How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?

The impact of a catastrophic injury can be felt across your entire life. Not only will you likely struggle with the limitations and pain of your physical injuries, but the financial losses and emotional distress could take a toll on your life. When someone else’s negligence contributed to or caused the injuries you sustained, a Memphis personal injury lawyer can hold them accountable.

There is no shame in wondering how much compensation you could be awarded if you made the decision to pursue legal action against those responsible. When you have a reputable personal injury law firm working on your case, you can find out exactly how much your damages are worth and how to make the at-fault party pay.

How to Calculate the Value of Your Personal Injury Case

There are several ways your personal injury attorney can determine how much compensation you are entitled to in your lawsuit and insurance claims. You can expect them to utilize both of the following methods to determine the value of your claim. Generally, whichever method returns the greater value is the one they will go with to determine the amount of compensation you should seek for your damages.

The Per Diem Method

Using the per diem method is one of the top ways personal injury attorneys will calculate the value of your damages. To do this, your suffering and losses will be assigned a daily value. Then, this figure will be multiplied by the number of days you are dealing with the fallout of the accident.

For example, let’s say you have been assigned a per diem damages value of $200. If your injuries have had or are expected to impact your life for three years, your attorney would multiply $200 by 1,096 days to calculate your claim’s value, which would be $219,000. If your per diem damages were valued at $350 and your injuries were expected to impact your life for the next five years, your attorney would multiply $350 by 1,825 days for a total value of $638,750.

The Multiplier Method

The per diem method is not the only way to calculate the value of a personal injury claim. The multiplier method may also be utilized if the per diem method does not seem to be accurate in your case. The multiplier method carefully evaluates the total value of your economic or financial losses.

Then, depending on the extent of your injuries, you will be assigned a multiplier of somewhere between one and five. The greater your multiplier, the more you could expect your claim to be worth. The multiplier will then be multiplied by the total value of your economic damages to determine the value of your non-economic damages. Let’s look at an example:

Let’s say your economic damages after a car accident were valued at $250,000. If you suffer a permanent disability, you might be assigned a multiplier of five. Your attorney will then multiply $250,000 by five to get a value of $1.25 million. Your attorney would then add 1.25 million to $250,000 to get the total value of your personal injury lawsuit, or $1.5 million.

Common Types of Recoverable Damages

Before your attorney can utilize either of these methods, we first need to figure out which types of damages you should be seeking compensation for. When you file a claim with the insurance company, you may be limited to compensation for specific types and amounts of damages.

However, when you file a claim in civil court, you could be reimbursed for every loss and damage you experienced due to someone else’s negligence. Some of the most common types of economic and non-economic damages that may be recovered in a personal injury lawsuit include the following:

Wage-Related Losses

Wage-related bosses include any loss of income and employee benefits. When you need to take time off work, you should not only be reimbursed for your lost wages. If you had to use paid time off, vacation time, or sick time, you should be reimbursed for these losses.

You should also be repaid if you lost your job due to your injuries and your employer no longer contributes to your retirement savings account or provides you with health insurance coverage.

Healthcare Costs and Medical Bills

Getting your medical expenses covered will be a top priority. With the cost of healthcare in the United States being so high, you could easily find yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a catastrophic injury.

It might surprise you to learn that many healthcare providers will refuse to accept your personal health insurance because they have the potential to recover more if you file a personal injury lawsuit. For this reason, having an experienced attorney by your side is the best way to ensure you are fully compensated for every single medical expense, such as:

• Your ambulance bills
• Co-pays and prescription medications
• Any out-of-pocket expenses
• Ongoing medical care
• Mental health counseling
• Reconstructive surgery
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Experimental treatment costs
• Home accommodation fees
• Costs of medical equipment and devices

Pain and Suffering

Under the law, you have the right to compensation for not only your economic damages but non-economic damages as well. Pain and suffering can encompass a wide variety of non-economic losses. Although there is no set financial value and the extent to which your injuries affect your life can vary widely, you should be compensated for your physical pain and suffering.

Other non-economic damages that could be considered pain and suffering losses include:

• Diminished quality of life
• Skin scarring and disfigurement
• Feelings of shame, indignity, and fear
• Loss of companionship and love
• Mental anguish and emotional trauma

Meet with a Personal Injury Attorney Near You Today

You are entitled to total financial reimbursement when someone else is responsible for causing your injuries. No matter which method will be used to determine your claim’s value, you can be sure that when you have an experienced personal injury lawyer at Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi, PLC working on your case, you have legal representation you can trust to fight for the compensation that is rightfully yours.

When you are ready to make the at-fault party pay but are unsure of where to get started with your case, do not hesitate. Schedule your 100% free consultation as soon as today when you call our office or fill out our convenient contact form.