Mr. Louthian and the Louthian Law Firm provided me with excellent legal services regarding a legal issue with a major corporation.
Errick Bethel Sr.They were very down to earth and friendly, but they meant business. I would definitely recommend them. Thank you, attorney Bert Louthian!
Keiron Gibson, Keianna Dukes & Ann DukesOutstanding customer care. Very professional and handled my case in a timely manner.
Johnny JacksonIf you have been harmed by someone else’s negligence and are interested in pursuing a personal injury suit, you will have the concept of damages for “pain and suffering” mentioned to you. But what exactly do we mean by the concept of pain and suffering?
You may or may not know what “damages” are. Damages are the monetary relief you seek in a personal injury suit and are intended to make you whole again, financially speaking. Damages can be economic or non-economic. Economic damages involving a direct loss of money include:
Non-economic damages involve no direct loss of money; however, harm was done to the person that must be repaired. Non-economic damages can include:
Damages for two types of pain and suffering can be sought:
Physical pain and suffering are easily understood. But what of emotional or psychological suffering? We have two examples:
Unfortunately, judges don’t provide juries with much information when it comes to calculating a fair dollar amount for pain and suffering damages. There are no charts or other guidelines. However, sometimes a “multiplier” is used as a rough guide, meaning that the economic damages are totaled and then multiplied by a number from 1 to 5 to calculate pain and suffering damages. The size of the multiplier depends on certain aspects of the case, such as the seriousness of the injury, the amount of time a full recovery is expected to take, the injury’s impact on the victim’s daily life, and the percentage of fault on the part of the negligent party.
It’s considered a positive point in your favor if you sought medical treatment promptly after your injury and kept detailed records of your costs and treatments. Examples of items that can help you document both your medical costs and your physical suffering are:
We realize that the last point may seem unfair if you have turned your life around after only one mistake, but it is true that juries generally respond negatively to a criminal record.
The state of South Carolina, like many states, caps the amount that you can receive for non-economic damages:
South Carolina also applies what is known as the “modified comparative negligence” rule. If the other party is determined to be 80 percent at fault, meaning that you are 20 percent at fault, any damages you recover will be reduced by the amount of your fault, which is 20 percent. Thus a $100,000 award would be reduced to $80,000. If you are more than 50 percent at fault, you cannot recover any damages.