After you’ve been involved in an accident and have suffered both physically and emotionally due to the severity of said accident, you might wonder if you qualify for pain and suffering damages. If you are feeling anxious or depressed, or you are in vast amounts of pain following your accident, pain and suffering damages should be easy to obtain, right? However, this is not always the case. There are many factors that can have a major impact on your claim and make it either easy or difficult to obtain these damages.
The damages for pain and suffering are not determined the same way for everyone; there is no set formula that the courts apply to these cases to come up with a specific number that applies to everyone’s case. Pain and suffering is, instead, extremely personal in nature and reflects exactly what you are feeling and have gone through. It is up to you, as the plaintiff, to convince the insurance adjuster, attorneys, and more in these cases that your injuries were truly as bad as you say they were. Today, we want to look at a couple of factors that might impact your claim and ability to recover.
Factors Seen in Pain and Suffering Claims
Have you been consistent? Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys want you to remain consistent in your claim. If you are telling the truth about your injuries, you can tell the story about how it happened again and again and you must remain consistent in the pain that you have been feeling. If you tell one doctor that you have pain in your right leg but then another doctor that the pain is actually in your left leg, you might not be viewed as consistent and might have trouble compensating for your injuries.
Are you a credible person? Consistency and credibility go hand in hand. You, as the plaintiff, must be credible by making consistent statements. Some other factors that might be examined are whether or not the jury thinks you told a lie about your pain or if you have a past criminal history.
Are you considered to be well-liked by the courts? If the jury or judge do not like who is sitting before them, there is a chance that you might be denied when it comes to your pain and suffering. Your attorney will be able to tell you that your demeanor comes off as harsh or shifty and that the judge in your case might not like this. If you have to work on these aspects of your personality so that you appear a certain way in the courtroom, then this is something that you will talk to your attorney about.
Are your health providers on your side? Your doctors must have confidence in your claim and be on your side through every step if you expect to make the most out of your claim. If the doctor who works with you says that your injury is incredibly serious and could cause you a lifetime of pain, this will help boost your credibility in the courtroom.
An Attorney to Help with Your Pain and Suffering Claims
Many accidents lead to claims of pain and suffering due to the extent of your injuries and the emotions or pain that you feel on a daily basis. As such, you should always have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side so that you can work through every aspect of your case and gain the compensation you deserve during this difficult time. At Katz, Kantor, Stonestreet & Buckner, our dedicated and compassionate personal injury attorneys in West Virginia have helped with a wide variety of cases and would like to stand by your side when you need us most. Please contact us for more information at (304) 713-2014.
