The trauma of your motorcycle accident may be felt across every aspect of your life. You know that you should be compensated for your medical bills, the damage to your motorcycle, and perhaps the time you took off work, but you may not fully grasp the true value of your claim until you know how much your non-economic damages are worth.
Pain and suffering, and other relevant non-economic damages, can be some of the most debilitating types of losses you can endure.
Fortunately, when you have your Phoenix motorcycle accident lawyer from Suzuki Law Offices step in and advocate for your rights, you have an opportunity to get the most out of your claim.
Our team can help you understand how pain and suffering from a motorcycle accident is paid so you know what to expect going forward. Here is more about how pain and suffering are calculated, your legal options for financial relief, and whether there are any caps on non-economic damages.
Calculating the Value of Your Pain and Suffering After a Motorcycle Wreck
Before we explain how pain and suffering from a motorcycle accident is paid, it is important to understand how the value of your damages is calculated. Your Phoenix personal injury lawyer from Suzuki Law Offices will carefully review your economic and non-economic damages to calculate the value of your claim. There are several potential methods we can use to evaluate how much your pain and suffering is worth.
The Multiplier Method
First, we have the multiplier method. Here, the severity of your injuries will be given a multiplier between one and five. The higher the multiplier means the more serious your injuries are, the greater your injuries are expected to impact your life.
We then use your multiplier calculated with the total value of your economic damages. Let’s say your economic damages were valued at $250,000. If your injuries have been assigned a multiplier of five, we would multiply 5 by 250,000 to get $1.25 million.
Another example could be if your economic damages were assigned a value of $500,000. If your injuries were assigned a multiplier of three, we would multiply 3 by 500,000. This would mean your pain and suffering damages were valued at $1.5 million.
The Per Diem Method
While the multiplier method is commonly used to determine the value of pain and suffering from a motorcycle accident, there is another way to calculate these damages. The per diem method may be another option. We will need to know the exact number of days you have suffered from injuries related to your motorcycle accident.
Let’s say you have struggled with the impact of your injuries for 750 days. We would need to assign a daily value for your pain and suffering, which could be $250 for the purposes of this example. We would need to multiply $250 by 750 to get the value of your pain and suffering damages, which would be $187,500.
How Motorcycle Accident Settlements Are Paid Out
Now that you understand how your pain and suffering could be calculated, it is time to learn more about how these damages are paid out. One thing is generally true across most personal injury cases. The liable party should be expected to cover the full value of your losses.
Per ARS §12-341, you have the right to be made whole. Fortunately, there are several potential ways in which you can recover the compensation you deserve. Between filing a claim with the insurance company and bringing your case to trial, you can get the most out of your claim.
Insurance Claim Settlements
Since Arizona follows fault insurance laws under ARS §28-4009, you will be dealing with the liable party’s insurance company. You may not be able to recover compensation for pain and suffering through your insurance settlement.
Although the liable party’s insurance policy may be required to cover a portion of your medical bills and motorcycle repair costs, few insurance companies provide compensation for pain and suffering or other non-economic damages.
Personal Injury Lawsuit Judgements
One of the only options for recovering pain and suffering after a motorcycle accident is by filing a personal injury lawsuit. You can be fully repaid for the value of your damages when you successfully bring your case to trial. The judge and jury have the authority to award you compensation for your non-economic damages, including pain and suffering.
If the jury returns a verdict in your favor, the defendant may be ordered to compensate you soon after. In some cases, judges may require the defendant to start making payments or set up a payment arrangement within 60 days of the judgment as described under ARS §22-244.
You may be able to receive compensation for your pain and suffering through direct deposit, check, or settlement outside of court.
Caps on Pain and Suffering in Arizona
In some states, there is a cap on the amount of compensation you can recover for pain and suffering. However, there is no cap on non-economic damages in personal injury lawsuits in Arizona.
n fact, the constitution in Arizona prohibits the limitation of damages awarded in wrongful death and personal injury claims as described under Article 18 §31.
Get Help Maximizing Your Settlement. Call Suzuki Law Offices Today
Although pain and suffering may not have a set monetary value, the powerful impact on your life means these damages should be taken into consideration accordingly. In many cases, motorcycle accident victims struggling to cope with non-economic losses may suffer more than those dealing with economic damages alone.
Once you understand how pain and suffering from a motorcycle accident is paid, you can take the necessary steps to maximize your payout.
You do not have to navigate the personal injury and insurance claims processes on your own when you have a leading Phoenix car accident lawyer from Suzuki Law Offices working for you.
With over 30 years of trial experience and passionate legal advocacy, our firm’s dedication to our clients is unparalleled. When you are ready to fight for the compensation you deserve, call our office or complete our quick contact form to schedule your no-cost, risk-free consultation as soon as today.
Call or text (602) 682-5270 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form