“Pain and Suffering” Damages in California Injury Cases

Pain and suffering damages refer to the compensatory damages you may receive in California personal injury lawsuits for the physical pain and mental anguish that you suffer because of an injury from a car crash, slip-and-fall, medical malpractice, defective product, or other accident.

The following bubble graph shows the many different types of injuries that fall under pain and suffering:

Our California personal injury attorneys will explain the following in this article:

• 1. What is pain and suffering?
• 2. Calculating Damages
• 3. Emotional Distress
• 4. Multiplier Method
• 5. Tax Consequences
• 6. Damage Caps
• 7. Statute of Limitations
• Additional Reading

1. What is pain and suffering?

Following an accident in California, you can sue the at-fault parties to compensate you for the following types of pain and suffering:

1. Anger – Persistent rage that was not present prior to your incident.
2. Anxiety – Worry, nerves, or general uneasiness.
3. Apprehension – Reasonable fear or uncertainty that something bad could occur and limits your ability to lead a normal life.
4. Damage to reputation – You are looked at in an unfavorable light in your community or by your family, colleagues, and friends.
5. Depression – How you feel, act, or think has been seriously affected, and you may have significant personality shifts.
6. Disfigurement – Any permanent damage or changes to your body, such as physical scarring or deformity.
7. Emotional distress – Anguish, despondency, or anger resulting from an accident.
8. Embarrassment – The feeling of shame or disgrace.
9. Fright – Abrupt and severe fear or terror that substantially impacts your life.
10. Grief – If an accident or altercation results in the death, loss, or disappearance of something or someone you hold dear, you may be able to recover grief damages.
11. Humiliation – A feeling of being disgraced or made a fool of.
12. Indignity – Harm to your self-worth as caused by disgrace, vulgarity, poor treatment, abusive words, or deliberate disrespect.
13. Inconvenience – Any undue hardship, hassle, or inconvenience caused by an accident or event can be cited as a type of pain and suffering.
14. Loss of companionship – When you are deprived of the benefits of being married or a parent, such as being able to be affectionate and caring.
15. Loss of enjoyment of life – Damages that significantly alter your life or ability to take part in activities or hobbies you once enjoyed.
16. Loss of quality of life – A diminishment in your capability to enjoy or engage in life as you did before an accident (such as pleasurable activities like hobbies and sex) because you lost a limb or organ (or their use), have paralysis, or incurred serious head trauma.
17. Mental suffering – Also known as mental anguish, this type of pain and suffering encompasses a range of emotional distress, including feelings of distress, fright, anxiety, grief, depression, or psychological/mental trauma.
18. Mortification – Severely bruised ego or shame.
19. Nervousness – Extreme uneasiness with no natural cause.
20. Ordeal – Ordeals such as an accident result in feeling pain, horror, and trauma.
21. Physical pain – Bodily damage that causes mild to severe discomfort, such as pain or distress in the back, leg, neck, or head.
22. Physical impairment – Any injury that limits your movement, coordination, or ability to perform daily activities can be cited as physical impairment.
23. Sexual dysfunction – When you are deprived of the level of sexual activity that was normal to you before an accident.
24. Shock – Psychological harm stemming from an accident or event, such as witnessing an accident or sustaining injuries from one.
25. Terror – Extreme fear of being injured, disabled, or killed.

2. Calculating Damages

California has no fixed standard for determining the monetary value of a pain and suffering award.¹ Just some considerations the jury may look at are:

• The extent of the careless, reckless, or intentional actions demonstrated by the defendants
• The degree of temporary and/or permanent harm you sustained
• The general physical and emotional distress experienced by most individuals with similar injuries to yours
• The influence these injuries have on your daily existence (such as being unable to use the bathroom on your own or lift your children)
• Your professional life
• Your well-being and the anticipated recovery duration for your injury
• The medical care provided to you and the ongoing treatments required
• The ultimate outcome and expected recovery

Proving Pain and Suffering

While pain and suffering damages compensate you for subjective losses, they are often proven with objective evidence. Examples include:

• medical records/medical bills showing the extent of medical treatment you received, including rehab, and prescription records
• x-rays
• photos of property damage and physical injuries evidencing the severity of your injury
• comprehensive notes by doctors, therapists, psychologists, etc.
• before and after videos showing your activity level
• social media posts, texts, and emails
• testimony of you and your friends, co-workers, and family members (which largely rests on credibility and likeability),
• journals of your activities, including pain scales
• evidence of lost work time
• expert testimony regarding medical suffering, bodily injury and/or brain injury, lost earning capacity, and anything else that could be relevant

See our article on pain and suffering settlement examples.

