If you watch courtroom dramas or police procedurals, you might have heard the term “pain and suffering” at some point. It sounds pretty self-explanatory. However, the term means something very specific when a lawyer or judge brings it up in a courtroom. 

If you experience pain and suffering because a doctor did something to you, and you can prove that in court, then you’d better get tips for hiring a medical malpractice lawyer, because you could very well have a lawsuit on your hands. In this article, we’ll talk about pain and suffering as it relates to civil cases. You should know what options you have if an individual or entity harmed you and you’re dealing with pain and suffering as a result of their action or inaction.

What Does a Civil Case Mean?

First, let’s briefly discuss civil cases versus criminal ones. Let’s say you’re a consumer and a product you buy harms you. Maybe you’re a patient in a hospital, and a doctor gives you the wrong medication by accident, worsening your condition. It could also be that you slip and fall while walking through a store, and you know the store didn’t put up a sign indicating the floor was wet.

In all these instances, you can bring a civil case against a person or entity. If a product harms you, then you can potentially sue the manufacturer. When you sue someone, that means you’re bringing a civil case against them. 

In the case with the doctor who harms you, you will probably sue the doctor, since their carelessness hurt you. With the slip-and-fall in the store, you’ll likely sue that particular store or the chain to which it belongs.

Those are all civil case examples, but you can probably think of many more. Any time a person or entity harms you, and you can prove that conclusively in court, you can bring legal action. 

Civil cases and criminal cases have some significant differences between them. In some instances, a person or entity might face both a criminal case and a civil one. 

However, as the person who sustained an injury, got sick, or otherwise suffered harm, you needn’t worry about those criminal charges. The police and prosecutors, whether at the local, state, or federal level, can handle those.

Now that you know about criminal and civil charges, let’s get back to the term pain and suffering.

What Exactly Do Those Words Mean from a Legal Standpoint?

Presumably, you know what the words pain and suffering mean in a general context. In the legal system, though, if you’re suing someone or some entity and your lawyer says you experienced pain and suffering because of an action or inaction on their part, it means you sustained noneconomic damages. 

You can sometimes sue someone for economic damages if you like. If you do, you will probably have a particular dollar amount in mind. You might sue a driver who hit your car, but they didn’t have insurance. If that happens, you’re probably suing them for the amount it took to fix your vehicle and get it back to its condition before the collision.

Noneconomic damages may not be as easy for you to quantify. For instance, maybe after that same car accident, you feel unsafe when you get behind the wheel. If you went through a violent car crash, like a rollover collision, for example, you might have PTSD afterward. Maybe you can’t get back into the driver’s seat of your car without trembling. You might need therapy to get past this event.

Such a situation constitutes pain and suffering. In the instance we just described, you’re dealing with mental or psychological torment rather than physical pain. However, the court system could give you many examples that fall under that blanket term of “pain and suffering.” 

Damages that fall into this category might include physical pain, but they also may include various types of emotional or psychological anguish. In those situations, even if you didn’t sustain any bodily harm, a jury or judge might still feel the other person or entity harmed you, and you should get financial restitution for that. 

You Must Prove Someone Else Responsible

Whether you sustained mental, physical, or psychological damage that led to you bringing a civil case against a company or person, to collect any money, you must prove they caused your pain and suffering. Maybe you feel there’s a logical connection between how you feel and what someone did. You must prove it in court, though, or else you probably won’t get any money or a belief that you got justice.

Many times, a personal injury lawyer won’t take your case if they don’t feel you have enough physical evidence that proves what you say happened. They can always investigate and try to uncover evidence, but if none exists and it’s just your word against someone else’s, most lawyers won’t agree to represent you. A personal injury lawyer might express sympathy if they can see you’re in pain, but without a clear chain of evidence tying a person or entity to your condition, you’re just wasting their time. 

Still, if you feel that you’re dealing with pain and suffering, even if proving what happened comes with a lot of challenges, you might decide that you have to try it. Even without much evidence, you might want the world to acknowledge the pain you’re in and the suffering you’ve endured. 

Hopefully, even if you can’t find much physical evidence to prove what you contend happened, you can take the witness stand and describe what took place convincingly enough that you can still get justice. Luckily, in civil cases, the burden of proof doesn’t reach the levels it does during a criminal trial. 

If you can convince a jury of your sincerity, they might award you damages, even without a mountain of evidence. Then, you can get the money you’re due and potentially feel satisfied.