How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
It’s easy to understand why clients are more concerned with the value of their case more than any other aspect of the process. They’ve been injured through no fault of their own via a car or bike accident, bitten by a dog, or in some other way. Medical bills are piling up, income has been lost, and emotional and mental anguish has been suffered. Someone has to pay, but how much?
This is a weighted question and the answer is important. Your very first step should be researching attorneys so that when you ask this question of each of them, the answer that you are getting is accurate and realistic. A respected personal injury attorney with several years of experience negotiating, settling, and litigating claims will give you an answer to this question that you can trust.
While the law does allow for monetary compensation to be sought via a lawsuit, it does not state that you as the injured party are entitled to any kind of settlement amount. Therefore, it does not provide any kind of standard formula by which to determine what a claim is worth.
Your personal injury claim can generally conclude in one of three ways:
- You file a lawsuit and a jury makes an award to you;
- The insurance company offers you an amount to settle and you accept;
- You do nothing, the statute of limitations expires, and you receive nothing.
Ideally, the insurance company is going to offer you an amount that is similar to the amount you would receive from a jury at trial. Going to court can be a long drawn out process and is expensive. Being offered a fair settlement amount without the hassle of going to trial is often the best case scenario.
This is where having an experienced personal injury attorney is key. During his or her many years of handling personal injury cases, your attorney should have acquired the ability to assess the facts and evidence of a case as well as the injuries of the Plaintiff to determine a general idea of what a jury might award. Having this information is crucial to being able to decide if a settlement amount is worth taking, or, if going to trial would be a better bet.
