Pain and Suffering Calculator, with the same math attorneys use.

Most commonly with the multiplier method: your economic damages are multiplied by a factor that reflects how severe the injury was, how long recovery took, and how clear the other side's fault is. Our calculator uses that method, and it shows you the multiplier it applied rather than hiding it. The alternative is the per-diem method, which assigns a daily value to your suffering and multiplies by the days you were in pain. Per-diem is used more often as a way to argue a number than as a way to arrive at one.

In our calculator it runs from 1.0 to 5.0 and is clamped at 5.0, so no combination of inputs produces a higher one. Severity moves it most, permanence and clear liability push it up, and disputed or shared fault pulls it down. The worked examples further down this page show the multiplier each set of inputs produces, so you can see where a case like yours would land.

General injury cases usually have no statutory cap on pain and suffering. Medical malpractice is the common exception: of the 51 jurisdictions in our state-law data, 17 cap non-economic damages in malpractice claims and 4 cap total damages instead. A handful of states also cap non-economic damages in any injury case. Our calculator applies the cap we hold for your state and case type, and our damages caps guide lists which states those are.

Special damages are the losses with a receipt: medical bills, lost wages, future care, property damage. General damages are the ones without one: pain, suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. The multiplier method exists because general damages have no invoice, so they are estimated from the special damages that do.

In most states, a pure emotional distress claim with no accompanying physical injury is difficult to maintain and may require showing the defendant's conduct was extreme and outrageous. When emotional distress accompanies a physical injury, PTSD after a serious crash for instance, it is recoverable as part of general damages and is supported by mental health treatment records and expert testimony.

Consistent, documented medical treatment is the foundation, because a gap in treatment is the first thing the defense points at. Beyond that: a journal recording daily symptoms and what you could not do, testimony from family and friends describing changes they observed, expert testimony on severity and permanence, and psychological evaluation where emotional harm is part of the claim. Specifics beat adjectives. "I stopped coaching my daughter's team in March" lands harder than "I was in a lot of pain."