Orlando Pain and Suffering Lawyer

If someone else’s negligence injured you in Orlando, you may seek compensation for your damages. Suffering a serious injury can change your life, with victims often facing physical pain, financial hardships, and significant emotional harm.

While most people know they can receive compensation for damages, like medical expenses and lost income, many don’t realize they may also recover intangible losses like pain and suffering, known as general damages.

Physical and emotional pain are harder to quantify than economic damages. Still, they can damage the victim’s quality of life for many months or even years.

At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, we believe that negligence and accident victims deserve to be fully compensated for their losses, including their pain and suffering, even if these subjective damages are more difficult to prove.

Our Orlando Pain and Suffering Lawyers will work tirelessly to build a compelling case for these genuine losses that should not be overlooked. Reach out today for your free consultation with our Orlando office and find out how we can help you pursue compensation for the non-economic consequences of getting hurt.

Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers: Compassionate Orlando Pain and Suffering Lawyers

If you or a loved one struggles with pain and suffering, call Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers. Our team can help you after a car accident, slip and fall, medical malpractice, or another negligence-related incident.

While money cannot fully compensate for the difficulties of serious injuries, we’re dedicated to helping our clients secure the financial resources they need to move forward with their lives.

Whether you already filed a claim or don’t even know how to start the process, our compassionate Orlando personal injury lawyers can evaluate your case, explain your legal options, and outline the most effective legal strategy for your unique situation.
When you choose Dolman Law Group to represent you in your pain and suffering case, you can rest assured of getting the highest quality legal services in Orlando, Florida. Call our Orlando office or fill out our online contact form for your free consultation.

What Counts as Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

All injuries are unique, and each person has a different pain tolerance. However, Florida courts recognize that a severe injury due to someone else’s negligence will have a wide-ranging ripple effect on the life of victims.

Pain and suffering damages are a crucial part of a personal injury lawsuit because they can compensate for a significant portion of damages, depending on the severity of the victim’s injuries. Some examples of the types of intangible, non-economic losses that can be pursued under pain and suffering include:

Physical Pain

The physical discomfort victims experience due to their injuries is one of the most common and essential forms of non-economic damages that can be claimed in a personal injury lawsuit. Physical pain refers to both the acute pain victims may experience after getting hurt and the chronic pain that can linger for months, or even years, after the incident. Physical pain can be very difficult to manage or even debilitating, profoundly impacting the victim’s quality of life.

Loss of Enjoyment

Whether broken bones, spinal cord damage, or severe burns, many injuries will affect the victim’s ability to engage in the activities and hobbies they once enjoyed. Cognitive and physical impairments can potentially stop them from participating in sports, socializing, playing an instrument, and much more, leading to frustration and sadness.

Loss of Companionship

In negligence-related accidents resulting in the victim’s death, Florida law allows their spouse, children, and other close relatives to claim compensation for losing a loved one. Loss of companionship is a legal term to describe the emotional harm from not having the care and affection of a family member.

Scarring and Disfigurement

Many types of serious injuries can cause significant changes in the victim’s physical appearance, such as burns, amputations, and facial lacerations. Permanent scars and disfigurement will have a profound, long-lasting impact on someone’s life, resulting in lower self-esteem and feelings of shame that can affect their ability to socialize, maintain relationships and live a normal life.

Reduced Quality of Life

The overall negative impact of serious injuries can lead to a general decline in the victim’s physical and mental well-being, especially if they’re not able to perform the typical tasks of everyday life. In particular, permanent injuries that affect the victim’s independence will severely affect their quality of life.

Inconvenience From Physical Impairment

From mobility issues to chronic pain, serious injuries can result in a wide range of physical limitations. Physical impairments can introduce so many hardships in the victim’s daily life, such as having to use mobility aids, restrict certain activities, rely on other people for help, and potentially require ongoing medical care.

Emotional Distress

The stress, pain, and overall disruption resulting from serious injuries will impact the victim’s mental health in many ways, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological harm. Emotional distress can also be a significant aspect of wrongful death cases, allowing surviving family members to seek compensation for their grief and emotional suffering.

How Do Our Lawyers Calculate Damages for Pain and Suffering?

