Higher Chance That Your Case Settles If You Estimate Pain And Suffering Correctly
If both sides assign an overlapping range to the pain and suffering component, then both sides are one step closer to settlement.
Both sides should assign a value for pain and suffering that overlaps.; If one side mis-evaluates the pain and suffering component of a case, it makes the case more difficult to settle.
Over the past several years, I have represented people injured on cruise ships or boats in Florida. I have learned the full value of pain and suffering for purposes of settlement in a personal injury case.
Average Settlements For Personal Injury Car Accident
The average settlement amount for a personal injury car accident case in the United States is approximately $19,000.;;
The average car accident settlement tells you nothing about how much money you will get in a car accident settlement. Typical car accident settlement amounts do not predict compensation for your case.
What you want to know is the expected compensation payout in YOUR personal injury case. The starting point to determine your car accident injury settlement is based on what injuries you suffered and the typical compensation for those injuries?;
How do you figure out how much your specific accident injuries are worth? The starting point to determine what your insurance settlement payout might be looking at both injury settlement statistics and similar example insurance claims. Your case likely falls under one of these categories:;;
Catastrophic Injury and Wrongful Death Cases
- $1,000,000 Truck Crash Settlement
Talk to a Lawyer at 800-553-8082 or Get an On-Line Consultation.
In the typical car accident case we handling in Maryland, who is at fault is not an issue.; But if there is a serious dispute about liability, the lawsuit will more likely go to trial. If auto insurance companies think their driver is not responsible, they are more willing to take the personal injury claim to trial.;
To determine the settlement value, you must multiply the likelihood of success;by the expected payout if you win.;
HOW MUCH OF MY SETTLEMENT WILL I GET?
Your Level Of Patience
Often, the clients who are the most patient about the time it takes to get through the legal process of making a claim receive the highest payout. Why? Because they understand that an insurance company can take a lot of time waiting for them to grow impatient for a conclusion or desperate for compensation and accept a settlement offer that is much lower than the value of the case. It is often only when the case is getting close to going to trialor even after the trial has already begunthat the insurance company starts getting serious about its settlement offers.
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Factor #: Your Statements About The Car Accident
The things that you say in the wake of a traffic collision can have an enormous impact on your ability to secure financial compensation. This is especially true when you are speaking with the other driver at the scene of the accident. It is also true when you are speaking on the phone with an insurance adjuster.;
When you speak with an insurance adjuster about your accident, here are some general guidelines that you should follow:
- Never say anything that might imply that you bear responsibility for the event.
- Never politely say that you are fine, okay, or good. These may seem like social niceties, but insurance companies can use these statements against you.
- Never agree to provide a recorded or written statement detailing your version of events.
Speaking with an accomplished car accident attorney is the best course of action after an accident. Insurance adjusters are highly experienced at soliciting comments that can be used to decrease your settlement amount.
Insurance adjusters do not have your best interests in mind. You should secure legal representation before having any kind of meaningful communication with an insurance provider.
In some cases, claimants experience unfair treatment from an insurance company. This can also form the basis of a bad faith insurance lawsuit.;
$20k Settlement For Car Accident Injury
Henry; was;in a car that was T-boned by another car at an intersection;in;Miami-Dade County, Florida. ;We claimed that the accident caused or aggravated a;herniated disc in her lower back.
Infinity Indemnity Insurance Company insured the other driver. ;Infinity Indemnity Insurance Company paid the BI liability insurance $10,000 limits.
Another insurance company paid its $10,000 UIM insurance;limits. ;We represented Henry.
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$100k Car Accident Injury Settlement
Sara was driving her car in North Miami Beach, Florida. Another car was heading in the opposite direction. The other car made a left turn into Saras right of way. They crashed into each other.
Sara was driving car #1 in the crash diagram below:
Check out the damage to Saras SUV.
The front seat airbags deployed.
Here is a photo of the other drivers car:
Paramedics took Sara to the hospital.
At the emergency room , she took this selfie:
Sara broke her nose. ; After the accident, she hired me as her lawyer.
She said the crash worsened her pre-existing;bulging discs and herniated discs.
She had car insurance. Florida is a No Fault state. Therefore, her personal injury protection paid her doctors $10,000 for her medical bills. Florida is one a few states that has No-Fault insurance.
