Posted on Monday, February 8th, 2016 at 12:13 am
What Is A Pain And Suffering Journal?
Have you been injured in a DUI accident? Did you fall in the grocery store because of a wet floor? Did a reckless driver collide with your bicycle causing a crash? If so, you may be entitled to compensation under California’s personal injury laws. Whenever a person is injured due to another person’s reckless, careless, or negligent acts or behavior, that person is entitled to be reimbursed for his or her economic and non-economic losses. You can help your attorney substantiate your non-economic losses by keeping a pain and suffering journal during your recovery.
What are Economic Losses?
Economic losses are your out-of-pocket expenses and damages due to your injury. Examples of economic losses in a personal injury claim include lost wages, medical expenses, funeral expenses, and travel expenses. Economic losses may also include the loss of earning capacity and future lost wages if you are unable to return to work or you are unable to earn the same amount of money you did prior to the injury. Economic losses may also include future medical expenses if your injury will require additional surgeries, physical therapy, medical equipment, personal care, or long-term medication.
Economic damages are typically easier to calculate than non-economic damages because you have bills for each expense or you can estimate the expense based on current values.
What are Non-Economic Damages?
Non-economic damages are usually referred to as “pain and suffering.” Examples of pain and suffering damages include but are not limited to:
- Physical pain
- Emotional suffering
- Mental anguish
- Loss of companionship, support, and guidance
- Scarring and/or disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent disability
It is much more difficult to assign a value to pain and suffering damages because these types of damages are subjective. Two individuals can suffer the same injury but have very different levels of pain and suffering. In order to help your personal injury lawyer prove pain and suffering damages, you should begin a pain and suffering journal.
What is a Pain and Suffering Journal?
When you are injured in an accident , you will likely suffer physical and emotional pain as you recover from your injuries. You will be unable to do some of the things you did prior to the accident and your injuries will interfere with your overall enjoyment of life. A pain and suffering journal is simply a written record of how your injuries have affected your life. It helps you recall how difficult your recover was and how much you suffered as your struggled to recover from your injuries. A pain and suffering journal will also assist your attorney as he is preparing a settlement offer or preparing for trial.
Examples of things you should include in your pain and suffering journal include:
- Your daily pain level
- Things you are unable to do because of your injury
- Your state of mind (i.e. depression, anxiety, fear, frustration, etc.)
- How difficult it is to perform everyday tasks such as bathing yourself, getting dressed, or taking care of your family
- The physical pain and anxiety caused by medical treatments and/or surgeries
- Social, family, and work events you are unable to attend due to your injury
- How your injury has impacted your family
Your pain and suffering journal can serve as a reminder of how much you suffered if you need to testify at a trial a year or more after the accident. Do remember that a pain and suffering journal may not remain private — it could become part of the record if you file a lawsuit. Discuss the pros and cons of keeping a pain and suffering journal with your personal injury attorney.
Experienced Sacramento Personal Injury Attorneys Working for Accident Victims
Contact Tiemann Law Firm to schedule a free case evaluation by calling our toll free number (916) 999-9000 or by chatting with a representative on our website.
