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.
Why neither method hits a ceiling in Minnesota
In many states, a careful multiplier or per diem estimate still has to be checked against a statutory cap before it means anything. Minnesota removes that step entirely: there is no statutory limit on compensatory damages in a personal injury or medical malpractice claim, despite several legislative attempts over the years that didn't become law. Whatever figure either method produces stands on its own, without a ceiling to run into.
So fault percentage is the number that actually decides things
With no cap in play, the real fork in the road for a Minnesota claim is the fault allocation under Minn. Stat. § 604.01. A well-supported multiplier or per diem estimate is only as good as the fault percentage that ultimately gets applied to it — cross from 50% to 51%, and the entire figure, however carefully built, goes to zero.
Neither is required by Minnesota law
Both methods remain negotiating tools, not a formula Minnesota courts are required to apply. A jury retains discretion to award whatever amount it finds appropriate for noneconomic damages, subject only to the fault rule — since there's no cap standing in the way here.