Texas is one of several at-fault states, but did you know that it is also a comparative negligence state? That means that while the at-fault driver does pay the other party’s losses, the amount they will need to compensate you will depend on what percentage of fault you share with them. If you were 40% responsible for a crash, the amount of compensation you receive may be less than if you’re 0% responsible.
If you are involved in a car crash, one of the types of compensation you may try to seek is pain and suffering. Pain and suffering damages are capped to $250,000 in claims against another driver. If the claim happens to be against the government, then the cap is reduced to $100,000.
How do you know if you will qualify for pain and suffering damages?
Pain and suffering falls under noneconomic damages. These are provided based on:
- The degree of suffering you went through as a result of your injuries
- Your age and how long you will have to endure the injury
- The severity of the injury and if it led to long-term disability or pain
Usually, you will need to show that you have a physical injury to seek these damages, but you may be able to even if you only had emotional damages. If your injuries are only emotional, then you may need to show that the driver’s actions were extreme or outrageous to qualify.
How are pain and suffering damages calculated?
Texas uses the multiplier method to determine pain and suffering damages most of the time. This calculates the economic damages, like lost wages and medical bills, and then multiples those to get a fair noneconomic damages calculation.
There is no single method of calculating these damages, so the multiplier method may vary from case to case.
If this method isn’t used, the per diem method might be used instead. This determines a value per day and then multiplies that times the approximate number of days that you were in recovery.
Either method could result in more compensation for you as you go through your recovery.