What Is Considered Pain and Suffering in SC?

If you have been hurt in a car accident or another personal injury case, you may have heard the term pain and suffering. Understanding what is considered pain and suffering in South Carolina is important for anyone with a personal injury claim.

Injury victims are often left with hefty medical bills, lost wages, and other financial impacts that are part of economic damages. However, many do not realize that they can also seek non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, as part of their compensation.

At the personal injury law offices of Armada Law, victims can receive legal support and representation for their injury claim or lawsuit through a team committed to protecting their legal rights. In this blog post, we discuss the definition of pain and suffering in a legal sense, types of pain and suffering damages, and how to prove pain and suffering in court.

What Qualifies as Pain and Suffering

In South Carolina, pain and suffering in a personal injury case is legally defined as the physical and emotional distress endured by a victim as a result of their injuries. Physical pain from injuries can cause emotional distress that interferes with the victim’s life, and it deserves to be compensated as much as any other loss.

Pain and suffering create emotional trauma that can manifest in a variety of ways. Victims may experience insomnia or difficulty sleeping, fear of driving, depression, and anxiety, among many other symptoms. These can affect daily life and will require a variety of treatments to overcome the trauma endured.

Pain and suffering fall under a specific category known as non-economic damages, which differ from economic damages. Here is a look at the differences:

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the tangible losses one experiences when an accident occurs and are easy to prove with bills and receipts. These often include medical bills for surgery, hospital stays, medication, and physical therapy. They can also include future medical expenses, particularly for severe injuries that will require additional medical care. Lost wages, property damage, and the costs of making home modifications to accommodate a disability from an injury caused in an accident are other economic damages you may be able to seek.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are intangible losses that require a little more documentation to prove. Pain and suffering in South Carolina include non-economic damages, though injury victims could also experience physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of consortium, permanent disability, and loss of enjoyment of life.

In order to prove that these injuries qualify as pain and suffering, it needs to be shown that they affect your daily life. Victims can seek compensation for pain and suffering damages, though it is a challenge to prove them without an attorney.

Proving Pain and Suffering

In any personal injury case, the burden of proof is on the victim. You will need to first show that the other party was negligent in their actions, which will mean that they are liable. This requires proving that they owed you a duty of care, such as driving safely on the road and obeying traffic laws.

The next element of negligence requires proving a breach of this duty occurred, such as intoxicated driving or reckless driving. The breach needs to be the cause of the accident, and that accident must have caused your injuries and damages. As mentioned, it’s much easier to prove that you have economic damages. Proving pain and suffering damages requires the following:

Medical Records

To obtain pain and suffering compensation, your medical records need to detail all of your injuries. These records should also include any mental health treatments sought for your condition. After an accident, you are encouraged to seek medical treatment immediately. Symptoms may present late, and at that point, the insurance company may use your delayed treatment against you to deny the claim or reduce your pain and suffering settlement.

Statements from Your Medical Team

The doctors who have been treating your physical injuries should provide statements. If you are seeking treatment for non-physical injuries, your lawyer will get statements from the medical professionals to provide additional proof of your pain and suffering damages.

Receipts for Pain Medications Prescribed

In any personal injury lawsuit, bringing tangible evidence to show pain and suffering is important for securing a pain and suffering award. If you are in physical pain to the extent that you must take pain medication to manage it, then presenting the receipts can be helpful in your case.

Photos and Videos of Suffered Injuries

The bodily injury you have endured should be well-documented in photos and videoss. You should take these images immediately after the accident and daily through the course of your treatment to show the extent and impact they have had.

Statements from Family Members

Your family members can also be vital in proving the need for a pain and suffering award. They can go on record with testimony about how your injuries and physical pain have disrupted your life. Additionally, your personal injury lawyer will likely ask you to keep a journal that details your physical pain and how it affects you each day.

How Is Pain and Suffering Calculated in South Carolina?

Pain and suffering are recoverable damages in personal injury, and your attorney can assign value to it after calculating your economic damages and examining several factors:

Extent and Severity of Your Injuries

When preparing a personal injury lawsuit, the monetary value an attorney assigns will depend on the extent and severity of your injuries. For example, if you have a broken arm that is expected to heal in six to eight weeks, you would not receive as much for pain and suffering as an injured person who suffered permanent paralysis.

Type of Treatment Needed

Your medical bills prove the need for financial compensation but the treatment needed could impact pain and suffering. You may need to undergo several invasive surgeries for a back injury, which can prolong the extent of your pain and suffering, hence providing you with a larger pain and suffering settlement.

Impact of the Injuries on Your Life

The pain or emotional suffering a victim endures needs to be documented and personal journals are the best way to show how these injuries have upended your life. You may have enjoyed certain hobbies or your job may have required you to perform certain tasks. Now your injury is keeping you from doing these things and forcing you to make changes, all because of someone else’s negligence.

Percentage of Fault

How does percentage of fault affect financial recovery? Simply put, the laws in South Carolina follow an at-fault model with a rule of modified comparative negligence. This allows for shared blame, though insurance adjusters often twist the words of victims to pin more fault on them, reducing the settlement. According to the law, you need to be 50% or less at fault for your injuries or you will be barred from recovering compensation.

Steps for Suing for a Pain and Suffering Settlement in South Carolina

Here is what you need to do to support your personal injury claim for pain and suffering:

Get Immediate Medical Care

After an accident, do not wait to seek medical treatment even if you think you’re fine. When you take this step, you will immediately create documentation of your physical injuries and be better poised to link them to your pain and suffering.

Gather Evidence

Evidence is important for victims because they must show proof of fault, negligence, and the liability of the other party. Photos, videos, police reports, records of medical treatments, journals, testimony from family, witness statements, and expert witness testimony are just a few examples of what can be used.

Speak with an Experienced Lawyer

Pain and suffering is subjective and difficult to prove without someone who understands it and the laws in the state. If your injuries are severe, you may not have been able to get evidence from the scene of your accident. Enlisting the services of a lawyer ensures that you have someone investigating and gathering evidence on your behalf and working to preserve your legal rights.

Do You Need a Lawyer for Pain and Suffering?

In short, yes, you need a lawyer if you have suffered extensive injuries that have caused mental anguish. The insurance company will have a team of litigators, and you shouldn’t be forced to face off with them while trying to recover from your injuries.

Additionally, it is common for insurers to ask leading questions under the guise of concern for victims. They then take these statements and use them to their advantage, especially if a victim didn’t get immediate treatment.

With the laws in the state, you may be blamed for the accident and the percentage of blame you receive will reduce your settlement. It may be more difficult for the defendant if they slammed into the rear end of your vehicle while you were stopped at a red traffic light. However, if you were going through an intersection on the green light and the other driver ran a red light, crashing into you, they may try to claim you were speeding to assign some of the fault to you.

Even if the other driver receives 90% of the blame and you only get 10%, it means your compensation will be reduced by 10%. Ultimately, choosing an attorney will allow you to have someone who knows what qualifies as pain and suffering as well as how to fight for the fair amount you deserve. Most attorneys provide a free consultation, and it is wise to use that meeting to discover what you should do next.