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 the wrongful-death question overshadows both methods here
Oregon's $500,000 noneconomic damages cap has landed very differently depending on claim type. For wrongful death claims, the cap has generally been upheld. For ordinary bodily injury claims, the Oregon Supreme Court held it unconstitutional as applied in Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, and Oregon courts have followed that pattern consistently since. Against that backdrop, whether a claim is classified as wrongful death or ordinary bodily injury can swing the available noneconomic recovery far more than whether a 2x or 4x multiplier is used.
So the claim type comes first
Before investing effort in choosing between the multiplier and per diem methods for a serious Oregon injury claim, it's worth confirming which category the claim actually falls into — that classification changes whether a cap genuinely limits the outcome far more than either valuation method would.
Neither is required by Oregon law
Both methods remain negotiating tools, not a formula Oregon courts are required to apply. A jury retains discretion to award whatever amount it finds appropriate for noneconomic damages — subject to the $500,000 cap only where Oregon courts have actually let it stand.