How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth: Ask a Personal Injury Lawyer
“How much is my personal injury case worth?” is a common question among the injured. This comprehensive guide will help you better understand the factors that may influence the value of your personal injury claim.
The Orlando Firm are your personal injury attorneys with the experience to win.
How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
One of the most common inquiries we get as personal injury lawyers at The Orlando Firm is about the worth of one’s personal injury claim. Whether you have been involved in a medical malpractice situation or a car accident, it is not easy to determine the value of a claim until the case has been investigated.
Since personal injury is our primary practice area, we are honest and have the experience to tell you that providing an exact value during initial consultations is next to impossible.
Attorneys and claims adjusters must do a lot of work to determine what a personal injury case is worth. Moreover, certain things need to be done before the determination is done, which include the following:
- You have to complete medical treatment.
- There must be documentation proving damages.
- A doctor needs to determine if you sustained permanent impairments or disabilities.
- The attorney needs to determine insurance coverage and potentially liable parties.
- There must be an investigation to determine liability and fault in light of applicable laws and evidence.
For this reason, it is crucial to work with an experienced personal injury attorney to provide legal advice on how to go forward. At The Orlando Firm, we have professional lawyers that know how to value personal injury claims and negotiate with the negligent party to ensure you get what you deserve.
How Much Is My Personal Injury Claim Worth?
How much your claim is worth usually has to do with the injured plaintiff’s damages.
Damages typically refer to the pain and suffering and financial losses that result from an injury or accident. For instance, a slip and fall accident might result in physical damages, including broken bones or a brain injury. It might also include permanent impairments and physical pain as a result of the injury.
Financial losses might include costs or expenses that an injured person must incur after an injury or accident. This might include anything from past medical bills to physical therapy and costs related to ongoing medical care.
Emotional distress can include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Given that the courts can’t restore one to their health before the accident, the remedy is to award damages as compensation.
Still, it can be difficult to calculate damages, so hiring a reputable personal injury lawyer is essential. If you have been involved in a car accident and have lost earning capacity or need to pay for ongoing treatment, you need to contact The Orlando Firm. We provide a free consultation for prospective clients and can help you navigate the legal process for favorable outcomes.
How Much Is My Personal Injury Lawsuit Worth: Factors to Take into Account
Many factors affect how much your personal injury claim is worth. For instance, there could be elements of contributory negligence if you are found at fault for your motor vehicle or pedestrian accident. This could significantly reduce the amount of compensation that you would be owed.
On the other hand, accident victims that sustain severe injuries can see significant increases in the value of their claims, especially if the accident occurred with no fault on their part. Permanent disabilities and impairments also increase the value of a claim by a lot.
Other factors that may affect the worth of your personal injury claim include the following:
- The number of third parties involved
- The sum of financial damages the accident victim has incurred
- The duration of recovery and ongoing medical expenses
- Health insurance coverage and policy limits
- The injured person’s role in the accident
- The type of personal injury case filed
Since insurance companies operate to make a profit, they will do everything to reduce the amount of compensation in your claim. By having a personal injury lawyer fighting for you, the health insurance company will more likely than not offer the actual value of the damages.
At The Orlando Firm, we provide a free case evaluation for prospective clients, so accident victims can concentrate on getting better while we work for them. Contact us today for your free consultation and a qualified personal injury attorney will review your case and determine the best way forward.
Personal Injury Settlement Amounts Examples
Even though most personal injury cases can get awarded damages of anywhere between $3,000-$75,000, you need to know how much your personal injury case is worth will depend on the facts of the case and the associated evidence.
By hiring a personal injury law firm, clients improve their chances of getting the best compensation they can. However, how much you can get will still depend on how severe your injuries are. Medical bills, medical documentation, doctor recommendations on future medical treatment, time lost from work, and other expenses can all come into play.
Some examples of personal injury settlement awards include:
- $800,000 for food poisoning
- $145,000 for a hit-and-run accident
- $200,000 for a golf cart accident
- $225,000 for a bicycle vs. car accident
- $500,000 for a car accident
- $11.7 million for a wrongful death traffic case
- $1.25 million for a severe car accident
- $1.8 million for negligent security
The price of settlements can be in the hundreds of thousands and even in the millions depending on the circumstances and facts of the case. By working with a law firm narrowly focusing on this type of case, you stand a good chance of getting a reasonable settlement. Contact the best catastrophic injury attorneys today as we have helped many clients with their cases and gotten them significant settlements.
