How Much Do Personal Injury Cases Settle For?

What Can I Expect From My Injury Settlement?

Personal injury cases settle for various amounts based on the circumstances of the injury and a wide range of other factors. On the broadest level, personal injury settlements are typically a portion of the total value of a claim. Attorneys and insurance carriers evaluate personal injury claims and value the economic and non-economic losses incurred.

There is always some distance between the attorney’s assessed value of a claim and the insurance company’s assessed value of a claim; the final settlement amount is typically a compromise between the two values so that both sides can avoid the expense of going to trial.

The factors that impact how much of a personal injury settlement you could get are the same factors that affect the value of your claim. They include economic losses such as medical expenses, lost wages, and replacement household services. They also include non-economic losses, which refer to damages for the ways your injury has affected your life, such as pain and suffering, reduced quality of life, and loss of consortium.

Below we take a closer look at the specific economic losses and non-economic losses included in personal injury cases and particular factors that influence the calculation of those losses.

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What Are Economic Losses in Personal Injury Settlements?

The total economic loss varies greatly among personal injury claims. Some injuries require a lengthy recovery, forcing people to miss weeks or months of work while medical expenses pile up. Some families face massive financial hardship because of their losses. Bankruptcy, vehicle repossessions, and maxed-out credit cards are real possibilities. In most cases, personal injury claims with high economic loss typically settle for more than claims that involve minor losses.

Examples of items included in the economic loss portion of a personal injury claim include:

Medical Treatment

Injured persons immediately begin to accumulate medical expenses after the incident that led to their injuries. Ambulance service and emergency room treatment often come with serious injuries, but many people incur additional medical treatment costs.

Ordinary medical expenses included in the economic loss associated with a personal injury claim include:

• Surgery and related costs
• Diagnostic tests, including radiology and lab testing
• Hospitalization
• Aftercare and follow-up visits to the doctor

Rehabilitation Costs

Recovering from serious injuries often comes with various expenses related to rehabilitation. Each person and injury is different, so exact rehabilitation services vary.

Examples of rehabilitation costs included in personal injury claims include:

• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Cognitive rehabilitation
• Respiratory therapy
• Behavioral therapy or other mental health services
• Vocational therapy

Long-term Nursing Care

Some injured people need ongoing care around the clock. Sometimes families step in to take care of a loved one, but this is not always a feasible option, forcing someone to live in a nursing home or receive private nursing care in their home.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates that living in a nursing home costs between $7,000 and $8,000 a month, depending on whether someone has a private room. Hiring a home health aide to provide care costs over $20 an hour. Attorneys include the estimated cost of long-term nursing care in the claim’s value.

Lost Wages

Severe injuries require people to miss work because of hospitalization and recovery. Some might need weeks away from work, and others might need months. Full-time employees with benefits use up their paid time off, including sick time, personal holidays, and vacation days. After using all paid time, injured people need to take time off without pay. Lost wages add up quickly and increase the economic loss portion of a personal injury claim.

Home Modification Costs

After an injury, most people can return home at some point. However, returning home does not mean someone has fully recovered from their injuries, and some suffer permanent injuries. Depending on the injuries, transitioning home sometimes requires changes to make it easier for an injured person to function. These home modifications can be minor changes or significant changes that range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Examples of home modifications included in a personal injury settlement include:

• Wheelchair ramp construction
• Addition of grab bars and handrails in hallways, bathrooms, and showers
• Installing a shower when an injured person cannot use a bathtub
• Constructing an addition for a bedroom or bathroom on the main floor for those who cannot use stairs

Costs for Replacement Services

After suffering severe or permanent injuries, some people struggle to complete many of the household tasks before injuries. Sometimes family members chip in to help out, but this isn’t always the case. Also, occasionally one or more family members provide care at home for a loved one, so performing the extra household tasks is difficult, if not impossible. Many families need to hire outside help to complete everyday household tasks.

Examples of costs of replacement services that a personal injury claim may include:

• Lawn care service
• Pool maintenance service
• Laundry service
• Cleaning service or maid
• Meal delivery service or grocery delivery
• Handyman
• Daycare or nanny
• Tutor
• Driver/personal assistant

Lost Future Wages

Permanent injuries make it impossible for some to return to their job or seek employment in the future. In these cases, your lawyer will include estimated future lost wages, sometimes referred to as lost earning capacity, as part of the economic loss associated with your injuries.

Calculating lost future wages is easily one of the most challenging parts of determining how much you should ask for in a personal injury settlement. It’s simpler for people with established careers, but young adults and children have decades ahead of them, and their injuries squash their potential to build a career.

What Are Non-Economic Losses in Personal Injury Settlements?

non-economic losses are expenses you incurred because of your injuries. In many cases, high economic loss accompanies high non-economic losses.

Non-economic losses refer to ways your injuries have damaged your life in non-economic ways, which vary among cases. The value of your non-economic losses plays a significant role in determining the amount of a personal injury settlement. Insurance companies and defendants regularly fight these damages because they are more challenging to quantify.

