- May 22, 2025
When someone else's choices have upended your health, career, or sense of well-being, the law gives you the right to seek compensation. Getting an accurate and fair calculation for your pain and suffering isn't just about a number—it’s about recognizing what you’ve gone through and what you've lost.
Read on to find a breakdown of how pain and suffering damages work, how they’re typically measured, and what goes into presenting a compelling case in Michigan and beyond. For immediate and personalized assistance with your personal injury claim, contact a Detroit personal injury lawyer near you for a free consultation. An attorney can assess your claim at no cost and help you obtain the maximum compensation you deserve.
What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?
Pain and suffering damages represent the personal impact of an injury that goes beyond financial loss. When someone else’s actions cause harm, the legal system allows injured individuals to seek compensation not just for bills and lost income but also for the toll the injury takes on their physical and emotional well-being. Can I prove my pain and suffering? Yes—but doing so requires strong evidence, consistent medical records, and often testimony from loved ones or mental health professionals who can speak to how your life has changed since the injury.
Unlike economic damages—such as medical expenses, lost wages, and rehabilitation costs—pain and suffering damages fall under the category of non-economic damages. They don’t come with a receipt or invoice, but they still reflect very real losses.
Here’s what these damages typically include:
Physical Pain
This refers to the actual physical discomfort and bodily harm caused by the injury, both during the initial incident and throughout the recovery process. For example, ongoing back pain, migraines, or nerve damage all fall into this category.
Emotional Distress
Many injury victims deal with anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress after an accident. Emotional distress covers the psychological aftermath of injury, especially when it interferes with relationships, work, or daily functioning.
Mental Anguish
Mental anguish includes feelings of grief, hopelessness, humiliation, or other emotional suffering tied to the injury’s effect on your identity or life trajectory.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Injuries often prevent people from doing things they once loved. Whether it’s hiking, playing with children, or simply taking a walk without pain, the loss of those activities is compensable.
Psychological Impact
Some injuries lead to long-term changes in how a person sees the world or interacts with it. For example, a traumatic accident may leave someone unable to drive, socialize, or trust others again, affecting their sense of safety and autonomy.
In Michigan, the law permits recovery for pain and suffering in many types of personal injury cases—including car accidents, slip-and-falls, and product liability claims—especially when injuries result in a “serious impairment of body function” as defined under the state’s no-fault insurance system.
These damages aim to recognize what you’ve endured and help restore some measure of justice when another person’s wrongdoing has changed your life. Qualifies as personal injury when the harm you’ve suffered—physical, emotional, or both—is the direct result of someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional actions. This includes car crashes, slips and falls, defective products, workplace accidents, or assaults that lead to measurable suffering and losses.
Why Calculating Pain and Suffering Matters
Assigning a value to pain and suffering plays a key role in personal injury cases. It’s not just about attaching a number to someone’s hardship—it’s about making sure the full impact of an injury is acknowledged and compensated. When someone else causes harm, the physical damage is only part of the story. The emotional strain, changes in routine, and loss of normalcy often linger far longer than a hospital stay.
Failing to properly calculate pain and suffering can lead to an unfair outcome. An insurance company may agree to cover your medical bills but ignore the daily struggles you now face: missing out on important life moments, experiencing chronic pain, or battling anxiety that didn’t exist before. If those losses aren’t factored in, you walk away with less than what’s fair.
For many injury victims, these damages make up a large portion of the overall settlement or verdict. That’s especially true when injuries lead to lasting effects, like disability, chronic pain, or psychological trauma. A well-supported calculation can strengthen your case and improve your chances of receiving full compensation—not just a fraction of what your suffering is worth. Settlements calculated in these cases often rely on documentation, expert opinions, and legal strategy to reflect both economic losses and the personal toll of the injury.
In Michigan, where courts and insurance companies often use structured methods like multipliers or per diem calculations, the strength of your evidence can influence how pain and suffering is valued. A thoughtful, strategic approach to this part of your claim ensures you aren’t shortchanged for the unseen—but very real—consequences of someone else’s carelessness.
Primary Methods for Calculating Pain and Suffering
There’s no universal formula for measuring suffering, but attorneys and insurance companies commonly rely on a few core methods:
The Multiplier Method
This approach takes your total economic damages and multiplies them by a number—typically between 1.5 and 5, depending on the severity of your injuries. For instance, if your medical bills and lost wages add up to $50,000, and a multiplier of 3 is used, your pain and suffering damages would be valued at $150,000.
Factors like recovery time, permanence of injury, and emotional trauma influence the multiplier.
The Per Diem Method
This method assigns a daily rate to your pain and suffering—for example, $200 per day—and multiplies that by the number of days you’ve been affected. If recovery took 180 days, your total pain and suffering damages would be $36,000.
This strategy works best when the recovery period is clearly documented and has a defined endpoint.
Combination Approaches
Some lawyers combine the two methods or adjust them depending on the type of case. For example, they might use the multiplier method for long-term disability and the per diem approach for the acute recovery period.
Software and AI Tools
Insurers increasingly use software like Colossus to evaluate claims. These tools assign preset values to injuries and symptoms based on medical codes and documentation. While efficient, they often miss nuance—like how an injury affects your daily life. This is one reason having a strong legal advocate can help ensure a more accurate valuation.
