You have probably heard of the term “pain and suffering,” and it is something that Toronto personal injury lawyers very commonly deal with in their practices. When someone is injured in an accident or mishap, they are often entitled to compensation for their injuries. Lost wages, medical fees, and pain and suffering are all claims that people can make after suffering injuries. But even if you have experienced pain during an injury, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are entitled to compensation for pain and suffering.
What is Pain and Suffering?
“Pain and suffering” is a legal term that refers to both the physical and emotional pain that someone experiences after an injury. While some claims can be clearly tallied—such as medical fees and lost wages—pain and suffering laws allow injured people to seek compensation for the anguish they experience. Often, when an accident occurs, people can be left with chronic pain or severe emotional stress.
Pain vs. Suffering in Personal Injury Lawsuit
While pain and suffering are lumped together as one type of claim, pain is considered something legally different than suffering. Pain is the physical sensations that you have suffered, such as a throbbing knee, sharp pain in your abdomen, or aching muscles. On the other hand, suffering refers to the emotional or mental aspect of an injury. For instance, if you are sent into a severe depression, that can be considered suffering. Suffering can be connected to pain, such as if you are left emotionally stressed out from dealing with chronic pain, but suffering can also occur on its own, such as if you experience trauma from a family member dying in the same accident.
How Pain and Suffering Gets Calculated
Pain and suffering can be difficult to calculate, since the term is vague and refers to something intangible, unlike medical fees. This means that a pain and injury compensation can vary quite a bit based on each case. An injured person is more likely to have a successful claim if they have documented their injuries, received medical attention, and have medical documents detailing their injuries, diagnoses, and treatments. In Canada, people seeking compensation for pain and suffering also have to pass a verbal threshold, which limits lawsuits to only more severe cases.
Pain and suffering compensation can be calculated in a number of ways. Sometimes, the injured person’s medical bills will be multiplied by a rating of their pain (one for less severe pain, five for more severe pain) to arrive at the compensation. Another method seeks to determine what level of pain you experience each day and calculate a cost based on that. There is no one way to calculate pain and suffering—a judge may take many different things into account. If you have documentation, witnesses, and an experienced personal injury lawyer handling your case, you have a much better chance.
Pain and Suffering (Tort) Claim in Toronto, ON
In Canada, pain and suffering tort law is very different than in some other countries. In the U.S., you may hear about huge, million-dollar pain and suffering payouts. However, in Canada, there is a cap on how much you can receive for pain and suffering. The maximum compensation you can receive for a pain and suffering claim is around $300,000. As well, pain and suffering claims need to pass the verbal threshold and are for more severe injuries. For this reason, it’s important to have the right personal injury law team handling your case.
Taverniti | Vashishth LLP handles personal injury claims ranging from car and road accidents, slips and falls, and catastrophic claims. We are equipped to handle the most complex legal and insurance issues arising from your accident. To arrange a free consultation with one of our lawyers, call (905)-264-8686 or visit our web site.