There are a few factors that help determine the average settlement for a personal injury claim. However, not every case warrants the average payout.
If you want to know how much your potential case may be worth, it would be in your best interest to contact a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer from our firm to review your situation in a free consultation.
Below, we discuss what factors come into play when determining the value of a personal injury claim.
Cost of Damages
One of the most important factors to be considered when determining a settlement amount comes down to damages suffered. How have your injuries cost you financially, physically and emotionally?
Severity of the Injuries
More serious injuries will likely result in a higher settlement, especially if the party who suffered the injury had to miss work or lost his or her job due to the injury.
Generally, accidents that result in injuries such as broken bones, brain injuries or other afflictions that come up on MRIs, CT Scans or X-rays may increase the chances of a higher payout because they are injuries that have solid medical evidence that the person is not faking or exaggerating the injury.
On the other hand, minor injuries, or soft-tissue injuries like whiplash, which can be harder to prove, may result in a lower settlement.
Treatment and Recovery
For people who suffer more severe injuries and must undergo extensive treatment, a higher settlement may be more likely. Not just because the medical bills eventually add up, but because of any pain and suffering caused by the injury. Some treatments may work but take a long time to fix the issue. Other injuries may never properly heal, and a person may be subject to a lifetime of pain.
Emotional Damage
Included in the cost of pain and suffering damages is emotional trauma and distress caused by an accident or an injury sustained in an accident. When an injury is severe enough to cause lifelong health troubles for the injured party, a higher settlement may be achieved.
Liability Limits
Perhaps the most important part of an injury claim is what the limits of an insurance policy are. For cases where the insurers of the negligent party have high liability limits, it is more likely, depending on the nature of the accident and injuries, that the injured party may be able to get a higher settlement.
For example, a rear-end vehicle collision that results in a serious back injury with a person who has a $100,000 bodily injury liability policy may result in a hefty settlement that will help pay medical bills, pain and suffering and even lost wages if the injuries were severe enough.
However, the opposite may also be true. If you are a victim of a negligent driver with low liability limits that do not cover your injuries, you could be looking at a lower settlement. Unless you have insurance add-ons on your own policy such as personal injury protection or underinsured motorist coverage.
Average Settlement Amount
Not every case is the same and settlement amounts are generally kept private, so coming up with a number for the average settlement is difficult.
Generally, the cost of treatment and wages an injured party lost while in recovery is considered by both attorneys and insurers. This is where settlement negotiations begin between both parties.
A settlement for a herniated disc in one case may come to be $70,000 while another claim with identical injuries may result in a lower settlement.
The truth is that there is no exact way of knowing how much a claim will settle for until you speak to an experienced attorney.
Let Us Help Maximize Your Settlement
Regardless of what the average payout may be for your case, the attorneys at Anderson & Cummings are ready to help maximize your settlement.
With more than 50 years of combined experience, our legal team has firsthand knowledge of what an average settlement looks like for many cases.
Let our attorneys review your claim so we may be able to determine what your case may be worth so we may begin the negotiation process with the insurance companies on your behalf.
Call us today at (817) 920-9000 to schedule your free consultation.