Settlement in Personal Injury Claims
Personal Injury Settlements
One of the common questions from individuals that file personal injury claims has to do with the settlement of the case. One misconception about personal injury cases is that the plaintiff in the case will receive an exorbitant amount of compensation. This may be because the individual has read about personal injury cases in the newspaper or saw a story about multi-million dollar settlements on television.
While it is true that some personal injury claims pay-out millions of dollars, this doesn’t necessarily translate to a high compensation for the average personal injury claim. The fact is the amount of compensation in any personal injury claim depends on a number of different variables including:
The Severity of the Injury Received
The Long Term Effects of the Injury
The Age of the Victim when they received the Injury
The Amount of Lost Wages
The Amount of Future Wages Lost Due to the Injury
The Cost of Medical Treatment Directly Related to the Injury
The Cost of Ongoing Medical Attention after the Injury
This is just a partial list; there are many other factors that contribute to a personal injury settlement.
Personal Injury Settlement Calculators
If you have looked around the Internet you may have seen mention of personal injury settlement calculators. The idea is to add up all of your personal injury damages and compute an equitable settlement amount. The list below is similar to many of the personal injury calculators you have seen online.
Cost of Medical Treatment $10,000
Ongoing Cost of Medical Care $100,000
Lost Wages $15,000
Mental Anguish $100,000
____________________________
Settlement Amount $225,000
In the fictional case above, the person has calculated their claim based on several variables. While it is clear that the cost of medical treatment, lost wages and the ongoing cost of medical care are easy to account for, the difficulty for calculating how much “mental anguish” is worth is another matter.
The point here is that personal injury settlement calculators are good tools for adding up hard numbers that are verifiable, however they do not take into account a judges ruling considering the degree of liability in a personal injury case or the severity of mental anguish an individual may have as a result of their injury. Keep in mind that many personal injury settlements will be made by insurance companies and these companies have years of experience in personal injury cases. The insurance companies bring in attorneys that are seasoned in this profession and their job is to keep the settlement amount to a minimum.
Credibility in a Personal Injury Claim
Clearly, if a personal injury case is credible, the settlement is usually fair and the insurance company will be required to pay the amount decided by the court, however if the judge suspects an individual is looking to “cash-in” on their injury, there may be minimal compensation given in the personal injury claim.
Personal Injury Settlements and the Uninsured
Unfortunately there are individuals who operate motor vehicles without insurance or do not have the mandatory insurance required by law in many different situations. In California there was an automobile accident that left a young man paralyzed for life. In this particular case the person responsible for the accident was an illegal alien from Mexico. He had no insurance and was in the country illegally.
The options available in this type of situation are limited; however you should have your own insurance policy that covers uninsured or underinsured motorists. Clearly this is an option that you may want to check on prior to any accident, although many drivers tend to neglect this section of their insurance policy it is mentioned here as a potential source of your personal injury settlement.
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