How to Get a Rough Estimate of Your Personal Injury Settlement

Personal injury settlements depend on many factors, but the good news is that you can get a rough idea of what to expect. For starters, you should know that a personal injury settlement is made up of two main types of damages, economic and non-economic damages.

To get a rough estimate of your settlement, you need to add up all your damages. For non-economic damages, you’d have to apply one of the two common methods used by insurance companies. You can either do all this yourself or save yourself the hassle by getting the personal injury lawyers at Legal Fighters or other top firms to do it for you.

You have a higher chance of getting accurate estimates if the calculation is done by professionals who have been in the game for years.

Factors That Affect Your Settlement

Your final settlement is based on several factors. They are listed below.

1. Severity of the Injury: A minor sprain won’t get as much as a spinal injury that requires surgery.
2. Medical Costs: More expensive treatments lead to higher settlements.
3. Lost Income: If you missed work or can’t return to the same job, you can claim lost wages.
4. Pain and Suffering: The more your injury impacts daily life, the more you can claim.
5. State Laws: Some states have caps on pain and suffering damages, which may limit your settlement.
6. Insurance Limits: If the at-fault party’s insurance policy has a limit (e.g., $50,000), that may be the most you can get.

The Two Main Calculation Methods

There are two ways insurance companies estimate non-economic damages: the Multiplier Method and the Per Diem Method. Each of the two has a slightly different approach.

Multiplier Method

This method is simple: you take your economic damages (the actual costs of your injury) and multiply them by a number between 1.5 and 5. The more serious your injury, the higher the multiplier.

Let’s say your medical bills and lost wages total $20,000.

• If your injury is mild, you might use a 1.5 multiplier → $20,000 × 1.5 = $30,000 total settlement.
• If your injury is severe, you might use a 4 multiplier → $20,000 × 4 = $80,000 total settlement.

Per Diem Method

This method assigns a daily dollar amount to your pain and suffering and multiplies it by the number of days you suffered.

Here’s an example: If you assign a daily rate of $150 and expect to suffer for 120 days, then:

• $150 × 120 = $18,000 for pain and suffering.
• Add that to your economic damages ($20,000), and your estimated settlement is $38,000.

Which Method Should You Use?

• If you have a short-term injury (like a broken arm), the per diem method might work better.
• If your injury is long-term or permanent, the multiplier method is usually more accurate.

Conclusion

Insurance companies often offer a low settlement at first. If the amount doesn’t cover all your medical bills and lost wages, or if your pain and suffering seem undervalued, you have the right to negotiate.