Sara had a nerve block injection to her lower back. ;A neurosurgeon recommended lower back surgery.
Are Pain And Suffering Damages Smaller In Conservative Counties
Yes. In conservative counties, insurance companies typically offer less for your pain and suffering damages. For example, many counties in Northwest Florida tend to have smaller pain and suffering verdicts.; Thus, insurance companies will offer less money for pain and suffering damages for accidents that occurred in these counties.
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What If I Had Been Dealing With Another Insurance Company
Lets take the above case that I settled for $260,000. Now, well assume that GEICO, Progressive or State Farm insured the other drivers van.; They would have offered much lessat least before a lawsuit.
By the way, that $260,000 settlement is one of the few Uber accident settlement amounts that you can find online.
Lyfts old insurance company was Zurich American Insurance Company. . Zurich has a reputation for paying above average for pain and suffering damages.; As an example, I reached a $70,000 settlement for a Lyft passenger.
He was injured. He hurt his hand and foot but didnt have surgery.
If you sue for an injury, you typically ask for compensation for the actual money that youve lost.; You can also sue for pain and suffering that came from your injury.
Pain and suffering is different from mental anguish . ;Examples of mental anguish are depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and others. ;If you sue for mental anguish, the defendant can get access to your mental health records.
If you sue for pain and suffering, but not mental anguish, the defendant typically cant get your mental health records.
How To Get The Best Soft Injury Settlement
Soft tissue injuries cannot be easily seen on an X-ray so getting a successful claim requires you to have very good documentation of the injury from a medical professional. What you need to do to maximize your soft tissue injury settlement is to convince the auto insurance company that you are likely to win at trial. You do this by showing proof the accident happened in a certain way where the defendant was clearly at fault. Also, you should have testimony from a medical professional or other expert that your soft tissue injury is a typical injury for that minor accident type.
If there are higher damages at stake, such as in a herniated disk case, you could need to have expert witnesses to provide testimony in a legal deposition. But in a smaller case, you probably have done enough if you have clear written proof from the doctor or expert about your minor injuries.
Remember that soft tissue injuries such as whiplash are almost always viewed skeptically by insurance companies. The injury may be very painful, but absent clear proof, the insurance company will try to argue that you are exaggerating your pain. You can counter this by having extensive documentation from your doctor about your whiplash and the pain it is causing you. For this reason, it is very important to be seen by a doctor right away after the accident so that your whiplash is clearly documented from the start.
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How Much Could Your Car Accident Settlement Be Worth
Our attorneys represent injured individuals every day and are proud of our reputation as the “voice of the injured” throughout New York. If you’ve been involved in a crash and have questions about how much your car accident claim may be worth, we invite you to contact us at or complete the free consultation form to speak with an attorney at our firm. We will help you understand the value of your car accident case, and will inform you of your legal rights, options, an estimate on how much to expect based on our experience, and your next steps.
$75k Car Accident Injury Settlement
Woman had arthroscopic knee surgery and a bulging disc as a result of a car making a left hand turn in front of her in Miami near Coconut Grove, Florida.
Progressive was the;bodily injury liability insurer;for the other car. ;The other car was cited for failing to yield the right of way.
Allstate was the underinsured motorist auto insurer. Progressive paid $50,000 and Allstate paid $25,000. You can read more about this;$75,000 settlement for knee surgery and bulging disc from a car accident in Miami.
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Understanding Modified Comparative Fault
In a conventional car accident without any drug or alcohol influence, you can recover some money, as long as you are not the one at fault. In a DUI case, the case is much easier to settle since one party is considered more at fault than others. In Dallas, the logic of defining fault is based on Texass modified comparative fault laws. In these states, you have to prove that the other party is more at fault than you are to be able to recover the damages. This is why its important to consult with a personal injury lawyer to ensure that you are able to build a strong case against the other party. Even though its usually easy to prove the fault of a drunk driver, its important to prove that you were not at as much fault as well.
How Long It Takes For A Settlement To Be Reached
The biggest assumption by many people is that an out of court settlement takes a relatively lower time compared to going to trial. The standard thought out there is that it takes only a couple of days or weeks before a settlement is reached. Television ads by insurance companies portray a situation where people sit down, calculate the value of their losses, and agree on payment in just a few moments. While it might be seen as that fast, do not bring your hopes high.
