Glossary

Multiplier method

A convention that values pain and suffering by multiplying economic damages by a factor reflecting severity.

The multiplier method totals economic damages and multiplies them by a factor commonly described as between one and a half and five, with higher factors associated with more serious and longer-lasting injuries. It has no statutory basis anywhere. It is a rule of thumb repeated widely enough in published consumer-legal literature that it functions as a common reference point in negotiations. Its weakness is exactly where its output is decided: the choice of factor. A calculator offering a bare dropdown from one and a half to five hands the reader the hardest judgment in the whole calculation with no guidance at all.

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