What Are the Three Main Types of Property Law?
Yuriy Moshes October 12, 2026 10:32 am
What Are the 3 Types of Property Law and Property Rights? Property law inside the
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Medical bills and lost paychecks are easy to add up. Pain is not. Yet pain and suffering often makes up a substantial share of a New York personal injury recovery — sometimes more than the economic damages themselves. There is no invoice for chronic back pain or a line item for the loss of being able to pick up your own children.
That does not mean these damages are guesswork. New York courts, insurance adjusters, and attorneys rely on established methods and comparable case data to place a dollar value on non-economic harm. Understanding how that value is built matters whether you are reviewing an early insurance offer or deciding whether the first settlement offer after an accident actually reflects what your case is worth.
AUTHOR YURIY MOSHES, ESQ
Founding Member of Moshes Law, P.C.
During his years of practice, Yuriy has concentrated in litigation
and real estate transactions as his areas of expertise
If you’ve been injured in an accident and are unsure whether a settlement fairly reflects your pain and suffering, you don’t have to navigate the process alone. Speak with an experienced New York personal injury attorney to understand your rights and pursue the full compensation you may be entitled to.
Pain and suffering falls under what New York law calls non-economic damages — compensation for losses that do not come with a bill. This category typically includes:
Unlike medical expenses or lost wages, New York places no statutory cap on pain and suffering damages in ordinary personal injury cases. The amount is instead shaped by the facts of the injury, the strength of the evidence, and how the claim is presented — whether in settlement negotiations or before a jury.
Before any pain and suffering calculation begins in a motor vehicle case, New York’s no-fault law requires proof that the injury meets the “serious injury” threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d) — categories such as a fracture, permanent loss of use, significant limitation of use, or a disability lasting at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident. If a claim cannot meet this threshold, pain and suffering is generally not recoverable in a car accident case, which is often the first thing an adjuster or defense attorney checks before responding to a demand.
The per diem method assigns a daily dollar value to pain and suffering and multiplies it by the number of days the injury is expected to affect the claimant, often through the point of maximum medical improvement. A $150 daily rate applied over 200 days produces $30,000. This method is used less often than the multiplier approach and fits poorly with permanent impairments, where an end date for “days of pain” is hard to define.
Both methods are negotiation tools, not binding legal formulas. An adjuster’s chosen multiplier is not evidence of true claim value — it is an opening position, similar to how an early settlement offer is often just a starting point.
Beyond the mechanical multiplier or per diem calculation, several factors shape how much weight a claim ultimately carries:
Insurance companies frequently minimize these factors, which is one reason some settlement offers understate a claim’s true value.
New York follows a pure comparative negligence rule under CPLR § 1411. If a claimant is found partially at fault, the total damages award — including pain and suffering — is reduced by that percentage. A $400,000 pain and suffering award, where the claimant is 25% at fault, nets $300,000. This applies whether the case settles or goes to trial, which is why fault disputes are often contested as aggressively as the medical evidence.
When a jury awards pain and suffering damages, the award is not automatically final. Under CPLR § 5501(c), New York’s appellate courts can adjust an award found to “deviate materially” from reasonable compensation for a comparable injury, using a body of prior verdicts and settlements as a benchmark. This standard adds predictability to an otherwise subjective category of damages, and it’s why attorneys reference comparable case outcomes when building a demand.
| Method | How It Works | Best Suited For |
|---|---|---|
| Multiplier Method | Economic damages × severity factor (1.5–5) | Most personal injury cases, including surgical and permanent injuries |
| Per Diem Method | Daily dollar value × number of days affected | Injuries with a defined recovery period |
A pain and suffering claim is only as strong as the evidence behind it:
This is also why it rarely makes sense to accept an early number without full documentation in hand — a point closely tied to what happens if a settlement offer is rejected and negotiations continue.
The multiplier and per diem methods above are mainly used by insurance adjusters as an internal starting point — often shaped by claims software and company guidelines, which cannot fully capture how an injury has changed someone’s daily life. Adjusters weigh medical records, diagnostic imaging, treatment length, and whether the injury affects the claimant’s ability to work.
Juries are not bound by any adjuster formula. If a case proceeds to trial, jurors instead weigh live testimony, expert opinions, photographs, and the overall credibility of the claimant’s story, then decide on an amount they consider fair for that specific injury. This is one reason jury verdicts can land higher — or lower — than an insurer’s pre-litigation number. When an insurer disputes injury severity or refuses to move off a low offer, the claim may progress toward this kind of resolution; see Settlement vs. Trial in New York Personal Injury Cases for how the two paths compare, and what to do when an insurance company refuses to settle if negotiations stall entirely.
Pain and suffering damages in New York are shaped by methods like the multiplier and per diem approaches, injury severity, comparative fault, and the strength of supporting evidence. There is no fixed formula, but a well-documented claim built on solid medical evidence remains the strongest tool for securing fair compensation.
Pain and suffering is typically calculated using the multiplier method (economic damages multiplied by a severity factor) or the per diem method (a daily dollar value multiplied by the number of days affected).
There is no fixed legal formula. The multiplier and per diem methods are common starting points, but the final value depends on injury severity, evidence, and negotiation.
A fair settlement reflects the severity of the injury, medical documentation, and impact on daily life. Amounts vary widely, from a few thousand dollars for minor soft tissue injuries to hundreds of thousands or more for permanent or catastrophic injuries.
There is no single typical amount, since values depend heavily on injury type, treatment, and evidence. Multipliers of 1.5 to 5 applied to economic damages give a general starting range used in negotiations.
The portion allocated to pain and suffering within a $50,000 settlement depends on how much of that total is economic damages versus non-economic damages, and any reduction for comparative fault.
Avoid guessing about injury severity, admitting fault, giving a recorded statement without preparation, or agreeing to a settlement figure before treatment and documentation are complete.
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