Most legal glossaries copy each other’s definitions. They tell you that “pain and suffering” is “non-economic damages awarded for physical and emotional harm,” then stop. That technically-correct definition does not answer the question every injured claimant actually has: how does this term change what I get?
Each entry below has three sections: plain-English definition, how it works in practice, and the dollar-recovery implication. Sourced from primary statutes, federal regulations, and industry research where applicable.
Settlement Process
Negotiation, settlement structure, and post-settlement realities.
Damages
Categories of money you can be awarded — economic, non-economic, and punitive.
Pain and Suffering
also: Non-economic damages, General damages
Pain and suffering is the legal category that compensates a personal injury claimant for the physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment caused by an accident.
Read entryLost Wages
also: Wage loss, Lost earnings
Lost wages are the income a claimant was unable to earn because of accident-related injuries — the second-largest economic damages category in most personal injury cases after medical bills.
Read entryPunitive Damages
also: Exemplary damages, Vindictive damages
Punitive damages are monetary awards paid above and beyond actual (compensatory) damages, intended to punish particularly bad conduct and deter similar future conduct rather than to compensate the claimant.
Read entryFault & Liability
How fault is assigned and how it changes what you recover.
Comparative Negligence
also: Comparative fault, Proportionate responsibility
Comparative negligence is the legal rule that determines how an injured claimant's own share of fault affects their recovery in a personal injury case.
Read entryContributory Negligence
also: Pure contributory negligence, Contributory fault
Contributory negligence is the strict common-law rule under which any fault on the claimant's part — even 1% — bars recovery in a personal injury case entirely.
Read entryEggshell Plaintiff (Eggshell Skull Rule)
also: Eggshell skull doctrine, Take the plaintiff as you find them
The eggshell plaintiff rule is the legal doctrine that holds the defendant liable for the full extent of injuries actually caused, even when the claimant's pre-existing condition made them unusually vulnerable to injury.
Read entryInsurance
Policy types, limits, and concepts that determine where the money comes from.
Medical Lien
also: Letter of Protection (LOP), Hospital lien
A medical lien is a legal claim that a hospital, doctor, or health insurer has on the proceeds of a personal injury settlement to recover medical costs they paid or extended on the claimant’s behalf.
Read entryPersonal Injury Protection (PIP)
also: PIP, No-fault insurance
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is a type of auto insurance coverage that pays the policyholder's own medical bills and lost wages after an accident, regardless of who caused it.
Read entryUninsured / Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM)
also: UM, UIM
UM/UIM is auto insurance coverage on the claimant's OWN policy that pays for injuries caused by an at-fault driver who has no insurance (UM) or whose insurance is insufficient to cover the full damages (UIM).
Read entryPolicy Limits
also: Policy maximum, Coverage limits
Policy limits are the maximum dollar amounts an insurance policy will pay for a covered claim, usually stated as a per-person limit and a per-occurrence (or per-accident) limit.
Read entryBad Faith (Insurance Bad Faith)
also: Bad-faith failure to settle, Bad-faith claims handling
Insurance bad faith is the legal claim that arises when an insurance company violates its duty to deal fairly with its insured (or in some states, with the claimant), most often by failing to settle a clear-liability claim within available policy limits when settlement was reasonable.
Read entryMedical
Medical terms that show up in PI claims, with the settlement angle.
Procedural
Steps in the claim and lawsuit process.
Recorded Statement
also: Recorded interview, Sworn statement
A recorded statement is a question-and-answer interview, audio-recorded by an insurance adjuster, in which the claimant describes the accident and injuries under questioning.
Read entryStatute of Limitations
also: SOL, Limitations period
A statute of limitations is the legal deadline by which a personal injury lawsuit must be filed in court; missing it bars the claim entirely, regardless of how strong the underlying evidence is.
Read entryWhy a glossary that talks about money
Standard legal glossaries (Black’s, Cornell LII, Wikipedia) own the “what does this term mean?” query. We don’t try to compete on that. We own a different question that legal glossaries don’t answer: given this term applies to my case, how does it change my settlement dollars?
Knowing that “Maximum Medical Improvement” means “the point at which further significant improvement is unlikely” is technically accurate but commercially useless to an injured person. Knowing that settling before MMI typically costs claimants 30–70% of their potential recovery is actionable.
Informational only and not legal advice. The settlement-dollar implications described in each entry reflect typical patterns observed in U.S. personal injury claims and may differ in any specific case. Confirm the analysis for your situation with a licensed attorney.