How to Calculate Pain and Suffering Damages

Your personal injury claim is made up of two things: economic damages and pain and suffering damages.

Pain and Suffering Calculator Is Complex

If you found this page, you are probably a victim in a personal injury case who is trying to figure out how pain and suffering damages are calculated.

Everyone has this question which is why this page gets a ton of web traffic. Why? Because you are trying to figure out the settlement amount of your case. A personal injury case is about a lot of things. But for the victim, it is mostly about money.

You want to get — and you should want to get — as much money as you possibly can for the suffering and losses you have endured. This is precisely what our civil justice system does and compensation should be your exact focus. (If you want revenge or to teach the at-fault driver a lesson, a personal injury claim is not the vehicle.)

If you have economic damages, they are pretty straightforward. They computed with a calculator for settlement and trial. In most cases, they consist of past and future medical bills and past and future lost wages.

Pain and suffering damages are an entirely different animal. They have a higher price tag in most personal injury cases. They cannot be readily compiled with a personal injury calculator, so much confusion exists.

How Do You Compute Pain and Suffering Damages?

The amount to be awarded for pain and suffering damages is determined by the judge or jury in a case. Settlement calculations are based on that prediction. If a case settles, both parties agree that the settlement amount approximates the estimated amount of money a jury would award.

How does the jury calculate pain and suffering? There is no fixed basis, table, algorithm, mathematical formula, or another objective basis that a jury is given to determine a dollar amount. There is no market for “voluntary submission to pain and suffering” on Amazon or e-Bay that we could use for comparison.

Instead, the jury awards the amount of money the jurors believe is appropriate, with little guidance beyond pro forma language that the amount is fair. Juries are told they should award a fair amount given the injuries and the harm and suffering caused.

One thing is for sure. The average pain and suffering settlement amount directly correlates to the type of injury suffered (which we break down and give you information on settlement value for specific injuries). In death cases, your state’s cap on non-economic damages is more likely than not what you will be awarded at trial if you win your case.

We have had juries award $8 million or $10 million in pain and suffering, and, of course, we have had cases where they have awarded much less. There is an old school of thought that you multiplied your medical bills and lost wages times three to get the settlement value of your case. As you will see below, this is a nonsensical way to value the reasonable settlement amount for injury claims.

How Do Pain and Suffering Lawyers Determine Settlement Compensation?

How do personal injury lawyers and insurance companies predict jury awards and calculate settlement amounts?

Our law firm has handled thousands of personal injury cases. So when our pain and suffering lawyers have a new case ripe for settlement, we think about the pain and suffering our client has endured and compare it to what previous clients have experienced.

No two cases are alike, but inevitably you are comparing cases and saying things like “This is just like the Smith case, but a little more serious” or “This is just like the Jones case but in a less favorable jurisdiction.” But we are not comparing just one case. The process involves melding all the cases our injury attorneys have handled and many of the pain and suffering settlements and verdicts our law firm has obtained.

How Do Insurance Companies Decide on Pain and Suffering Compensation Payouts?

The insurance companies’ lawyers compare prior cases just like our attorneys do. But they take it one step further.

Most major insurance companies use a computer system to value personal injury cases. Colossus is the most famous computer system. These programs are meant to help insurance adjusters put settlement amounts on physical pain and emotional suffering consistently and predictably.

These computer systems often try to bake into the calculus of just how good your lawyers are by using their track records in previous settlements and, more importantly, at trial.

Sounds great, right?

But while computers can do many great things, they cannot adequately place a value on human physical suffering and emotional distress. How can a computer look at the character and credibility of the victim or understand how the injury impacted a person’s life? So while the computer makes the claims process much easier and cheaper for the insurance company, it forces our law firm to file many more lawsuits than we should. The computer almost invariably errs against the victim, leaving no choice but to file suit to maximize the value of our client’s claim.

Another Way to Look at Pain and Suffering

One way our lawyers talk about the monetary value of pain and suffering is to see what the victim endured on a micro-level.

We look at three things:

1. How long did the pain and suffering last?
2. How severe was/is the pain and suffering?
3. How did the pain and suffering alter the victim’s life?

From these three questions and answers, our lawyers can tell the insurance adjuster or the jury that so much money should be awarded for the allotted time for pain and suffering. Let’s look at a sample:

• Experiencing the horror of the car accident: $10,000.
• The immediate pain after the crash: $2,000
• The ten weeks after the crash of pain and therapy: $20,000 ($2,000 a week)
• The surgery: $20,000
• Four weeks of recovery from surgery: $4,000 a week
• Pain for the next 45 years of estimated life: $1,576,800* ($4 an hour for the rest of her life)

* Note: This exceeds Maryland’s cap on pain and suffering damages, which is now $920,000 as of October 1, 2022). But wrongful death lawyers’ thinking has been to ask the jury what is honestly fair and let the pain and suffering cap sort itself out later.

