One common question many personal injury victims and their families want to know is, “How much is my case worth?” Knowing the amount of compensation they can expect to receive from their case helps victims make informed choices about whether to file a claim, what amount to settle that claim for, and when they should take their claim to trial.
The amount of compensation you can expect to receive for your personal injury case depends on numerous factors and circumstances. What one person receives in their personal injury case might be higher or lower than what you receive, even if you are injured in a similar way. Nonetheless, it is possible that a New Orleans personal injury lawyer can help you get a rough idea of how much your case is worth.
Factors Affecting Your Case’s Value
One of the most important factors that impact the amount of compensation you will receive is how severely you are hurt. The worse your injuries and the more permanent their effects, the higher the amount of compensation you can expect. Conversely, if your injuries are not permanent and will heal quickly, you can expect to receive less in damages.
Other circumstances that play a role in determining the size of your settlement or verdict include:
- How much time you missed from work
- Whether you are able to return to your previous job after you recover
- Any counseling or therapeutic services you need
- Whether you developed any mental or emotional conditions like anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- The way your physical, financial, and emotional injuries impacted your ability to enjoy your life
- How strongly available evidence shows the other party is responsible for causing your injuries and losses
Many personal injury lawsuits are settled by agreement between the parties. In general, trial verdicts tend to be higher than settlements. However, settlements offer benefits like speed and finality that trial verdicts cannot. Your personal injury lawyer can go over the benefits and drawbacks of each method of resolving your case.
Calculating Your Case’s Worth: What Should Your Settlement Be?
Insurance companies and at-fault defendants favor settlements in part because the expenses and losses that go into them are usually easy to determine. You can expect your medical bills, lost wages, and property damage to be compensated through a settlement offer. It is less common to have intangible losses like pain and suffering addressed in a settlement.
To determine a reasonable settlement amount, consider the expenses you sustained because of your injuries, including:
Medical Expenses
Your medical expenses consist of the costs incurred by visiting the emergency room, any hospital stay you required, and other services you needed beyond the hospital. The average costs for these services are as follows:
- The average ER visit is between approximately $500 and $1,000
- One night in the hospital can cost about $3,000
- A week of home healthcare services can be up to $5,000, depending on your needs
- Surgeries can range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars
These averages might not reflect the actual amount of loss you sustained. If you have private or public health insurance, you might only pay a small fraction of these costs out-of-pocket. Your settlement would reflect what you paid, not what the procedure or service cost.
Lost and Reduced Wages
The average wage in the United States is approximately $66,000 per year or about $1,270 per week. To arrive at an average figure for lost wages, you would merely take the average recovery time for a specific injury and multiply it by the average wage. You could use your actual wages and recovery time to get an even more accurate estimate of your damages.
For example, a broken leg bone can take up to eight weeks, on average, to heal. If someone were making the average weekly wage of $1,270, they would incur approximately $10,153 in lost wages during this time. This figure assumes the person could not work at all during their recovery.
Property Damage
Car accidents can leave your vehicle damaged even if you are not physically hurt. This damage to your car can also be compensated through a settlement agreement. The average property damage auto claim in the U.S. is approximately $6,000. The more damage your property sustained, or the more valuable your property is, the higher the amount you receive should be.
Examples Of Average Settlement Amounts
Car accidents are a common event that leads to property damage and injuries. In 2022, the Insurance Information Institute calculated the average injury car accident claim to be approximately $26,000. This amount would address both a victim’s physical injuries and the repair or replacement cost of their vehicle.
These costs increase the more serious the victim’s injuries become. For example, the average economic cost of an accident where the victim sustains possible injuries is $26,000. However, if those injuries are disabling, the average cost jumps to $162,000.
Keep in mind that the average settlement amount also depends on the type of claim you have. For example, if the victim dies as a result of the wreck, it’s a wrongful death case, and the average cost increases to $1.869 million.
What Can You Expect From Your Settlement?
While these average settlement figures can be helpful, it is important to acknowledge their limitations. Numerous variables go into the settlement amount you may be offered and whether that amount is fair compensation. Nonetheless, knowing average settlement amounts can help you begin to evaluate the offers you receive.
Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer and relying on their knowledge and skill is one of the most effective ways to increase your chances of a fair settlement. Relying on their past experiences, they can tell you whether a specific offer makes sense for you and help you negotiate a better offer if necessary.
Contact a Baton Rouge, LA Personal Injury Lawyer from Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
For more information, please contact Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA today. We have three convenient locations in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette.
We proudly serve East Baton Rouge Parish, Lafayette Parish, Orleans Parish, and its surrounding areas:
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – Baton Rouge Office
404 Europe Street
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70124
(225) 263-4787
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – New Orleans Office
318 Harrison Avenue Suite 107
New Orleans, Louisiana, 70802
(504) 294-3804
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – Lafayette Office
1318 Camellia Boulevard Suite 206
Lafayette, Louisiana, 70508
(337) 473-2991