The pain and suffering you experience after your accident may not be visible to outsiders. This does not make your physical discomfort, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or any other intangible losses any less real. So not only may proving this non-economic damage to the New Jersey civil court be difficult, but so is assigning it an accurate monetary value. Well, for this, your lawyer may use one of two mathematical formulas, one of them being the per diem method. Without further ado, please read on to discover how to use the per diem method for calculating pain and suffering and how a seasoned Parsippany, New Jersey personal injury lawyer at Macri Law Firm can accurately compute this and fight for a fair compensation amount on your behalf.
What is the per diem method for calculating pain and suffering?
Otherwise referred to as the time unit rule, the per diem method gives a specific dollar value to each day you experience pain and suffering, from the date of your accident or the date you first noticed your injury, to the date you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI). Therefore, the formula can be seen as: Total Pain and Suffering = Daily Rate x Number of Days Suffering.
With that, it is typically easiest to make the daily rate the same as the daily earnings you received before your accident event. This is because it may be argued that your pain and suffering have restricted you from returning to work at full capacity, causing you to incur lost wages in the process.
Using this example, say that you previously earned $250 per workday, pre-tax. Then, say that your physical and mental conditions did not stabilize until a full year after your accident (i.e., 365 days). Multiplying these two values together, you may ask the New Jersey civil court for approximately $91,250 in financial compensation for your pain and suffering alone.
When might the per diem method not work for calculating pain and suffering?
While the per diem method seems like a clear, simple formula, it may become complicated if you try to base it on injuries that are not temporary or finite. That is, if you have been diagnosed with a permanent or lifelong injury, there may not be a definitive answer to how many days you are going to be left suffering. Also, if attempting to attribute the daily rate to your daily wages, it is harder to predict external factors like inflation, what your future earning capacity would have been, etc.
Rest assured, under these circumstances, your lawyer may adopt another commonly used mathematical equation, known as the multiplier method. Here, they may value your pain and suffering a number between 1.5 and five. Then, they may multiply this factor by your total calculated economic damages (i.e., medical bills, lost wages, etc). So, say your permanent injuries constitute a five, and your economic damages were valued at $50,000. That means you may fight for $250,000 worth of financial compensation for your pain and suffering.
If you want to ensure you are taking your legal claim in the right direction, it helps to have the guidance of a competent Parsippany, New Jersey personal injury lawyer. Call Macri Law Firm and retain our legal services today.