In a real-life situation, these negotiations can take months and in other cases years. In a nutshell, do not expect compensation in just a few days or weeks. This is because both parties will go into a discovery process where they keenly look at the claims made after the accident occurred.
Both parties, usually hire an investigator who might also play the role of an attorney, to help in the calculation of the exact amount to be paid, and why. More of how to calculate these amounts will be discussed in this article.
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Common Causes Of Car Accidents
Determining what caused an accident can be complicated. There may be one primary factor or multiple factors.Human error causes the vast majority of accidents. No matter how cautious a driver is, they can only control their own actions and not those of other drivers.
Some of the most common causes of car accidents in the United States include:
Do Insurers Use Recent Jury Verdicts And Settlements To Calculate Pain And Suffering
Yes. However, the recent trend is taht I look at past jury verdicts to get the full settlement value of the pain and suffering component in a personal injury case. ;I then adjust the full value as necessary.
Some attorneys list their past verdicts on their websites. Of course, knowing about a verdict is better than nothing. However, to understand a verdict you must know the amount of money that was awarded for pain and suffering.
This is because most jury verdicts in personal injury cases also awarded money for medical bills. In some others, the jury also gives money for lost wages.
Many verdict summaries online do not say how much money was awarded for pain and suffering. As a result, there are of limited value.
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$210k Settlement For Shoulder Injury
My client was a 57-year-old truck driver. While driving a big rig, another tractor trailer crashed into the rear of his truck. A highway patrol officer arrived at the scene. My client told him that he was not injured.
At the scene, my client took a photo of the damage under his truck. Check it out:
This photo was important because it shows that metal was bent underneath his truck. In other words, this picture shows that this was a hard impact. Thus, the hit was forceful enough to cause an injury.
My client was diagnosed with a shoulder tear. A few months after the collision, he had shoulder surgery. He contacted me for a free consultation to see if I could represent him.
Let Me Fight to Get You a Fair Settlement
At that time, he had not received an settlement offer from the other truck drivers insurance company. We met at my office and he hired me on the spot.
Travelers Insurance provided liability insurance coverage for the other drivers truck.
Progressive was my clients uninsured motorist insurer.
In total, Progressive and Travelers paid me $210,000 to settle the case. This is about 14 times greater than the average settlement for a car accident.
Most of the settlement was for my clients pain and suffering.
What Determines The Amount Of Compensation I Can Get
Every car accident case is different, so it can be difficult to put a dollar value on a case. If you plan to file a case, it is important to establish how the injury has harmed you financially and altered your life.
Factors that influence settlements include:
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Nine Factors That Determine How Much To Expect From A Car
Mar 24, 2021 In truth, the answer depends on a lot of factors, and there is no average settlement. If youve been injured in a car accident,;
Data from across the United States reflects that most reported cases generally settle for between $14,000 and $28,000. The average is around $21,000. So what;
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average personal injury car accident claim in 2019 settled for $18,417. The average property damage car;
Jan 8, 2021 The average number stated among Florida law resources for car accident settlements is anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000 or more. As you can;
The average personal injury settlement amount is $24,000. Most personal injury case settlements range from $13,000 to $50,000.
Are Tire Blowouts Dangerous
Tire blowouts can be dangerous. Often time, a low or flat tire can be identified before youre dealing with a burst tire. But sometimes, a tire blows while you are driving. If you do not maintain control of your vehicle when the tire blows, you may swerve or lose total control. It is easy to understand how a blown tire can lead to a more serious accident.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that there were 738 fatalities due to tire blowouts in 2017. Around 2,000 accidents each year are because of a blown tire.
These numbers may not seem high when you consider that we are talking about the entire United States, but it is a still a statistic that no one wants to be included in.
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What Kind Of Settlement Should I Expect From A Car Accident
One guideline for determining a settlement is that the total will be about three times the cost of your medical bills. However, a variety of factors go into deciding the average settlement for a car accident.
A judge will take into account the type of injury, treatment plan, length of therapy, loss of income and severity of the wreck. In most cases, a settlement is only offered when the medical treatment has been completed. Permanent injuries will influence the amount of compensation that you receive.
If youre working with an insurance company after a car wreck, let them know if youre still going through medical treatment so that you dont settle for less than you deserve.
