All you need to know about average Personal Injury settlement amounts

Lawyers are the people who stand against the judge to counter the prosecutor’s statement and are super expensive. Therefore, they are consulted in dire situations only. However, reality depicts something opposite. The work executed by the lawyers is vast, as they are the best of advisors, investigators, handle paperwork, act as advocates, and the list goes on. Therefore, they can be more helpful than you might think, such as dealing with personal injury settlements.

The personal injury settlement lawyer is one essential division of attorneys. Educating yourself in this regard is very important after experiencing a personal injury accident. It holds immense importance since one must be aware of the specifications or what steps to take during the claims process. This will help to demand the right amount and take suitable measures for your accident. You can also form realistic expectations regarding your recovery. Here is all that you need to know about the average personal injury settlements.

Personal Injury Settlement Attorneys:

Before we jump into the detail and tell you about the average personal injury settlement amounts, let us know who and what personal injury attorneys are, let us know who and what personal injury attorneys are. Personal injury settlement attorneys handle various areas since their domain includes emotional, physical, and monetary loss. To cater to these areas efficiently, they must know medical laws, accident laws, injury laws, etc. Therefore, the knowledge bank of these lawyers is incomparable.  With their practice, they gain a lot of experience, which increases their knowledge multifold. They implement their knowledge to get you the best average personal injury settlement amounts and other client procedures.

Average Personal Injury Settlement amount on average:

Generally, the personal injury settlement amount varies greatly. The compensation amount for any case is based on various factors related to your case. It is appropriate to state that the classification and degree of the injuries, state-based guidelines, amount of negligence practiced by the guilty party, and your legal representative’s advocacy are the key underlying factors on what you can receive as a closing monetary compensation.

The settlement is referred as an agreement that is based on consensus between the affected and the guilty party, agreed upon  a specifc settlement sum instead of going for a costly one. This settlement’s average value is forecasted by how much the court would state for the given case and based on the court rulings, the predicted case value is determined.

Usually, on the lower side of the value scale, a case of injury can be settled with a few thousand dollars, while most personal injury cases pay for much more. The estimated average personal injury settlement amount lies in the range of $3,000 to $75,000. However, it all goes down on the degree of the injury, negotiations done, negligence by the guilty party and the insurance companies involved. In case the driver’s insurance company is unwilling to settle, the only option left for the injured party is to go for litigation.

Surprisingly, most personal injury settlement cases are settled at the extreme ends of the settlement range rather than the average amount. Apart from that, there stand multiple dramatic outliers too, as you may hear of some who settle the cases by exchanging million-dollar bills. Similarly, you might also find cases where the parties agree with $1,000/ $2,000 without hiring an attorney.

If you are looking out for monetary damages, a well-versed personal injury settlement attorney can help you tailor the best course of action.

Knowing your injury settlement amounts made easy:

Determining a personal injury settlement amount involves looking at and evaluating several different factors, all of which are incredibly crucial. These crucial factors consist of all those things that have affected you adversely. For example, medical bills, the income you have to forgo, physical pain, and mental stress. Apart from these, the plaintiff can be awarded punitive damages. Punitive damages are the fine imposed by the court on the accused for his unlawful conduct. However, it is difficult to obtain, as to do so, the accused must have done a heinous act such as drunk driving. If the punitive damages are awarded, it can increase the plaintiff’s total compensation significantly.

Before talking to your insurance company, you must speak to your attorney. And in your initial meetings with the insuring company, you must limit the information to the fundamental things such as the time of accident, date, and location.

It is to be noted that if you look at other similar injury cases and their money settlements, the monetary compensation can be high if the economic damage is high. For example, if a person almost lost his hands in an accident and incurred more than $400,000 for a trip via helicopter to the hospital and medical expenses. This is a case with significant economic damages.

Personal Injury Settlement Amounts are dependent on what can be Paid:

Another highlighted factor that you must consider is that settlement primarily depends upon the faulty party’s ability to compensate for the incurred damages or injuries. Moreover, in a scenario, if the guilty party is fully accountable for the accident and you have incurred a lot of damages, the judgment will lower the amount of settlement for the case. This happens in case of an uninsured guilty party in the case.

Further, the amount can vary on the guilty party’s insurance for the insured members in the case. The companies have a limited amount of the settlement cost based on the kind of insurance opted for. They often offer a certain fixed amount, which can benefit the injured party if the injury is mild or benefit the guilty party to limit the settlement amount to the said amount. It gets challenging to question the excess amount in the latter situation in court. Therefore, you must take into account this point thoroughly before making any decision.

Factors that decide your personal injury settlement amount:

Three factors are key factors when deciding the personal injury settlement amount. These factors comprise economic damages, sufferings experienced, and the present punitive damages in your case. Every case becomes different based on the differences in these factors. This will help you and your attorney analyze better and make the best plan of action to attain a settlement, post-suit or pre-suit.

As per the saying, ‘Hit two targets with one arrow.” In simple words, settlements can counter the risk factors for the parties involved. The insurance provider would go for pre-suit to dodge away from a possibly higher jury verdict, and the victim party might take lesser amount over risking unpredictable jury decisions.

At times, the financial damages go in parallel along economic damages, or at times, the sufferings overpower the economic injury incurred. Each case has its uniqueness, making the attorney painstakingly determine the potential harms from both a monetary and non-monetary point of view. Calculating the average value in the mentioned manner is the only route to adequately receive the best possible settlement in case of any personal injury incident or verdict.

Duration to receive Personal Injury Settlement Amount:

All the cases differ in intensity or other characteristics, causing the case to take a few weeks or months to resolve. Settling the personal injury case by hiring your lawyer instead of opting for court settlement can save your excess expenditure and time. The court settlement requires extra efforts and cost for medical testimony, arranging expert witnesses, experts of accident reconstruction, economists, etc. And, all these expenses are incurred while remaining uncertain about the results.

Though the case can be settled within weeks or a month, on average, it may take up to six months to completely resolve it, and the attorney has very little power to speed up the case.

To follow your case closely, you must keep consistent consultation with your attorney. A well experienced personal injury settlement lawyer will not let you face the problem; they will keep you updated themselves by devising a schedule of important events with the dates of their expected occurrence and will keep you in the loop. With an experienced attorney by your side, you can get your hands on maximizing your compensation. Since they will be equipped with an informed evaluation of your case, you can take the right steps to pursue the compensation you deserve.