3. Emotional Distress

In California, emotional distress is included in pain and suffering damages. “Emotional distress” refers to the mental impairment you suffer following a personal injury or accident.

Examples of emotional distress may include:

• fear,
• anxiety,
• crying,
• lack of sleep,
• depression, and
• humiliation.

Proving Emotional Distress

You can still receive an amount of money for pain and suffering if you suffer emotional distress without any corresponding physical injury.²

In these cases, though, it is often a good idea for you to receive some type of mental health counseling.

Testimony of a counselor is appropriate in cases in which you have experienced significant subjective symptoms such as:

• insomnia,
• anxiety,
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or
• similar symptoms that are not easy to establish with objective tests.

4. Multiplier Method

California has no fixed standard for deciding the value of pain and suffering damages.³ However, attorneys commonly try by using the “multiplier method.”

Under this method, add together all the economic damages involved in a case. Then multiply that figure by a certain number (typically between 1 and 5, with 3 being most commonly used).

Which Multiplier?

The specific multiplier used in a case will depend on the severity of your injury. So you will use a low multiplier (like 1 or 2) in cases with mild injuries, and you would use a higher multiplier (like 4 or 5) in cases with severe injuries.

You may use a higher multiplier in cases involving:

• lifelong medical care,
• severe types of pain,
• lost wages due to a disability,
• severe injuries involving broken bones, and
• reduced quality of life.

Per Diem Method

Another method for calculating pain and suffering is the per diem method. Here, the attorneys try to calculate a specific dollar amount for each day you experience pain and suffering because of an accident.

This daily rate is often calculated by using your daily earnings prior to the accident.

For example, if you earned $300 per day prior to an injury, and experienced pain and suffering for 14 days, you may demand $4,200 (or 14 x $300) in pain and suffering damages.

Colossus Software

There is a software program called Colossus that insurance companies rely on to calculate pain and suffering damages. In our experience, insurers trick Colossus into returning lower pain and suffering values than a particular victim’s case calls for. Therefore, we always fight for higher damages than what Colossus suggests.

5. Tax Consequences

The general rule is that the money you receive for a personal injury case is not taxable as long as you suffer:

• physical injury, or
• physical sickness.

This means that if you suffer from emotional distress (with no physical injury), your damage award could be taxed.

6. Damage Caps

California law does not impose a damage cap in most personal injury claims involving pain and suffering and other economic damages. Though some exceptions do apply.

Medical Malpractice

In medical malpractice, there is a cap on non-economic damages. As of January 1, 2025, the cap is:

• $430,000 in non-fatality cases (every new year, the cap goes up by $40,000 until it is $750,000);
• $600,000 in wrongful death cases (every new year, the cap goes up to $50,000 until reaches $1,000,000).⁴

Note, though, that the cap does not apply in cases in which a healthcare provider recklessly or intentionally injured or abused you.

Car Accidents

California Civil Code 3333.4 also restricts the recovery of non-economic damages in actions for negligence arising out of the operation or use of a motor vehicle as follows:

• drivers convicted of DUI may not recover non-economic damages,⁵
• uninsured vehicle owners cannot recover or be indemnified for non-economic damages except those caused by drunk drivers,⁶
• uninsured drivers cannot recover or be indemnified for non-economic damages under any circumstances.⁷

Felonies

Civil Code 3333.3 prohibits you from recovering any damages if you were injured while committing, or fleeing after committing, a California felony.⁸

Wrongful Death/Survival

As of January 1, 2022, you may recover damages for the decedent’s pain and suffering if you bring wrongful death and/or survival actions in California.⁹

Workers’ Compensation

Injured workers collecting workers’ compensation do not get pain and suffering. Instead, the insurer pays for medical treatments, disability, and vocational training.

7. Statute of Limitations

Under California law, you usually have two years after your accident to bring a personal injury lawsuit for damages. However, the deadline is only six months if you are suing the government.

There are some situations where the statute of limitation pauses (“tolls”), such as if there is delayed discovery of your injury. However, once the statute of limitation passes, the court will dismiss your lawsuit for being stale.¹⁰

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Pain and Suffering Damages in Personal Injury Cases: An Empirical Study – Journal of Empirical Studies.
• Pain and Suffering, Non-economic Damages, and the Goals of Tort Law – S.M.U. Law Review.
• Putting a Price on Pain-and-Suffering Damages: A Critique of the Current Approaches and a Preliminary Proposal for Change – Northwestern University Law Review.
• Pain and Suffering Awards: They Shouldn’t Be (Just) about Pain and Suffering – The Journal of Legal Studies.
• Making the intangible tangible: Collecting damages for pain and suffering – New Jersey Law Journal.

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