Compensatory damages are a legal recourse to make the plaintiff “whole” after suffering losses caused due to someone else’s negligence. However, placing a monetary value on something as subjective as someone’s pain and suffering is extremely difficult. This is where the expertise of a personal injury lawyer becomes invaluable for pursuing non-economic damages successfully.

At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, we use different formulas to help us arrive at a ballpark figure that reflects the extent of our client’s injuries and allows us to prepare a persuasive case for compensation. Calculating these damages is a complex process that varies from case to case and takes into account factors like the severity of the victim’s injury and the length of their recovery, as well as their age, occupation, life expectancy, and overall health before getting injured.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, there are two standard methods for calculating these damages:

The Multiplier Method

Calculating pain and suffering damages using the multiplier method involves multiplying the victim’s economic damages (like their medical expenses and lost income) by a number that indicates the severity of the effects the victim has felt in the aftermath. Your attorney can determine what multiplier is appropriate for your case based on how severely you’ve been hurt.

The multiplier method is widely used for calculating pain and suffering damages in personal injury cases because it provides a clear and consistent formula. However, it’s not perfect and not considered a fixed formula. The multiplier method is really just a starting point for negotiations.

The Per Diem Method

Per diem simply means “per day.” This method calculates damages by assigning a specific dollar amount for each day the victim experiences pain and suffering due to their injuries. The per diem method considers the time it takes for the plaintiff to reach “maximum medical recovery,” or the period when a medical professional expects no further improvement in their condition, and they’re considered healed. Therefore, it’s not usually appropriate for injuries with permanent consequences.

The per diem method is often used in cases where the victim’s injuries caused them to lose income due to missing work. Although compensation for pain and suffering is separate from the victim’s claim for any economic damages, the per diem rate assigned to their case correlates closely with how much they would have earned each day and how much getting hurt affected their life.

Scenarios When Neither Method Works 

There are many situations when the multiplier and the per diem methods will fall short of accurately reflecting the value of a victim’s pain and suffering. For example, in cases of severe facial scarring, the cost of their medical treatment or recovery time cannot fully account for the devastating, long-term emotional harm that victims will suffer due to the at-fault party’s negligence.

Ultimately, determining the appropriate method for quantifying the victim’s damages will require a careful assessment of the individual circumstances of their case. It’s essential to work with a skilled pain and suffering lawyer who can evaluate your case and is familiar with various strategies for pursuing fair compensation.

What Types of Damages Can You Get in Orlando After an Accident?

Whether your injuries occurred due to a vehicle accident, medical error, slip and fall, or some other negligence by another, there are three main types of damage you can seek in Florida. These include:

Economic Damages

You will likely have accident-related monetary costs. For example, you may have bills for doctor appointments, hospital stays, and miscellaneous items. All of these things are classified as economic damages.

Non-Economic Damages

This is where the pain and suffering damages come into play. These are referred to as non-economic damages because there is no money paid out on the surface. However, your lawyer can attach monetary value to the physical or emotional harm you suffered.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are only awarded in certain instances. For example, if someone is extremely negligent or acts in a malicious way, it can result in punitive damages. These are over and beyond the monetary amount for the other damages.

How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Figured?

Since pain and suffering can't be calculated by adding up receipts, your attorney can figure it out in another way, using a legal method. There are two ways your Orlando pain and suffering lawyer can figure the amount of your pain and suffering damages. One way is to rate your pain and suffering on a scale from 1 to 5 and multiply it by the total of your economic damages.

The other method used is to multiply the amount you normally make a day by the number of days you expect to endure pain and suffering. Of course, the number of days will need to be your best estimate.

Factors Influencing Your Pain and Suffering Award

Your pain and suffering award may be affected by the severity of your condition or by the amount of fault you bear in the incident. Some factors that could affect the severity of your pain and suffering include:

• Extent of external surgeries
• How long you will be in pain
• What type of pain you experience (physical, mental, emotional)
• The limitations that will be placed on your life
• How long until you can participate in certain activities
• How long you're out of work
• Whether you can go back to work at all after reaching maximum medical improvement
• If you injuries cause loss of limb, disfigurement, or scarring

These represent some of the factors that can change a pain and suffering settlement or award.

