In most Massachusetts personal injury cases, victims seek compensatory damages. This broad category is further broken down into economic and non-economic damages. While economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages are objective in nature, non-economic damages encompass several types of subjective and intangible losses. Understanding non-economic damages can help you make the strongest possible claim for the justice you deserve.
So, too, can hiring an experienced law firm. If you or a loved one suffered a personal injury due to someone’s negligence or intentional misconduct, it’s time to explore your legal options for seeking all available forms of compensation. The Boston law firm of Diller Law is ready to serve you and your family today.
The Basics of Non-Economic Damages
Suffering a personal injury causes the victim to incur serious financial losses, such as medical bills and missed time from work. And while these financial losses are real and victims deserve compensation for them, they do not tell the full story. Getting into an accident also negatively affects a victim’s quality of life, emotional well-being, and other personal aspects that are not as easily quantifiable; this is where non-economic damages come in.
Non-economic damages are subjective and are based to a large extent on the victim’s personal experiences in and after the accident and during their recovery. They are intangible in nature, which means they are not as readily reducible to a simple mathematical formula in the way that economic damages are, but this does not make them any less valid. In fact, many victims seek and win substantial non-economic damages.
Both economic and non-economic damages are grouped together in a larger category known as compensatory damages. As the name suggests, these are designed to compensate the victim for their various losses. Put another way, compensatory damages in a personal injury case seek to return the victim, as much as possible, to the financial (economic) and personal (non-economic) state that they were in prior to the accident.
The Different Types of Non-Economic Damages in Massachusetts
Personal injury victims can generally file a lawsuit to seek many different non-economic damages, including:
- Pain and suffering: One of the largest categories of non-economic damages, this refers to the physical pain (including chronic pain), discomfort, and suffering that a victim experiences because of the injury, including during recovery.
- Emotional distress: This is sometimes referred to as mental anguish, and it covers a host of negative emotional and psychological experiences. Among the losses that fall under emotional distress are anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Loss of enjoyment of life: When a personal injury prevents someone from enjoying the activities or lifestyle they once had, they can ask for compensation. For example, a serious injury may prevent a victim from participating in recreational or family activities or hobbies.
- Disfigurement and scarring: Some injuries, especially burns and injuries to the face, can cause irreversible disfigurement and scarring. Courts recognize the effects this can have on a person’s quality of life and therefore allow victims to seek these damages.
- Loss of consortium and companionship: Suffering a personal injury could affect the victim’s relationship with their spouse or family. More specifically, it can negatively impact companionship, affection, society, services, and the marital relationship itself.
- Embarrassment and loss of dignity: Injuries can also cause sustained embarrassment and destroy a person’s dignity. These effects can be claimed among the other non-economic damages.
Limits on Non-Economic Damages
Most Massachusetts personal injury cases are not subject to a limit on non-economic damages. But there are a few notable rules and qualifications that victims should be aware of:
- Medical malpractice: Non-economic damages like pain and suffering are limited to $500,000 in most medical malpractice lawsuits. In some cases, such as those involving substantial or permanent impairment, disfigurement, or other circumstances, this cap can be lifted.
- No-fault insurance rules: In automobile accident cases, before a victim can request compensation for pain and suffering, they must prove that they have incurred reasonable and necessary medical bills over $2,000 or suffered a “serious injury.” A serious injury can include a bone fracture or certain permanent injuries.
How to Calculate Non-Economic Damages
Unlike economic damages, for which there are medical bills, income statements, and other forms of objective proof, non-economic damages are not as easy to quantify. For this reason, many insurance companies will try to push back and devalue these losses. Having an attorney can help you counter any attempt to lessen the value of your damages.
During settlement negotiations with the at-fault party’s insurance company, you and your lawyer will likely use one of two methods for calculating non-economic damages:
- Multiplier method: To use this approach, you should first determine the total amount of your economic damages. Then multiply this figure by a numerical value that corresponds to such factors as the severity of your injuries, the duration of your recovery, and whether you have suffered permanent impairment. This factor usually ranges from 1.5 to 5 and can vary widely from one case to another.
- Per diem method: With the per diem method, a daily dollar value is first assigned to the victim’s pain and suffering. Then the total number of days, from the initial date of injury to the point at which doctors declare the victim has reached maximum medical recovery, is added up. This amount is then multiplied by the daily (per diem) dollar value.
How to Support Your Claim for Non-Economic Damages
Even with the above calculation methods, there is still a great deal of subjectivity involved with non-economic damages. For example, quantifying the severity of one’s injuries is not a simple matter. You may experience intense pain, but how do you boil this down to a dollar figure or numerical value that a jury or insurance company can understand?
As with any other type of damages, it will be your responsibility to substantiate your pain and suffering, decreased enjoyment of life, and other personal losses. Here are a few steps you can take to prove that you deserve non-economic damages:
Seek Medical Attention
Do not delay getting medical attention after being in an accident, even if you think you suffered no injuries. Not all injuries are readily apparent, and certain psychological or emotional injuries are even more difficult to detect.
Let your primary care physician evaluate you and make a determination about what happened. Talk to a mental health professional about your emotional and psychological condition.
Continue Medical Treatment and Report Changes
Be sure you follow up with all medical appointments and referrals to specialists. Report any changes in your physical, mental, or emotional condition to your doctors. Any unusual delays could work against you, so stay on top of these issues.
Follow Your Doctor’s Treatment Plan
You must continue to do what your doctor recommends, such as observing work and physical activity limitations, taking your prescription medications, and seeing specialists. If there is evidence that you ignored your treatment regimen and thereby made your own pain and suffering worse, it will work against you.
Keep Your Medical Bills and Other Records
Keep everything pertaining to all treatments you receive. This includes medical bills, doctors’ notes, receipts, prescription medications, appointment records, and anything else, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Take Photos and Record Videos of Your Condition
Document your ongoing condition and recovery through photos and videos. These should present an honest depiction of your condition, nothing exaggerated. Photos and videos are objective and powerful evidence of how an injury has affected a victim.
Keep Detailed Notes About Your Condition
Keep a journal that includes extensive recollections about your condition, making note of all pain and suffering, daily limitations, and your struggles. Don’t assume you will remember the facts about your condition later; commit them to writing.
Stay Off Social Media
The last thing you need to do while your case is pending is use social media. Even seemingly innocuous posts, like a picture of you smiling with a friend, can undermine your claim of pain and suffering. Deactivate your accounts and limit what you say to friends or family.
Ask Witnesses to Provide a Statement
Other individuals who have observed the effects of your injuries could offer valuable testimony about your condition. Although family and friends can serve as witnesses, more neutral third parties, such as co-workers, can be helpful as well.
Don’t Forget Your Economic Damages
Since the multiplier method is based on the value of economic damages, be sure to keep records pertaining to these. Anything related to your medical bills, income, and property damage may be relevant.
The Most Important Step: Hiring a Knowledgeable Law Firm
The quality of legal counsel you retain to handle your personal injury case will make a difference in the total value of damages you receive. You need a firm that understands Massachusetts personal injury cases and knows how to fight for the full value of compensation available under the law. That firm is Diller Law.
Located in Boston, our firm serves clients throughout Massachusetts and New England. We represent personal injury victims with the professionalism and compassion that they deserve. To get started on your case or to learn more about the types of damages you might be able to request, give us a call or complete our online contact form.