What Are Pain and Suffering Claims?

There’s no fixed formula that can account for your pain and suffering after a serious injury. You may be experiencing both emotional and physical distress, as well as anxiety about your future and affording medical costs. From panic attacks to depression, you could be dealing with a range of internalized feelings that are not easily apparent to the outside world.

Thankfully, the law allows victims of negligence to recover compensation for these intangible emotions. Called “non-economic damages,” any additional compensation for the pain and suffering you’ve felt will be determined by a jury. So how can you communicate an intangible feeling to the group of men and women who will decide whether your claim has merit?

Our Raleigh attorney can help the jury understand your situation by doing the following:

• Spending enough time with you to get the full picture. At Thorp Law, we believe in spending time with each and every one of our clients, to truly understand what they’ve been through. Once we’ve seen how your injury impacts your daily routines, relationships with friends and family, and career, we will do our best to illustrate this full picture to the jury and help them see the truth, too.
• Talking to your friends and family. From your spouse to your minister, we will also talk to the people in your social circle who have been with you through thick and thin. These trusted friends and family members know firsthand how much you may have struggled, whether serving as a steady hand during physical therapy, or helping you unload groceries from your car – and they can often speak to your emotional experience in court.
• Finding expert witnesses who can attest to your pain. In most personal injury cases, expert witnesses are critical to establishing the truth of your claims. We have a network of experts that includes pain specialists, doctors, psychologists, and therapists. When building your case, we’ll search for qualified individuals who may be able to testify in court that your injuries caused substantial distress.

Jurors are people too, and when they can see how much your life has been turned upside-down after an injury, they will more likely than not decide to award you non-economic damages. While we can’t guarantee a positive outcome in every case, we promise to do everything in our power to communicate with the jury, and show them the reality of your pain and suffering.