Florida Law Restricts How Long You Have To File a Lawsuit

You have filing limitations in Florida, and in any state. The main thing that you need to be aware of is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. The statute of limitations imposed by Florida Statutes § 95.11 indicates that personal injury lawsuits for pain and suffering must generally be filed within four years of the date of the incident.

Types of Accidents Dolman Law Group Takes On

Our firm helps many injured Floridians every year. We have experience with the following case types that involve pain and suffering damages:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Bus accidents
• Rideshare accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Slip and falls
• Medical malpractice
• Work injury
• Construction site injury
• Wrongful death

Protect Your Right to Compensation

The best thing you can do for your case is to think ahead before you speak about the case or make decisions about compensation. Do the following to make your lawyer's job easier:

• Gather all the proof of your injuries that you have
• Do not tell the insurance company more than necessary
• Do not accept compensation offers before speaking to your lawyer
• Don't post about the case on social media
• Follow your doctor's recommendations
• Don't throw away receipts or other documents related to the case

Substantiating Damages from Pain and Suffering

The burden of proof for demonstrating intangible damages like pain and suffering falls on injured victims and their attorneys. Without proper documentation and persuasive arguments, it’s possible for your claim to be undervalued by a judge, jury, or insurance company adjuster, leading to compensation that doesn’t even begin to cover your real losses.

The skilled personal injury attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers use many resources to prove the physical and emotional hardships our clients suffered from being seriously injured. While we prepare a lot of solid medical evidence to help establish these intangible losses, the most potent way of substantiating pain and suffering is often for the victim to tell their own story as honestly as possible.

Some of the tools we use to demonstrate these damages include:

Medical Records

Documentation of the victim’s medical treatments can provide a wealth of detailed and objective information about the nature of their injuries that can strengthen their claim for pain and suffering damages.

These records can include doctor’s notes, surgical reports, and diagnostic tests like X-rays or CT scans. Medication records can reveal the painkillers prescribed to address the plaintiff’s physical discomfort and antidepressants and mood stabilizers, which can be used as evidence of ongoing emotional distress.

Testimony from Medical Specialists

Few people understand the victim’s hardships from getting hurt better than medical experts specializing in their specific injuries. For example, in cases where the claimant suffered traumatic brain injuries in a truck accident, a neurologist could provide valuable testimony about this condition’s current and long-term effects, including mood swings, difficulty with concentration, and overall reduced quality of life.

Testimony From the Victim’s Loved Ones

Interviews with friends and family can provide insights into the claimant’s life before and after the accident to help show the impact of any physical and cognitive limitations resulting from the injury. These witnesses can describe important changes in the victim’s daily activities, lifestyle, personality, independence, energy levels, and mood.

Journal Entries

We advise many clients to maintain a journal throughout their recovery with specific details about their physical and emotional struggles, such as describing the pain levels experienced each day (whether it’s shooting pain or throbbing pain), missing out on important family events or dealing with intense anxiety about the future. This form of documentation can significantly substantiate pain and suffering damages because it paints a vivid picture of these non-economic consequences.

How We Help Injury Victims in Orlando

After getting seriously injured due to someone else’s negligence, you deserve to have your pain and suffering taken seriously.

Proving non-economic damages can be much more complicated than demonstrating direct financial losses like medical bills and property damage. However, that doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to fair compensation for the physical and emotional toll of getting hurt. The Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers team has spent two decades helping clients in the Orlando community protect their legal rights under extremely difficult circumstances.

From documenting your injuries to consulting medical experts, we’ll work tirelessly to establish the value of your intangible losses and fight for fair compensation. Contact our Orlando office today at (407) 759-4565 to learn how we can help you navigate the legal process and build a strong case to recover all of your damages.

Talk to an Orlando Pain and Suffering Lawyer's Team

Take the next step in seeking recovery in your pain and suffering damages by talking to a lawyer. Our Orlando lawyers will calculate your case value, and tell you your options for moving forward.

Discuss your injuries and damages during a free case evaluation with Dolman Law Group staff. You can also work with our attorney on a contingency-fee basis, and not pay fees until the case is over. Contact the office today.

Orlando Office
1701 Park Center Drive, Suite #240-G
Orlando, FL 32835
Phone: (407) 759-4565