We are often asked what injured car crash and personal injury victim's cases are worth. Sometimes, we are even asked this at the beginning of the case before treatment is remotely complete. The answer is not always susceptible to provision.
Obviously, if you haven't yet completed treatment, it is generally impossible to accurately say what your case is worth. This is because the variables that liability carriers consider are many, including : the nature of the injuries sustained, the cost and duration of the treatment, the time lost from employment and the presence or absence of a permanent injury.
Virtually all of those considerations are indeterminate before treatment has been undertaken except in rare circumstances. So what should you think about in understanding how insurance companies will value your claim? Here are Five Things:
1). The nature of the confirmed objective injuries. Confirmed objective injuries means ones that can be seen on x-ray, MRI or other diagnostic testing not something vastly less specific such as pain or discomfort.
2). The cost and duration of treatment for your accident related injuries. No that doesn't mean you can treat indefinitely and expect to be compensated throughout but the fact is that getting two months of treatment and then asserting that you continued to be in pain for another six months will not typically yield as much compensation as treating throughout your eight month painful period.
3). The time lost from gainful employment due to your injuries. To be clear, you will need a healthcare provider's support for the proposition that you couldn't do your job for the time period sought. Many doctors issue written "off work" slips with dates etc. Be aware that insurance companies are highly skeptical of lost wage claims and that there has to be a rational reason why your doctor opined that you couldn't work.
4). Whether the persistence of your injury would be medically characterized as "permanent" in nature. Plausible permanent injuries are worth more then temporary ones or implausible ones.
5). Whether this is the first injury to a specific body part. Many people hurt backs, necks and knees in car and truck crashes but have also hurt those body parts before. This in turn can make it tricky for healthcare providers to distinguish between accident-related injuries/treatment and pre-existing non-accident related treatment needs. Unless there is something distinctly different about them be aware that this will be a potential sticking point.