Factors That Influence Pain and Suffering Calculations
Not every injury is the same, and neither is every victim’s experience. Several factors play into how pain and suffering damages are estimated:
Severity and Nature of Injuries
The more serious the injury, the higher the potential for pain and suffering damages. A broken bone that heals in six weeks won’t be evaluated the same way as a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury that permanently alters your life. Injuries that require surgery, involve scarring, or cause disfigurement usually result in higher compensation because of their lasting effects and daily discomfort.
Recovery Timeline and Permanence of Injuries
Injuries that heal quickly often result in lower non-economic damages. However, if your injury involves a long recovery, setbacks, or permanent impairment, those extended effects can significantly increase your pain and suffering award. For instance, chronic back pain that limits mobility for years is valued differently than a short-term strain or sprain. What happens if I get injured isn’t just about the immediate pain—it’s about how that injury continues to affect your daily life, your job, and your overall well-being long after the incident itself.
Impact on Daily Activities and Quality of Life
How an injury disrupts your lifestyle is a major factor. If you’re no longer able to work, care for your children, enjoy hobbies, or even complete simple household tasks without assistance, those losses matter. Courts and insurance adjusters consider how your daily routine has changed and what you’ve had to give up as a result of the accident.
Documented Evidence of Pain
Strong documentation adds credibility to your claim. Medical records that show consistent treatment, therapy notes that detail your symptoms, and doctor observations all support your account of the pain you’ve experienced. Insurance companies rely heavily on this kind of evidence when evaluating the seriousness of your condition.
In some Michigan cases, physical therapy notes, prescription records, and imaging studies (like MRIs or X-rays) have helped establish how ongoing and debilitating a client’s pain really is—especially when paired with testimony from treating physicians.
Plaintiff’s Credibility and Likeability
It might sound unfair, but how a judge or jury perceives the injured person can affect the outcome. Plaintiffs who are consistent in their statements, appear sincere, and demonstrate a clear effort to recover tend to receive more favorable evaluations. On the other hand, inconsistencies in testimony or behavior that contradicts injury claims (like social media posts showing physical activity) can hurt your case. Insurance companies pay for pain and suffering, but they often scrutinise credibility to determine how much they’re willing to offer—if anything at all.
It All Paints a Picture
These factors don’t exist in a vacuum. A strong case for pain and suffering typically weaves together the injury’s severity, its effect on your life, and solid documentation that backs up everything you claim. When presented effectively, these elements work together to show the full extent of what the at-fault party’s actions have cost you.
Documentation That Strengthens Pain and Suffering Claims
To support non-economic damages, injury victims need strong, detailed evidence. Here’s what helps:Medical Records and Treatment History
Detailed records show not only the extent of the injuries but also the progression of your recovery, including setbacks and complications.
Expert Medical Testimony
Doctors can explain how an injury causes physical and emotional harm and whether symptoms are likely to continue in the future.
Personal Pain Journals
Daily logs that describe symptoms, pain levels, and emotional struggles help humanize the data and give insurers or juries a clear window into your life.
Before and After Witness Testimonies
Family, friends, and coworkers can speak to how your personality, habits, or physical abilities changed after the accident.
Photographic/Video Evidence
Images of injuries, surgical scars, or the activities you’re now unable to do provide visual proof that supports your story.
Jurisdiction Considerations
Where your case is filed affects how pain and suffering is evaluated. In Michigan, specific rules and trends come into play:
State-Specific Caps
Michigan law caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice claims but not in most other types of personal injury lawsuits, such as auto accidents or slip-and-fall cases. How long does a lawsuit take often depends on the type of case, the complexity of the injuries, and whether the parties can reach a settlement without going to trial.
Local Jury Tendencies
Some counties in Michigan return higher awards than others. Jury attitudes, economic demographics, and local history all affect verdict trends.
Relevant Precedent Cases
Attorneys often review similar cases in the same court district to determine what types of injuries received certain pain and suffering awards. This helps shape settlement negotiations and litigation strategy.
Settlement vs. Trial Considerations
Pain and suffering calculations look different during settlement talks than they do in court.
How Insurance Companies Approach Pain and Suffering
Insurers look to reduce payouts. They may rely on software tools, conservative multipliers, or push back on subjective elements of your claim. First offer from the insurance company is rarely generous—without strong supporting evidence, their first offer rarely reflects your true losses.
When to Accept a Settlement Offer
If the offer matches or exceeds what you’d likely receive at trial—especially after accounting for legal costs and time—it may make sense to resolve the case early. But that decision depends heavily on the strength of the evidence and the reliability of future damages projections.
When Trial Might Yield Better Results
When an insurance company refuses to acknowledge the real extent of your pain or lowballs you despite solid evidence, taking the case to trial can sometimes lead to a more favorable outcome. Michigan juries may respond strongly when they see clear injustice or blatant low offers.
Let Our Experienced Michigan Personal Injury Attorneys Help
Pain and suffering deserve more than a line item on a spreadsheet. They reflect your day-to-day reality after an injury caused by someone else. At Goodman Acker PC, we work hard to ensure the compensation you receive matches the hardship you’ve lived through.
From the moment you contact our team, you’ll receive clear answers, honest assessments, and strong legal representation. We handle communication with insurers, gather evidence, and prepare cases thoroughly—whether for negotiation or trial. Our team has handled serious injury claims across Michigan, and we understand how to present persuasive pain and suffering arguments that courts and insurance companies take seriously.
We invite you to contact us today for a free case evaluation. If you’ve been hurt by someone else’s actions, don’t guess what your pain and suffering is worth. Let our attorneys help you fight for every dollar you deserve.