Well, not a very
comfortable question for any of us. But for attorneys dealing with personal
injury victims, handling these questions are a part of their everyday routine.
There’s no
science that can be applied for calculating a personal injury settlement. Even
though there’s no scientific formula, knowing and understanding the factors
that affect the claim value of a personal injury case can help attorney gear up
for negotiations in a much efficient manner. This can also help them to manage
their client’s expectations better.
For a small / midsized law firm or an
individual practitioner that works within a specific budget and lacks the scale
of larger adversaries, mastering the ability to project settlement values for a
personal injury case can be a big game changer for them. It helps them build
most effective arguments on behalf of their clients and saves unnecessary
hassles.
Here are five major factors that affect settlements in personal injury cases.
Severity of the
Injury
It’s no surprise that accidents that cause
more severe injuries end up getting larger settlements because of the trauma,
pain and suffering that one goes through. Heavy or hard injuries such as spinal
cord damage or multiple fractures will always have higher settlement value in
comparison with soft-tissue injuries like sprains or bruising. Similarly, if
the injury is permanent in nature, victims can generally be awarded a much
larger settlement. Permanent injuries include brain damage / trauma,
disfigurement, reduced mobility or the permanent loss or use of a body part.
Disruptions
When someone is injured, not only it is
painful, it dramatically disrupts their daily life. If the injuries from an
accident ends up disrupting your client’s daily life intensely, you can help
them get larger personal injury settlement. To give an example, if the injury
leaves a victim unable to walk, stand, play sport, travel or work certain jobs,
they’ll be able to get a much larger settlement compared to victims whose lives
don’t change dramatically after an injury.
When a victim’s
medical treatment involves hospitals and doctors, as opposed to physician
assistant or chiropractors, the settlement probability goes significantly high.
Cases that involve reconstructive surgeries are common examples where
settlement values were much higher compared to other personal injuries.
Similarly, how
long it took for someone to recover also matters. Since longer recoveries
involve multiple follow-up appointments and prescriptions for medical
treatment, it in turn elevates the settlement value. The longer it takes to
recover, the longer is the pain and disruption from regular life, this
primarily helps in getting higher settlement values. This also helps us
understand why smaller/soft injuries generally end up getting lower
settlements.
Emotional and Mental Trauma
If you’ve ever
been in an accident, you know that the pain resulting from the accident goes
way beyond physical injuries. The magnitude can differ from person to person,
but the emotional trauma in the form of anxiety or depression can be equally
devastating during the recovery period. Of Course, proving that the victim
(client) has suffered or is suffering from mental trauma is not so easy. This
in most cases requires input from reputable mental health professional who can
testify to an accident’s longer lasting psychological effects on a victim
(client).
Cost of Litigation
Initial clerical work, multiple depositions,
addressing technical issues through experts, reviewing medical records,
the list goes on and very quickly adds up cost for defendant. The cost goes
even higher if there are multiple witnesses or any number of contested
scientific questions. Mostly, in these cases, defendants prefer to settle at a
higher price to avoid running up their defense costs.
Also, on the
other hand, if the plaintiffs are not so resourceful to continue to litigate
complex cases effectively, well off defendants can persuade them to cut down on
settlement’s value.
A well organized
and summarized medical record (history) of the victim can help Personal injury
attorney’s highlight the above discussed points and evaluate the value of the
claim case. ITCube has 15 years of experience working with medico-legal firms
for organization and summarization of medical records.
Contact us on info@itcubebpo.com to know more about
how we can help you get the best settlement for your client.
