How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
After an accident, the first thing on your mind is your well-being and that of others involved. But thinking about the value of your claim will be inevitable, especially if the accident results in piling medical bills, days off work, and a significant disruption of your everyday life.
Not knowing how much your injury case is worth could mean that you can accept any offer, which is what the opposing side hopes. Unfortunately, taking an offer that is lower than your claim is worth can leave you struggling, especially if the injuries result in life-changing consequences such as disability.
How Much Is Fair Compensation?
You probably have heard stories of people who received hundreds of thousands or even millions in compensation for personal accident claims and thought their accidents were the ticket they needed to get rich.
While you could recover significant amounts in your claim, there are other avenues for making money than tort law. Instead, it is a legal channel through which victims of an accident can recover the losses suffered due to the accident.
So, rather than look at your claim as a money-making scheme, look at it as a way to recover what you have lost. That said, fair compensation should adequately cover all your damages, which will vary with individual cases and prevailing circumstances.
Understanding Damages
To understand how much your injury case is worth, you must first understand compensable damages if you successfully claim. There are two main recoverable damages in a personal injury case; economic and non-economic injuries.
Economic Damages
Economic injuries refer to economic losses directly linked to your injuries, such as the cost of medical treatment, lost wages, lost business, cost of buying and living aids, cost of hiring a personal assistant, home modifications, etc.
Calculating economic damages is pretty straightforward; you only need to sum up all financial losses. But you must prove it with medical bills, receipts, and employment records.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages refer to non-quantifiable losses such as pain and suffering, psychological pain, disfigurement, and disability. Calculating non-economic damages is not as straightforward as calculating economic damages because it involves applying either of two formulas: the per diem or multiplier.
The per diem formula assigns a specific figure for every day of suffering. For example, if the per diem figure is $150, and the pain and suffering last 100 days, recoverable non-economic damages will be $15,000.
When the multiplier option is applied, the parties agree on a value known as the multiplier, which is multiplied against economic damages to get non-economic damages. In most cases, apply 1.5 as the multiplier, but it can go as high as 5. To illustrate, if economic damages are $10,000 and a 1.5 multiplier is applied, economic damages will be $15,000.
Punitive Damages
Some states allow victims to seek punitive damages against defendants in personal injury cases.
“As the name suggests, punitive damages are not awarded for losses. Instead, they are awarded as a punishment to the defendant for gross negligence or willful conduct,” says injury attorney Charles Boyk.
Only a few victims are awarded punitive damages because of the stringent conditions for proving gross negligence and willful conduct.
Final Words
By now, you already understand that there can never be one figure for all personal injury cases because every case is different. However, going by this guide, you can get a rough estimate of what to expect based on the circumstances of your case.
Also, it is important to note that having a lawyer in your case makes a huge difference, so ensure you hire one.