Is this a fair damage calculation? Again, it depends on the case. But this gives a formula that is hard to argue with, right? Assuming this was a severe crash, who would sell buy on e-Bay the following scenario: getting into a horrific head-on auto crash that could take your life and cause you unbelievable pain for a mere $20,000? No one would take that deal.

• Ankle fracture trial transcript that show you exactly how our lawyers ask for pain and suffering damages

Example Maryland Pain and Suffering Claim Calculator Cases

Below is a list of pain and suffering outcomes and the medical bill multiplier that was used. These examples of pain and suffering help illustrate how hard it is to use a multiplier calculator to value pain and suffering damages.

• February 2024, $20,000 Verdict: Baltimore County, Maryland: The plaintiff was driving northbound on interstate 95. When she slowed down for traffic, the defendant rear-ended her vehicle. The plaintiff alleged various injuries from the accident, including neck and back sprains. The jury awarded $12,839 for past medical expenses, but only $7,161 for pain and suffering.
• January 2024, $18,445 Verdict: Baltimore County, Maryland: The plaintiff was a passenger in a parked mobility van when the van was rear-ended by the defendant.  The plaintiff allegedly suffered a lumbar back sprain, bilateral sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and right shoulder spasms. The verdict included $15,000 for pain and suffering, which was more than triple the amount of $3,495 awarded for medical expenses.
• October 2023, $200,000 Verdict: Baltimore County, Maryland: The plaintiff was driving through an intersection on a green light. The defendant ran through a red light and struck the plaintiff’s vehicle on the side. The plaintiff allegedly suffered injuries that included cervicothoracic and lumbar sprain/strains, paracervical and upper trapezius spasms, and headaches. The jury awarded $200,000, all for pain and suffering, with nothing awarded for past or future medical expenses.
• November 2022, $1,042,000 Verdict: Anne Arundel County, Maryland:  A 65-year-old female was driving through an intersection when the defendant struck her from the side. The plaintiff claimed that she suffered a concussion that resulted in brain atrophy (loss of brain cells) and cognitive impairment. The jury awarded $1 million which will be almost all for pain and suffering. The award will likely be reduced slightly based on Maryland’s cap on pain and suffering damages. This case really underscores how pain and suffering calculators vary wildly.  The case was previously tried and reversed on appeal.  In that case, a different jury only awarded $32,000 on the exact same facts.
• October 2022, $154,379 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: the plaintiff was shopping in the produce section of a Walmart when her left foot struck an empty four-wheel cart that was lying near the floor, used to store overstock bananas under the banana display table, and she tripped and fell. The plaintiff claimed that she suffered injuries including tears to her right hip, hamstring, and thigh, and Grade IV chondromalacia patella of the left knee. She was awarded $24,379 for past medical expenses and $130,000 for pain and suffering (five times the amount of medical expenses).
• March 2022, $70,638 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: A driver and passenger were driving north on Interstate 95 when they had to stop suddenly for traffic at which point a U.S. Postal Service tractor-trailer rear-ended them. The driver plaintiff suffered a concussion with post-traumatic headaches and sprains to his neck and back with $16,370 in past medical expenses. The passenger plaintiff claimed that she suffered a permanent injury to her right hand, along with injuries to her neck and back with $12,678 in past medicals. The jury awarded both plaintiffs their full past medical expenses, plus $20,000 each for mental pain and suffering.
• December 2021, $11,500 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: The plaintiffs (driver and passenger) claimed that they suffered headaches and soft tissue back and neck injuries in a rear-end collision. The plaintiffs sought $2,631 in past medical expenses, but the jury only awarded pain and suffering. Why?  The verdict does not make sense but it could be the jury assumed the plaintiff has health insurance.
• April 2021, $78,471 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: A 53-year-old male, reportedly suffered torn right rotator cuff, requiring surgery and physical therapy, as well as injuries to his cervical and thoracic spine, when he stopped for a red light and his vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by the defendant. The jury awarded $43,471 for past medical expenses and $35,000 for pain & suffering. The pain and suffering award was only two-thirds of the medical bills. This should not happen and is a sign the jury was not buying the case.
• January 2020, $145,000 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: A phantom motorist T-boned a woman’s vehicle and left the scene. The woman suffered sciatica, cervical radiculitis, and soft-tissue spinal injuries. A big part of her claim was post-traumatic stress disorder. The woman sued Erie for failing to pay her uninsured motorist benefits. Erie disputed her claims, arguing that her injuries were minor and that her medical history included depression, anxiety, and back problems. She hires a Baltimore pain and suffering lawyer and takes the case to trial. The Baltimore jury awarded her a $145,000 verdict.
