Almost every client I talk to wants to know what their car accident case is worth; how much will the insurance company have to pay me for my injuries? It is a very important question that deserves to be approached fairly. Still, I can tell you there is no easy formula, settlement calculator, or rule of thumb to follow to determine the value of your case.
I can tell you there are three critical factors that I look at and that the insurance companies look at to determine the value of your case. These are:
Your case could be worth less than three times your bills, or it could be worth much more than three times your bills; it depends on so many other things. A case we recently resolved for our client last year makes a great example. A semi hit her, and it was determined that the truck was at fault. After reviewing the police report and getting witness statements, there was a minor liability dispute, but we were able to get the trucking company to admit 100% fault. That was the first thing we looked at – the liability. In terms of injuries, our client was banged up pretty good. She hit her head, and she had some back and neck injuries. Initially, it was thought to be soft tissue type injuries, but she was later diagnosed with a herniated disc in her neck. This is very important because if it is not just soft tissue damage, you go up to a higher tier as far as what your case is worth. She was also diagnosed with PTSD from all the trauma of the accident.
The most challenging factor to consider was her medical expenses. These were around $40,000, so there was a decent amount of bills, but they were not that high in comparison to some other scenarios due to a desire for less invasive treatments. She did a lot of massages, acupuncture, and some other chiropractic therapy but did not want to have any injections or surgery. What we did in her case to get her medical expenses higher was to seek an opinion from her doctor that her herniated disc in her neck would require surgery in the future. He also estimated the cost of that surgery, which was in his report as well so, which allowed us to bump up her damages in this particular case. She had $40,000 in medical bills, but we recovered $250,000 from the at-fault driver’s insurance company.
As you can see, so many factors go into every case. It is nearly impossible to give a generalized quote on how much your specific car accident case might be worth without analyzing the details further. However, if you have any questions or a family member has any questions about your claim, feel free to reach out to my office. I would be more than happy to talk to you about your specific circumstances.
