Personal Injury Lawyer

Following a personal injury, you’re entitled to seek justice and compensation. However, personal injury cases aren’t always an exact science. This means that your total settlement can depend upon various factors. We’ll break down a few factors that may affect your personal injury case’s settlement. 

The Severity of the Injury

Compensation for personal injury cases comes in three major forms: economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive. The latter two can often be more subjective while economic damages typically have an exact dollar figure. 

For example, if a slip and fall caused you to break your leg then you can expect to have all your medical bills compensated by the other party. This may include medical costs as well as the lost wages while you’re unable to work, and any property damages (such as the cost to replace/fix your vehicle). All these elements are often determined by the severity of your injury. 

How Much the Injury Disrupts Your Life

When an injury disrupts your daily life such as the ability to walk, pursue hobbies, work, travel, etc., you may receive more compensation. Sometimes this disruption might only be temporary until your injuries fully heal. Other times they can be permanent. Depending upon how long these disruptions last and how severe they are, you might be more adequately compensated. 

Emotional and Mental Trauma

Following personal injury incidents like assault or car accidents, it’s common for victims to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other conditions. Dealing with these issues can have a dramatic impact on somebody’s life. Additionally, such conditions might require hefty expenses like medications and therapy. You should always be properly compensated.

Treatment and Recovery 

Some injuries might only require a couple of days in the hospital with a week or two off from work. Other cases, however, might require months in the hospital with no definite recovery time period. Ultimately, the longer the treatment and recovery process takes the higher your settlement should be. 

The Issue of Liability 

Not every personal injury case will have a clear-cut answer on who’s liable or not. Some cases might even have multiple parties liable. Additionally, instead of individuals being held liable, it might be companies or government entities. In the case where companies or government entities might be at fault, there’s a good chance that the settlement will be larger. However, navigating this process is also a lot harder, time-consuming, and expensive.

Insurance Companies’ Tactics

Sometimes insurance companies might offer a quick settlement right after a claim is made. However, sometimes they might use tactics like delaying, refusing to communicate, or even bringing into question who’s liable. Or if they do offer a settlement, it might be too low to properly cover a victim’s immediate and future expenses. In this fashion, how you’re able to communicate and deal with the other party’s insurance company can dramatically affect your settlement. 

To help with this process, a personal injury lawyer on your side can greatly help. Our friends at Greenspan & Greenspan P.C. have a team of personal injury lawyers ready to assist.