• November 2019, $7,483,254 Verdict: Prince George’s County, Maryland: A 40-something man suffered a herniated disc and the aggravation of prior cervical and lumbar degenerative disc diseases after his vehicle was rear-ended at a gas station parking lot. He underwent lumbar fusion surgery for treatment. Following the procedure, he also underwent pain management and epidural injections. He then underwent another procedure on his lumbar spine and revision surgery, both of which were unsuccessful. The man claimed that his injuries were now permanent and prevented him from returning to work as a construction material company supervisor. He sued the other driver and his employer for negligence. A P.G. County jury ruled in favor of the man and awarded him a $7,483,254 verdict. This comprised $373,840 in past medical expenses, $525,140 in past lost wages, $2,878,384 in future lost wages, and $2,500,000 in non-economic damages. A simple pain and suffering calculator would be useless in this case, right? (Maryland’s cap on non-economic damages reduced the verdict to $5,783,254.)
• November 2019, $15,000 Verdict: Baltimore, Maryland: A woman was rear-ended as she was stopped at the intersection of North Avenue and Howard Street in Baltimore City. She suffered neck, cervical spine, and right shoulder injuries. The woman sued the other driver for failing to keep a proper distance and failing to pay attention to the road. She sought compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages. The other driver denied liability and disputed causation and damages. A Baltimore City jury awarded the woman $15,000 in medical bills with only $1,500 in pain and suffering. This is the opposite of what we have discussed: a reverse multiplier. In this case, the jury was unimpressed with the woman’s pain and suffering. This underscores why medical bill multiplier formulas are inaccurate on both sides. You have to look at the merits of the individual claim.
• April 2017, $60,000 Verdict: Westminster, Maryland: A 34-year-old woman was rear-ended on Route 27 in Mt. Airy. The at-fault driver’s insurance company was MAIF, arguably the worst insurance company to deal with in Maryland. The plaintiff had uninsured motorist coverage with Nationwide. This is important because most MAIF policies are only $30,000. The woman claimed cervical disc herniations with radiating pain, headaches, and memory loss. She had $8,180.82 in medical bills. Her lawyers did not, however, bring a neurologist to trial to testify. Instead, they relied on a psychiatrist in Germantown, Dr. Brian Kim, to testify as to the scope of the plaintiff’s injuries. Is this an odd choice? Yes. A Carroll County jury awarded $60,000. The multiplier of the medical bills was 6.3. What does this tell you about using a multiplier of the medical bills? That is a worthless way of valuing an injury case. Pain and suffering multiplier examples are a useless way to calculate settlement amounts.
• April 2017, $250,000 Verdict: Rockville, Maryland: A 60-year-old construction worker was traveling 60 miles an hour on Route 270 in Montgomery County. Maryland when he was rear-ended by a driver who had fallen asleep. He struck the jersey wall and totaled his car. The victim claimed a concussion, injury to both knees, and neck pain with radiculopathy due to the crash. He told the jury that he was unable to sit for prolonged periods. The jury awarded him $15,371 in medical bills, $5,720 in lost wages, and $230,000 in pain and suffering. The multiplier of his special damages was 8.5.
• March 2017, $13,654: Towson, Maryland: A 32-year-old unemployed woman was driving on Joppa Road in White Marsh when she was broadsided by a driver making a left-hand turn. She allegedly suffered a fractured nose and thumb, injured both knees, and chipped a tooth in the crash. The big deal was the thumb. The victim needed two surgical procedures and she was expecting a third. She also claimed that she needed surgery to repair her fractured nose. A third surgery was deemed necessary for her thumb but had not been performed as of the trial date (because she could not afford it). USAA insured the defendant, and her lawyers did what USAA lawyers often do: they denied liability right up to the morning of the trial. Surprisingly, the jury was unimpressed with her case. They awarded $6,654 in medical bills and $7,000 in future medical bills (she had sought $20,000). For pain and suffering, the Baltimore County jury awarded $15,000. The multiplier of her specials was 1.1 or .56 (based on what the specials submitted to the jury). There was something about this case that the jury did not like despite what appeared to be objective injuries.
• February 2017, $20,000: Annapolis, Maryland: A 50-year-old woman was rear-ended while exiting Waugh Chapel Towne Center onto Crain Highway (Route 3). She claimed multiple injuries: headaches and neck, back, shoulder, and foot injuries. She filed suit against the Allstate-insured driver after getting chiropractic and massage therapy. She had $22,053.38 in medicals. She also sought damages for pain and suffering. An Anne Arundel County jury just did not buy it and awarded her $20,000. The jury awarded $10,000 for pain and suffering and $10,000 in medical bills. In other words, they thought her treatment unnecessary, the health care providers charged too much, or some of her injuries were not from the car accident. The jury used a multiplier of 1 (.45 multiplier of what she had sought).
• February 2017, $18,421: Ellicott City: An assistant school principal claimed lower back injuries after he was rear-ended on Route 32. He received physical therapy, followed by pain management. He incurred $8,381 in medical bills. Plaintiff filed in District Court (smaller claims), but; the defendant’s insurance company, Allstate, removed the case to Circuit Court (more significant claims with a jury trial). Why would Allstate want to risk a larger verdict and have the case heard by a jury? Because Howard County is known to give out lower pain and suffering awards, particularly in cases where the injuries are mainly subjective. In this case, they awarded $18,421. The multiplier of the medical bills was 1.8.

