If you are injured in a New Jersey car accident, you will likely have numerous damages, both financial and non-economic. Your medical bills and other expenses can easily calculate financial losses, but most victims do not know what constitutes their “pain and suffering.”
Pain and suffering is another name for non-economic damages, a class of damages you might be entitled to after a car accident. They refer to the impact of your injuries and the effects of living with them. Physical pain is a major component of these damages, like the pain you experience when injured, during recovery, and after. Emotional harms, like depression, anxiety, and PTSD, are considered emotional pain and suffering. If you cannot enjoy your life to the same extent as before, you should be compensated for it. Our team can determine if your insurance limits your ability to pursue pain and suffering and how to overcome them.
Call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 for a free case assessment with our New Jersey car accident lawyers.
What Types of Damages Are Considered Pain and Suffering from a Car Accident in New Jersey?
After a car accident caused by another driver, many know they should be compensated for their economic damages, like medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses. However, injured victims will also likely be entitled to “pain and suffering” damages.
Pain and suffering refer to a broad range of damages. Some of these damages are instant, like physical pain from a broken bone. Others develop over time, which tends to be the suffering portion as the effects of your injuries impact your life, like emotional anguish. Our New Jersey car accident attorneys can help assess how your quality of life has been diminished so that you recover what you deserve. The following will explain what NJ considers pain and suffering, or non-economic damages, for a car accident:
Physical Pain and Suffering
First, you can be compensated for the physical pain you experience immediately during the crash, as well as the physical discomfort you feel in the following days, months, or even years. For example, you will likely feel instant pain when your neck whiplashes after being hit from behind. If this results in deeper injuries, like nerve damage, you might have physical discomfort every time you move about for long into the future.
Long-term medical treatments your injuries require should also be considered when evaluating your physical pain. Perhaps your doctor scheduled surgeries for when you are healed enough to undergo them, or you must complete a rigorous physical therapy rehabilitation plan. Our team can evaluate your medical damages to estimate your physical pain and suffering accurately.
Emotional and Psychological Pain and Suffering
The experience of a car accident and managing the injuries after often result in many forms of emotional pain and suffering, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and many others. For instance, not being able to work because of your injuries can easily damage your sense of self-worth and confidence, leading to conditions like humiliation and depression.
Significant and visible scarring and disfigurement often cause emotional turmoil. If you now wear coverings when you go out, the feelings of self-consciousness can be extremely detrimental to your mental health.
The more serious the injuries, the more likely the victim will experience considerable emotional distress. A broken arm would garner some compensation for emotional pain and suffering, but the fallout would typically be much greater for a victim with spinal injuries.
Loss of Quality of Life
Reducing your quality of life is also considered pain and suffering. If you cannot engage with and enjoy the same activities as you did before the accident, it should be accounted for in your damages. Perhaps you cannot take your kids out to play or participate in your company’s softball league. You might not enjoy the same social life you once did or have to give up on hobbies completely. We will discuss these impacts with you throughout your case so that we have a complete picture of your losses.
Loss of Consortium
If you are married, loss of consortium is a type of pain and suffering damage that your spouse can claim for the impacts your injuries have had on your relationship. Car accident injuries often impact the intimacy between spouses, interrupt their life plans, and overall negatively affect their sense of companionship. Since, like you, your spouse is a victim of the other driver’s negligence, they deserve compensation.
How Can I Recover Pain and Suffering Losses After a Car Accident in New Jersey?
After your collision, you can turn to your own PIP insurance coverage for compensation. However, PIP will not cover your pain and suffering damages by design. Instead, you must file a lawsuit to recover these losses. Unfortunately, not every car accident victim has the right to sue because their insurance policy has no “tort” exception. Suppose your insurance does include a “no limitation on lawsuit” option. In that case, you can pursue non-economic damages from the other driver without having to meet the verbal threshold regarding your injuries.
Without a tort option in an insurance plan, victims must establish that the injuries from the accident are “serious” before a lawsuit can move forward. Medical records and statements from your healthcare providers can explain how your injuries meet New Jersey’s definition of serious. Death, miscarriage, significant scarring and disfigurement, and amputations are considered serious injuries, but you can also file a lawsuit for displaced fractures and injuries that have a reasonable medical probability of being permanent.
As such, do not skip getting medical care after your crash. If you go to urgent care even a day or two after the accident rather than immediately to the emergency room, the defense might have ample room to argue that your injuries are not serious.
Call Our New Jersey Car Accident Lawyers Today for Help Recovering Your Damages
Contact our Newark, NJ car accident attorneys at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 for your free case review.