If you’ve been injured in a car accident, motorcycle accident, or some other incident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have likely heard the term “pain and suffering” thrown around by attorneys, insurance adjusters, and even friends who have been through a similar experience. But what does it actually mean in a legal sense?
In this article our Salt Lake City car accident attorneys will be breaking down this concept and clarifying the legal jargon around pain and suffering. So what is pain and suffering, and how does it factor into your personal injury case, especially one that goes all the way to trial?
What is Pain and Suffering Under Utah Law?
Pain and suffering falls under a broader legal category called non-economic damages. Unlike economic damages, which cover quantifiable losses like medical bills, lost wages, and property damage, non-economic damages compensate you for the intangible, human costs of an injury. These damages include:
- Physical Pain- The actual physical discomfort that was caused by your injuries, both the immediate and ongoing pain
- Emotional Distress- anxiety, depression, fear, sleeplessness, or trauma resulting from the accident or the injury itself
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life- the inability to participate in your favorite hobbies, sports, or activities that you once loved
- Loss of Consortium- The impact your injury has on your relationship with a spouse or family members
- Inconvenience- The day to day disruptions caused by your injury, from needing help getting dressed to being unable to drive
Utah law allows injury victims to recover compensation for these losses in addition to their economic damages, provided that the injury was caused by another party’s negligence or wrongful conduct.
Why Pain and Suffering is Harder to Calculate Than Medical Bills
Economic damages are relatively straightforward. These damages encompass your medical bills, receipts, and paystubs, you add them together to arrive at a number. Pain and suffering does not work the same way. There is no invoice for chronic back pain or an anxiety diagnosis that followed a traumatic collision. This is exactly why pain and suffering claims are so often disputed by insurance companies, and why they become a central battleground if your case proceeds to trial.
Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize these claims. They may argue that your injuries weren’t severe enough to justify a significant non-economic damages award. An adjuster might argue that your pain is disproportionate to the amount of medical treatment you received, or that pre-existing conditions are what’s responsible for your ongoing symptoms. This is one of the main reasons that pain and suffering claims aren’t often resolved through negotiation, and have to be settled in front of a jury.
How Insurance Companies Try to Minimize Pain and Suffering Before Trial
Before a case has ever reached a courtroom, insurance companies typically rely on formulas or software programs (like Colossus) to assign a dollar value to pain and suffering, often based on a multiplier of medical expenses. These formulas tend to undervalue injuries that don’t show up clearly on an MRI or X-ray, things like soft tissue injuries, chronic pain conditions, or psychological trauma.
This is part of why many Salt Lake City car accident attorneys advise against accepting an early settlement offer, especially before the full extent of an injury is understood. Once a case is filed and litigation begins, the calculus changes, because now there’s the real possibility of a jury deciding the value of your suffering, not an algorithm.
Why This Matters for Settlement Negotiations
Understanding how pain and suffering plays out at trial isn’t just an academic exercise, it directly affects settlement strategy long before a case ever reaches a courtroom. Insurance companies evaluate settlement offers partly based on their assessment of how a case would perform in front of a jury. A well-documented pain and suffering claim, supported by consistent medical records, credible testimony, and a compelling narrative, increases leverage at the negotiating table. The insurer now understands that taking the case to trial carries real risk of a jury awarding more than they’re offering to settle for.
This is one of the reasons why working with an experienced car accident attorney from the outset of your case matters. Building a strong pain and suffering claim isn’t something that happens in the weeks before trial, it starts with how injuries are documented from day one, how treatment is pursued and recorded, and how the client’s story is developed and preserved throughout the life of a case.
Talk to a Salt Lake City Car Accident Attorney about Your Claim
In the aftermath of an accident whether it’s from a car or a slip and fall, pain and suffering can be forgotten. Despite how significant pain and suffering is for your personal injury case, it is rarely discussed. By understanding how these damages are calculated and proven can help to make a meaningful difference in the outcome of your case.
If you or someone you know has been injured by the negligence of someone else, reach out to the Salt Lake City car accident attorneys at LifeLaw Trial Lawyers. Our team of expert car accident attorneys know what it takes to win a case, and are able to properly illustrate pain and suffering in front of a jury. To get the compensation and justice that you deserve, contact us today for a free consultation and to get your case started. Give us a call at 801-206-4002, or reach out to us on our website to discuss your next steps.