Again, these cases underscore that using a multiplier to calculate pain and suffering damages is foolish. Judges and juries do not decide cases this way. You can also see that the average pain and suffering verdict is a very misleading number.

How Do Insurance Companies Value Pain and Suffering for Settlement?

Most insurance companies use a computer program with a complex formula to calculate how much money to offer in pain and suffering damages.

So the insurance company uses a computerized pain and suffering calculator as a tool to estimate settlement payouts an injury victim person is entitled to as compensation for the physical and emotional distress they experienced as a result of a car accident. The calculator takes into account various factors such as the severity of the injuries, the impact on the person’s daily life and ability to work, and the length of the recovery period. But a computer often does an abysmal job of making these calculations which often leads to personal injury lawsuits.

This pain and suffering calculator – particularly for neck and back injuries – overly relies on using a multiplier of actual economic damages, such as medical bills and lost wages, to estimate the severity of the pain and suffering.

After a suit has been filed, the insurance company hires a lawyer to defend the case. Lawyers who have to defend the case in court use a more realistic settlement calculator and that often leads to a more realistic and higher settlement offer that does not rely on simplistic calculations.

How Much Money Can You Sue for Pain and Suffering?

Maryland law has changed. Maryland allows personal injury lawyers to refrain from asking for a specific amount in a personal injury case. Instead, we ask for an amount that is more than $75,000 in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases without specifying an amount in serious injury cases.

How Much Should I Ask for Pain and Suffering From a Car Accident?

How much money you ask in your demand for pain and suffering damages depends on the severity of the injuries and, just as importantly, how the injuries impacted your life. Knowing your pain and suffering damages is impossible without reading your medical records and reviewing your case. But don’t let the insurance company fool you. The worst harm in a personal injury case is the physical and mental anguish from the injuries.

How Are Pain and Suffering Damages Determined in a Wrongful Death Case?

Under Maryland law, pain and suffering damages in a wrongful death is compensation for “mental anguish, emotional pain, and suffering, loss of society, companionship, comfort, protection, marital care, attention, advice or counsel” the surviving family member has experienced or probably will experience in the future.

Few juries will award less than the cap in a well-presented wrongful death case in Maryland. Our lawyers have never received a wrongful death verdict below the Maryland damages cap. The mental anguish alone is almost invariably worth millions.

How Do I Prove My Pain and Suffering?

You prove your pain and suffering damages for settlement purposes in the medical records and your demand letter. The demand letter and the settlement negotiations are the opportune moments to argue the severity of the pain and suffering. Most insurance adjusters look past the intangible pain and suffering and calculate pain and suffering using the four corners of the victim’s medical records to extrapolate what the plaintiff’s pain and suffering should be instead of getting in the weeds of what it is.

How Can I Get a Maryland Lawyer to Fight for Me?

There is a great temptation to handle your own pain and suffering personal injury claim. In some smaller cases, this is not always a terrible idea. In severe injury cases, this is a foolish mistake that will cost you. People ask how do you get pain and suffering damages in Maryland. The answer? You fight for it. And you don’t want someone fighting for fair value. You want them fighting for every penny you can get.

Call a lawyer and assess your options. You do not need to hire someone today. But call a pain and suffering lawyer with a track record of success to get the lay of the land. If you want a free, no-obligation consultation with our lawyers at Miller & Zois, call 800-553-8082. You will also get a quick response if you reach out to us online with a question or to evaluate your claim.

More Information

• The best way to value a case is to look at the type of injury.
• The second biggest variable is the venue. We help you understand the jury award climate in every jurisdiction in Maryland. You can also look at verdict and settlement statistics in other states here.
• Herniated disc settlement calculator
• How do lawyers, adjusters, and juries value personal injury claims?
• Most medical malpractice cases we handle involve potential pain and suffering awards that exceed Maryland’s cap on pain and suffering damages. This article examines how the cap impacts the settlement value of medical malpractice cases in Maryland.