The multiplier method: scaling off your damages
The multiplier method is the industry's default approach. It takes your economic damages — medical bills and lost wages — and multiplies that total by a factor generally between 1.5 and 5, chosen based on injury severity, recovery time, and whether any permanent impairment is involved.
The per diem method: valuing each day
The per diem (Latin for "per day") method works differently. It assigns a specific dollar value to a single day of pain and suffering and multiplies that rate by the total number of days of documented recovery, tying the value directly to time rather than to the size of your medical bills.
A genuinely Illinois-specific point: struck down twice, on a different theory
Illinois's legislature tried to cap non-economic damages twice, and the Illinois Supreme Court struck both attempts down — first a general cap across all common-law actions in Best v. Taylor Machine Works (1997), then a medical malpractice-specific cap in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital (2010). Both rulings rested on separation of powers, not the equal protection theory some other states have used — the courts held that a legislative cap improperly substitutes for the jury's own deliberative judgment. Whichever method you use, the result runs into no statutory ceiling today.
When the per diem method still earns its keep
Even without a cap in play, the per diem method can carry real persuasive weight in a case with a long, clearly bounded recovery period, where counting days produces an easy-to-follow number for a jury or an adjuster — sometimes a more compelling story than a multiplier applied to a modest economic damages total.
Neither is required by Illinois law
Both methods remain negotiating tools, not a formula Illinois courts are required to apply. A jury retains broad discretion to award whatever amount it finds appropriate for pain and suffering, within the bounds of the evidence presented — subject only to Illinois's fault rules reducing or barring the total based on your own share of blame.