If you’ve been personally injured as a result of someone else’s actions or negligence, it might make sense for you to file a personal injury lawsuit with the help of a personal injury lawyer. But for many people, this step is intimidating or may seem like it’s not worth the hassle.
So just how much is a personal injury case worth? And how do you tell whether it makes sense to move forward?
The First Step: Talk to a Lawyer
Having a consultation with a personal injury lawyer is always the right first step. In most cases, your personal injury lawyer won’t charge you for the initial consultation, so there’s no financial cost and practically no downside to making the call. Your lawyer will help you understand the aspects of personal injury law that you need to know, as well as the unique factors associated with your specific case.
From there, you’ll work together to decide whether or not it makes sense to move forward with a personal injury case – and you’ll receive some excellent legal advice so you can make the right decision.
Depending on how much information is available to them, your lawyer can typically help you estimate the potential payout of your personal injury case. If there are several ambiguities or questions that still need to be answered, they may not offer such an estimate right away.
Typical Personal Injury Cases
While personal injury cases can be very different from each other, we can learn something from the dynamics of typical personal injury cases. The vast majority of cases never go to trial; instead, lawyers negotiate a settlement payout to avoid such an expensive and complicated phase of development. Settlement payouts for personal injury cases typically range from $3,000 to $25,000, but the average is closer to $52,900 due to rare, but very high payouts.
It’s tempting to think that a sufficiently egregious personal injury case could make you a millionaire or that people pursuing personal injury cases are just trying to make a quick buck, but the payouts are somewhat lower than most people think. That said, it’s important to recognize that payouts are typically based on factors related to your injury; the goal is to fairly compensate someone for the type of injury and pain they’ve experienced.
Factors That Influence the Payout
What types of factors influence the payout of a personal injury case?
· The nature of your injuries. First, the nature and severity of your injuries must be considered. If you merely scrape your knee as a result of tripping in a parking lot, you probably won’t receive much of a payout, if you receive any payout at all. If you’re paralyzed from the neck down from a car accident, you may be eligible for a much more substantial payout.
· The severity and egregiousness of the incident. Sometimes, the severity and egregiousness of the incident that led to the injury is also considered. A negligent driver acting recklessly or even maliciously isn’t the same as a friendly neighbor who made an innocent mistake.
· Medical bills. One of the most important areas of compensation to consider is medical bills. The more you have to pay for your medical treatment, the more you’ll stand to win in compensation. As a side note, this is one reason why it’s so important to save all your medical records after a personal injury.
· Long-term care needs. Long-term care needs, such as ongoing physical therapy or constant supplies of medications, are also considered in your personal injury payout.
· Pain and suffering. You may also be entitled to compensation based on your subjective pain and suffering. As you might imagine, this can be difficult to quantify, but both lawyers and judges will attempt to provide a fair payout to compensate for this emotional turmoil.
· Mental health. Similarly, you may win compensation for your mental health needs; For example, you may be compensated for therapy sessions related to PTSD after the incident.
· Lost wages/loss of income. Payouts typically include compensation for lost wages and loss of income as well.
· Legal support and negotiation. Most personal injury settlements are negotiated between lawyers. The better your lawyer is and the more you’re willing to negotiate, the higher your payout can be.
· Insurance policies. Most payouts come from insurance companies, so your payout partially depends on what types of insurance policies are in play – as well as the dynamics of the insurance company on the other end of them.
Because there are so many variables in play, it’s impossible to make a general estimate for a personal injury payout that applies to all cases. If you want to learn more about the potential of your unique case, your best course of action is to speak with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
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