can make a big difference to the ultimate settlement you end up with. We discuss these calculation methods in more detail later in this post.
These damages are added on to economic and noneconomic damages in cases involving extremely negligent or malicious conduct by a defendant. Pennsylvania’s rules are highly restrictive when it comes to punitive damages; they’re only available in exceptional cases. Examples of such cases include:
If punitive damages do apply in your case, they might greatly inflate the value of your settlement. Again, the calculation processes applied to punitive damages are subjective, and awards can therefore vary significantly from one case to the next. We delve deeper into these calculation methods later in the article.
Pennsylvania follows a comparative negligence rule, which means if you’re partially at fault for an accident, your damages arising from it might be reduced.
Say you’re riding your motorcycle, traveling at 65 mph in a 60 mph zone. You go through a set of traffic lights when your light is green and you get T-boned by a driver coming from your right, who has run a red light.
The accident would not have happened but for the other party’s careless driving, so they will most likely be held liable for the crash. However, because you were over the speed limit at the time of the collision, you’ll probably have to accept a percentage of the blame for what happened.
If that portion comes to 10% of the overall blame, your damages entitlements will be capped at 90% of their overall value. So, if your economic and noneconomic damage are collectively worth $120,000, you’d be entitled to a maximum of $108,000.
The hypothetical situation we’ve outlined here is, of course, overly simplistic. In real cases, dozens of factors might come under consideration when it comes to apportioning blame and deciding what percentage of the overall responsibility each party should have to accept. If you’d like a detailed analysis of the shared liability you’re likely to face in your own case, you should visit us for a free initial consultation.
There are a few different methods of calculating noneconomic damages. The applicable method usually depends on the discretion of the judge, insurance company, or negotiating parties involved.
It’s worth noting that there is no legislative cap on noneconomic damages in Pennsylvania personal injury cases, as there is in some other states.
The multiplier method calculates noneconomic damages by taking the dollar value of economic damages and multiplying it by a number (generally between 1.5 and 5). The greater the impact of your injuries on your life, the higher this number will be.
This approach aims to address the subjectivity of noneconomic damages, although the courts still have a degree of discretion when it comes to picking the multiplier. So, there tends to be quite a bit of variation in the results of this method from one case to the next, even in situations involving similar injuries and surrounding circumstances.
The per diem (per day) method assigns a daily value to the physical and emotional distress you’ve experienced, and multiplies that value by the number of days you've endured these hardships.
For example, if you suffered from back pain for six months (180 days) after your accident, a daily rate (let’s say $200) is multiplied by 180. The result in this case would be $36,000 in noneconomic damages for your pain and suffering.
The key here is the determination of a fair daily rate; again, subjective reasoning has a huge role to play.
In Pennsylvania, punitive damages are calculated based on two main factors: the degree of misconduct and the defendant’s financial situation. Courts will look at how extreme the defendant's behavior was and try to set an amount that is proportional to the harm caused.
As is the case in many other states, there are caps on punitive damages awards in Pennsylvania in certain circumstances. In medical malpractice cases, for instance, punitive damages cannot be more than double the amount of economic and noneconomic damages combined. Also, 25% of any punitive damages awarded in relation to medical negligence must go to the Medical Availability and Reduction Error Fund.
If you arrived on this webpage after typing “personal injury settlement calculation” or some similar search term into Google, you may have come across an online calculator promising to quote a settlement value for you. While these might look useful, they’re often wildly inaccurate.
The calculation of damages is a complex and multi-faceted process. No website that currently exists is advanced enough to properly weigh all the variables in your case and come up with a true indication of its value.
Settlement calculators can sometimes produce accurate results, but you shouldn’t ever rely on what they tell you. As the saying goes, “even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” The only way to get a proper estimate of what your personal injury case might be worth is to visit a lawyer with plenty of experience when it comes to situations like yours.
Calculating personal injury damages isn’t an exact science, but understanding the factors that go into it can help you know what to expect.
Plus, as you can now see, a competent attorney can make all the difference when it comes to maximizing your compensation entitlements. If you’d like to learn more about how we might be able to help you, schedule a free initial consultation and discuss your case with one of our highly experienced personal injury lawyers. You can reach us via our online contact form or over the phone at 800-969-4400. Don’t delay; the sooner you start the process, the better our chances will be of securing a good result on your behalf.
