Accidents that may lead to paralysis can happen from driving, playing sports, or falling from great heights. Victims of these accidents often suffer broken limbs, lacerations, brain injuries, and paralysis.
Paralysis affects every aspect of your life, costs copious amounts of money in medical bills, and affects your mental well-being. If you believe that your injuries are a result of another party’s recklessness or negligence, you can file a personal injury claim and recover your compensation.
What Is Pain and Suffering?
Legally, pain and suffering describes the physical and mental anguish that a personal injury victim endures because of their injuries. Victims suffering from paralysis often transition from old methods of living to relying on others for assistance, causing a great deal of traumatic stress in addition to their physical ailments.
Pain and suffering covers mental, emotional, and physical pain or duress that victims experience. Whether it’s a mild concussion or paralysis that requires years of therapy, compensation for pain and suffering covers these injuries and more.
Determining Pain and Suffering Compensation in a Paralysis Case
The purpose of filing a personal injury case is to recover compensation for your pain. Damages from pain and suffering fall under non-economic damages, which is different from economic damages, which include loss of income, medical bills, and other out-of-pocket expenses. You can prove those damages through medical bill receipts and contracts since these are easily determined to their exact worth.
Federal laws, insurance companies, and our team at Loncar Lyon Jenkins have devised ways to facilitate the recovery of pain and suffering compensation. Here are the two most popular methods:
The Multiplier Method
The multiplier method is a general technique for calculating pain and suffering. This can be relevant in estimating the amount of money you can recover for your paralysis case.
The insurance company or court of law can add up all your damages and multiply that by a number between 1.5 and 5, depending on the severity of your paralysis. Someone with quadriplegia paralysis, or the loss of feeling and motor function from the neck down, will have a higher multiplying factor than a victim suffering from paraplegia, which is the loss of feeling and movement in only specific parts of the body.
The Per Diem Method
The per diem method involves setting aside a specific amount of money for each day you remain paralyzed. However, establishing this amount is difficult since all parties must agree to the terms. This is in addition to quantifying the duration of your paralysis, in which victims may never fully recover.
Factors Affecting Your Compensation
Apart from the severity of your paralysis case, other factors that can affect the outcome of your case include:
- The impact your paralysis has on your way of life
- The impact your paralysis has on your immediate family and loved ones
- The need for further medical care or round-the-clock nursing care
- The need for housing modifications to accommodate your paralysis
The presentation of your case is also extremely important. You must prove that someone else’s negligence is responsible for your paralysis. Gathering critical evidence, talking to eyewitnesses, and proper negotiation skills ensure that you receive your rightful compensation.
Is There a Deadline for Filing My Paralysis Case?
States have statutes of limitations that govern personal injury cases. In Texas, you have up to two years to file an injury lawsuit. Whether it was a workplace injury, a Dallas car accident, or medical malpractice, the law will void your case if you don’t file within the specified time.
Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer to File My Paralysis Claim or Lawsuit?
Following your paralysis diagnosis, claiming pain and suffering is one of the best ways to ensure you receive the entirety of the compensation owed to you. Hiring a Dallas personal injury lawyer isn’t required, but it allows you to achieve fair compensation and help you need to move forward. You can also focus on your recovery if a lawyer handles your case.
An attorney will help you gather incriminating evidence, develop a winning strategy, represent you in negotiations, inform you about your case’s progress, and file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary.
Contact Loncar Lyon Jenkins Today for a Free Consultation
A lawyer from our firm has the much-needed legal muscle to go toe-to-toe with whoever the liable person is. At Loncar Lyon Jenkins, we value our clients. We understand your needs and are committed to helping you achieve the compensation you deserve. Call us for a complimentary consultation.