How Much Is My Accident Case Worth Outside the Legal Process?
Given that the insurance company can sometimes offer a personal injury settlement, it is difficult to determine what a case is worth.
It is important to note that not all cases go to court, and either party can offer a settlement to resolve the issue rather than going through the legal process.
The good thing is that by hiring an experienced personal injury law firm, you get access to knowledge and experience accumulated over the years in countless cases just like yours.
At The Orlando Law firm, we have lawyers who understand the court process, negotiation, and settlement. We believe in just compensation for our clients and will fight to get you the most favorable compensation to ensure you restore your life to normal as much as possible.
Personal Injury Claim Value Calculator
There are various calculators online that you can use to determine a reasonable payment for a slip and fall, car accident, or any other type of personal injury case. There are two common approaches to calculating these claims:
- The multiplier approach – used by insurance companies for grievous injuries that require special damages.
- Daily rate – Otherwise known as per diem
The multiplier approach
How high the multiplier can go will be dependent on:
- The seriousness of your injuries
- Negligence rules and apportionment of fault
- The expected recovery times
- Whether you will have ongoing complications
- Impact of injuries on your daily life
- The prognosis and diagnosis
- The documentation of your injuries by medical professionals
Given that Georgia is a comparative negligence state, you may be barred from getting damages if it is proved that you were more than 50% at fault for your injuries. Most insurance companies use this to calculate damages.
Daily rate or per diem
Under this methodology, you will be granted damages for every day of suffering and pain from your injuries. Juries usually make use of their best judgment in awarding this type of damages, and hence it is crucial to provide the victims pay rate. However, this cannot be practical for long-term injuries, so the lawyer will have to argue that living with pain is worth what you would make in your typical working day.
There are several online calculators that you can use to calculate your total settlement estimates that usually spit out figures that can be classified into either economic or non-economic losses.
An insurance adjuster will usually add general damages and special damages to a dollar value that will then be presented to the victim.
How to Value a Personal Injury Case
In Georgia, there are three types of damages available to accident victims. These include:
- Economic damages
- Non-economic damages
- Punitive damages
Economic damages
These are easily quantifiable, including special or economic damages that may include medical bills, lost property or property damage, physical discomfort, lost income, and other expenses resulting from an injury.
To get the best outcomes, it is critical to have all the medical records as the attorney can use them to work out and argue for damages in mediation or court. These calculations should also include calculations of lost wages at present and future rates, particularly if your ability to work has been compromised. You should also add in future medical expenses if you have chronic injuries.
Non-economic damages
It is more challenging to calculate non-economic damages given that it includes subjective concepts such as ongoing pain, loss of consortium, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment and stress, anxiety, and pain and suffering damages.
For this reason, you can expect wildly differing awards by juries as everyone has their idea of the worth of the damage to someone. The typical approach to estimating the worth for non-economic damages is to average the numbers from different cases with similar circumstances.
Punitive damages in Georgia
These are damages intended to punish defendants for reckless or egregious conduct. In Georgia, these are typically capped at $250,000 except when the defendant was under the influence of mind-altering substances or acted intentionally.
Note that punitive damages are rare and are usually not meant to compensate the victim even if they need to be demanded in the initial claim.
How to Calculate Value of My Personal Injury Claim
Economic damages are usually not as hard to quantify as compared to non-economic damages. Still, if you sustained a permanent impairment or disability, our attorneys will retain economists, medical experts, and other experts to help determine the value of future damages.
The economic damage suffered can usually be calculated by adding all the losses and out-of-pocket expenses incurred from the injury. The insurance company will usually argue that a particular expense is unreasonable or unnecessary. With this in mind, it is critical to have detailed documentation of each loss or expense and its justification.
The valuation of non-economic damages is more of a challenge as it involves non-intangibles such as pain and suffering, anxiety, PTSD, and emotional distress.
Given the complexity of valuations, it is essential to retain the services of reputable lawyers to establish an attorney-client relationship before engaging with the insurance companies. At The Orlando Firm, we have experienced personal injury lawyers who can go against any insurance company in court or mediation to get you the justice you deserve in your personal injury claim.
If you choose to work with us after your free consultation, we will take care of each step of the process so that you can focus on getting better while we fight for your rights. Call us today, and we will have our best lawyers begin looking at your case.
The Orlando Firm are your personal injury attorneys with the experience to win.