Here are some examples of non-economic losses often included in personal injury claims:

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering usually make up largely non-economic losses in personal injury settlements. Your lawyer will review how your physical and emotional pain has impacted your life and come up with a reasonable number. Compensation for pain and suffering typically includes what you have already experienced and the pain and suffering you face in the future.

Reduced Quality of Life

Some personal injuries negatively impact a person’s quality of life. Although the concept of quality varies with context, it typically refers to one’s general health and ability to participate in everyday activities when thinking about personal injuries. Someone who has a reduced quality of life might struggle with self-care, caring for others, working, and participating in recreational or social activities. Those who have a reduced quality of life cannot engage in these types of activities the same as they did before injuries.

Loss of Consortium

Damage to marital relations is another common non-economic loss calculated in personal injury settlements. After an injury, some couples struggle sexually and emotionally. Struggles might be related to performance or communication, but intimacy suffers. Personal injuries can cause emotional trauma that interferes with a relationship in all aspects.

Scarring and Disfigurement

Scarring and/or disfigurement is often associated with burns, amputations, and botched surgeries but might qualify as non-economic damages in other situations. The loss of limbs or digits and permanent scars have physical and emotional implications for injuries people. Physically, some cannot participate in activities they did before their injury. On an emotional level, some feel embarrassment, humiliation, and frustration.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are a rare form of non-economic damages reserved for personal injury claims that involve willful harm or gross negligence. Depending on your situation, your lawyer might advise you to ask for punitive damages, to punish the defendant as part of your personal injury settlement. Punitive damages exist to deter the defendant from engaging in future negligent behavior. If you qualify for punitive damages, it could drastically increase the value of your personal injury settlement.

How Do you Calculate Non-economic Losses for a Personal Injury Settlement?

Non-economic losses like pain and suffering and reduced quality of life are highly subjective, making them more difficult to calculate than economic losses. An experienced personal injury attorney has a good idea of the numbers based on past cases and experts in their professional network. The factors that lawyers and insurance companies use to calculate the non-economic portion of a personal injury settlement include:

Severity of Injuries

As a general rule, the more severe someone’s injuries, the larger their personal injury settlement. Minor injuries heal quickly, sometimes without intervention, and victims do not spend months in the hospital or suffer from permanent injuries.

However, those who suffer more severe injuries, like traumatic brain injuries, back injuries, or spinal cord injuries, must miss work, and some can never return. The most severe injuries typically have high non-economic losses because they heavily impact someone’s life.

Nature of Injuries

The nature of someone’s injuries can also impact the non-economic portion of their personal injury claim. Severe and permanent injuries leave victims of negligence with chronic discomfort, pain, and emotional trauma.

Some injuries lead to a range of negative feelings, including anger, humiliation, frustration, anxiety, aggression, and depression. Additionally, permanent scars and amputations leave victims a lifelong reminder of their injury and have far different consequences than a few strained muscles or a broken arm.

For example, an amputee not only suffers from physical pain, but they must face the frustration of learning how to use a prosthetic limb and embarrassment or low self-esteem related to people staring at them for their loss.

Long-term Prognosis

Someone’s long-term prognosis drastically impacts the value of a personal injury claim and potential settlement amount. Their prognosis is closely related to the severity and nature of their injuries. More severe injuries are likely to have a grim prognosis, and permanent damage translates to a permanent injury.

Those likely to make a full recovery typically receive less compensation than those who suffer permanent damage or a permanent disability. The existence of a permanent injury is one of the most contested aspects of a personal injury settlement. Before the insurance company agrees to any kind of settlement, they typically require claimants to receive an evaluation by an independent third-party physician who can verify the existence of permanent damage.

Insurance Policy Limits Impact Personal Injury Settlements

If you’ve suffered injuries due to negligence and you filed a claim, it’s likely one or more insurance companies are involved. Depending on the circumstances of your injury, you might be dealing with auto, homeowners, or commercial business insurance carriers.

Policyholders have different policy limits, impacting the amount you receive in a personal injury settlement. Even if the value of your claim is $1 million, you might only settle for $300,000 if that is the policy limit.

Evaluating Personal Injury Settlement Offers

If you have received a settlement offer for your personal injury case and you have not consulted with a lawyer already, now is the time. Insurance companies often make low ball settlement offers to avoid paying out maximum compensation. Once you accept a settlement offer, you waive your right to sue for future compensation for the same injuries.

If you accept before you know the full scope of your injuries and the value of your claim, you risk not having the funds you need for ongoing care and treatment. An experienced personal injury lawyer can evaluate the offer and may negotiate a better settlement.

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Related Topics

• How Long Does It Take to Receive an Offer of Compensation?
• How Long Does It Take a Personal Injury Case to Settle?
• How Is a Settlement Paid Out?