Can I Be Compensated for Pain, Suffering, and Disfigurement After a PA Car Accident?
Noneconomic Damages in Pennsylvania Car Accident Cases
Yes — Pennsylvania law allows injured accident victims to seek compensation not only for their out-of-pocket economic losses (medical bills, lost wages) but also for the noneconomic harm they’ve suffered. These noneconomic damages — commonly grouped together as “pain and suffering” — recognize that a serious injury affects far more than your bank account. The law attempts to place a monetary value on the real human cost of injury, even when that cost doesn’t appear on a medical bill.
What Noneconomic Damages Cover
In a Pennsylvania car accident case, noneconomic damages may include compensation for:
- Physical pain and discomfort: The ongoing pain you’ve experienced as a result of your injuries, from the moment of the accident through recovery
- Inconvenience: Disruption to your daily life, inability to perform ordinary activities, and the burden of managing medical appointments and treatment
- Embarrassment or humiliation: Injuries that affect your appearance or functioning in ways that cause social or emotional distress
- Disfigurement: Permanent scarring, disfigurement, or visible physical changes resulting from the accident — Pennsylvania specifically recognizes disfigurement as a compensable category of harm
- Loss of life’s pleasures: Your inability to participate in hobbies, recreational activities, family events, or other aspects of your life that the injury has taken from you
- Emotional distress: Anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other psychological consequences of the accident or your injuries
The Tort Election Limitation
Your ability to recover noneconomic damages in Pennsylvania depends in part on your tort election. If you chose full tort coverage, you can seek pain and suffering damages regardless of injury severity. If you elected limited tort, you can only recover noneconomic damages if your injuries meet Pennsylvania’s definition of “serious injury” — or if one of the statutory exceptions to the limited tort rule applies.
Valuing Noneconomic Damages
There is no fixed formula for calculating pain and suffering in Pennsylvania. Juries evaluate these damages based on the nature and severity of the injury, the duration of recovery, the permanency of any limitations, and testimony from the injured person and their loved ones about how the injury has affected daily life.
The attorneys at Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. present noneconomic damages in a way that allows juries to fully understand and fairly compensate the human cost of injury. Contact us for a free consultation.
