Pain and suffering is usually the largest part of a damages award that victims of New Mexico auto accidents may be entitled to. While many people may have heard of pain and suffering before, and you may believe you know what it means, you may actually be surprised that pain and suffering is broken down in several difference aspects that are important in your case. This is because pain and suffering could be everything from the moment of your accident until the estimated time of your death. Or in some wrongful death cases, pain and suffering may even be measured by the moment when a victim realizes he or she is about to be mortally injured and is in fact mortally injured–known as pre-impact terror. Learn more from our New Mexico auto accident lawyers in our article here.
What is Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering is a part of a damages award in a personal injury case. Damages may mean a lot of things, but in a personal injury action is almost always takes the form of monetary compensation. This could be for medical bills, future medical bills, lost wages, future lost earnings, and of course for pain and suffering.
Generally, pain and suffering is the largest component of damages. Basically, pain and suffering is the anguish sustained by a person who had been injured. This means the feeling of pain and injury, the excruciating moments that you had to suffer from the auto accident. Pain and suffering can also be the emotional distress that you suffer, such as feelings of fear, depression, loss of sleep, anxiety, and other emotional feelings that you have as a result of the New Mexico auto accident causing your injuries.
How are Pain and Suffering Damages Characterized in New Mexico?
There are several ways that pain and suffering may be characterized. Generally speaking, there are two types:
Past pain and suffering – this is the pain and suffering that you endure from the moment of the injury until the time you recover compensation through a verdict, award, or settlement.
Future pain and suffering – this is the pain and suffering that you are estimated or reasonably calculated to experienced from the moment of your verdict, award, or settlement until the reasonably probably date of your death. The date of your death is determined by an actuary table with takes several factors into consideration to determine your life expectancy, including present age, education level, whether you are working, and gender.
There are also special pain and suffering factors in wrongful death cases. This includes pre-impact terror which is the moment a victim realizes that he or she is about to be very seriously and mortally wounded until the moment that the person is indeed injured. This could be a split second, seconds, or minutes.
There is also the post-impact terror which is when a victim realizes that he or she has been mortally wounded and is going to die, and the victim indeed dies. This may be compensated differently and is something else to consider in a case.
Victims of New Mexico Auto Accidents Should Ask the Mark Caruso About Their Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering is the largest portion of damages and it is the most important in any New Mexico auto accident or New Mexico trucking accident. Our experienced Albuquerque auto accident lawyers can help obtain the compensation you deserve for your injuries. Call to schedule your FREE appointment with our lawyers at the Mark Caruso by dialing (505) 308-1556.
We handle causes throughout New Mexico, including Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Roswell, Cuervo, Rio Rancho, Clovis, Farmington, Hobbs, Albuquerque where our office is located, and anywhere else throughout New Mexico. Please call to schedule for FREE appointment by dialing (505) 308-1556 or contact us through our website’s easy to use and convenient contact box available here.
