Pain and Suffering Settlement Examples – A Legal Guide

According to insurance data, the average payout across the U.S. for a pain and suffering settlement in a personal injury case is approximately $15,000.

Pain and suffering is considered non-economic damages because it is difficult to put a number value on. Examples of pain and suffering include:

1. depression and anxiety
2. grief and anger
3. loss of enjoyment/qualify of life
4. physical pain (such as from fractures or organ damage)
5. disfigurement or impairment (such as from paralysis or burns)

Examples of economic damages – which do not include pain and suffering – are:

1. medical bills
2. lost wages
3. lost earning capacity
4. property damage
5. legal costs

Economic damages are easier to calculate than non-economic damages because you can refer to concrete evidence such as invoices, past pay stubs, and repair estimates.

1. Pain and Suffering Defined

Most jurisdictions say that “pain and suffering” is the compensation parties can receive in certain personal injury lawsuits for the

• physical pain and
• mental anguish

that they suffer because of an injury.¹

The specific amount of a pain and suffering award that an accident victim can receive will typically depend on such factors as:

• the type of accident involved,
• the type of injury,
• the severity of your injuries and the amount of pain,
• the impact the injury has on an injured person’s job and relationships with family members and loved ones,
• the length of time it takes for injury victims to heal, and
• the types of medical treatment needed.²

Note that there is no one set standard that a judge or jury will use to help calculate pain and suffering awards. Plaintiffs often show evidence of physical pain and emotional trauma, and a judge or jury then decides on a reasonable monetary value for these damages.

Example: John suffers a broken arm and whiplash in an auto accident where another driver is clearly at fault. John pays approximately $5,000 in medical expenses and incurs damage to his auto.

John experiences some pain from his injuries and they require a standard amount of medical treatment. Further, John experiences very little disruption in his home life because of the accident, but his injuries prevent him from performing certain daily and recreational activities.

Here, if the at fault party fought liability, a judge would likely rule in John’s favor. In addition, in presenting the above evidence at trial, the judge would probably award John with a rather moderate pain and suffering award, likely in the area of $1,000 – $2,000.

You can pursue pain and suffering in any kind of personal injury lawsuit, such as:

• negligence
• fraud
• assault and battery
• medical malpractice
• intentional infliction of emotional distress
• defamation
• defective products
• wrongful death of a family member

Typical evidence that can be used to illustrate pain and suffering include:

• medical records
• photos and videos
• testimony by friends and family

2. Multiplier Method

A “multiplier method” refers to one common tool that parties use to help calculate pain and suffering settlement amounts.

Under this method, an injury victim adds together all the economic damages involved in a case. The party then multiplies that figure by a certain number (typically between 1 and 5, with 3 being the number most commonly used).

The specific multiplier used will depend on the severity of a person’s injury. People will use a low multiplier (like 1 or 2) in cases with light injuries, while a party will use a higher multiplier (like 4 or 5) in cases with severe injuries.

Example: Jenny suffers a lower back injury in a slip and fall case. She incurs $10,000 in medical bills and medical expenses and loses five weeks of work at $1,000 per week (for a total lost wages amount of $5,000). Jenny’s total economic losses total $15,000.

As a result of the injury, Jenny experiences some minor inconveniences with caring for her family, but she is drastically limited in terms of performing her exercise routines and she has great difficulty in sleeping.

Jenny’s lawyer assigns a multiplier of 2 to her case for a total pain and suffering settlement value of $30,000 (2 X $15,000).

An adjuster eventually settles Jenny’s insurance claim for $25,000.

3. Per Diem Method

The per diem method is another tool that parties use to help calculate pain and suffering settlement amounts.

Under this method, parties try to calculate a settlement offer by assigning a specific amount of money for each day the accident victim experiences pain and suffering because of the accident.

This daily rate is often calculated by using the injured victim’s daily earnings prior to the accident.

Example: Mary suffered a mild brain injury in a bus-related accident. She earned $500 per day prior to her injury and experiences pain and suffering for 30 days.

Given the above figures, Mary uses the pier diem method to demand $15,000 in pain and suffering damages ($500 x 30).

4. Damage Caps

Certain states place caps on the amount of money an injury victim may recover in a pain and suffering award.

For example, under Colorado law, non-economic damages (including pain and suffering damages) cannot exceed $468,000. However, a court does have the discretion to increase this amount to a maximum of $936,030 upon clear and convincing evidence.³

Further, Idaho law caps non-economic damages at $250,000, but the cap is subject to increase or decrease in accordance with the average annual wage.⁴ Also, Mississippi law currently has a $1 million cap on non-economic damages for all civil actions except medical malpractice actions, which caps non-economic damages at $500,000.⁵

Note that California law imposes no caps on a party’s compensatory damages.⁶

Also note that pain and suffering damages can be lessened if the injury victim was partly negligent (“comparatively negligent”) or “assumed the risk” of the accident. The calculation depends on the state where the case takes place.

Additional reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Pain and Suffering Damages in Personal Injury Cases: An Empirical Study – Journal of Empirical Studies.
• Pain and Suffering, Noneconomic Damages, and the Goals of Tort Law – S.M.U. Law Review.
• Putting a Price on Pain-and-Suffering Damages: A Critique of the Current Approaches and a Preliminary Proposal for Change – Northwestern University Law Review.
• Pain and Suffering Awards: They Shouldn’t Be (Just) about Pain and Suffering – The Journal of Legal Studies.
• Making the intangible tangible: Collecting damages for pain and suffering – New Jersey Law Journal.

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