Several factors go into the evaluation of a case in determining its value. The severity of the injury and the permanency are the primary value driver in personal injury cases. It will primarily depend on the cost of your medical expenses and lost wages, also known as special damages are also a significant factor. The pain and suffering you have endured is also a factor that influences the value.
Among others, your general damages can include:
- Physical, mental, and emotional pain and suffering
- Permanent scarring
- Impairment
- Loss of consortium
- Emotional distress
However, depending on your situation, your special damages may include:
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Medical bills (for treatment undergone and future treatments)
- Ongoing treatment for injuries deemed necessary by doctors
Other factors that compensation amounts will depend on include settlement amounts awarded in previous cases similar in nature to the one at hand, the curability of the victim’s condition, and whether it was negligence or intentional malice that caused the injury. Our experienced Marietta injury attorneys will use the various aspects that may aid your case to gain the maximum recovery available to you.
General & Special Damages Calculator
In order to determine how much your claim may be worth, both the general and special damages must be added up. The special damages are fairly easy to calculate. You can include how much you have already spent on medical bills (even if you haven’t paid out of pocket), and the salary or wages you have lost due to your injuries. However, for future medical expenses and loss of earning potential, you will need to use reasonable estimates of the dollar amounts. You can speak with your physician to determine how much your future medical treatment will likely cost, and estimate the amount of wages you will lose in the future because of your condition.
General damages are harder to calculate because they don’t have a set amount assigned to each category. For this section, insurance adjusters will often multiply the amount of the special damages by a factor between 1.5 and 5. The more severe your pain and suffering and other general damages are, the higher the number needs to be. However, insurance companies will often try to use the lowest number when calculating your general damages. This is because they don’t want to pay you what you deserve. Our experienced Marietta personal injury lawyers can fight to negotiate a reasonable settlement for your claim that provides compensation for general and special damages.
In the end, your claim’s value depends on several factors. It combines the dollar amounts of your medical expenses and lost wages, and it also calculates a financial award for emotional distress and other noneconomic damages. However, a third option may be available to you. Depending on the situation, you may be able to receive punitive damages for your claim. Punitive damages are designed strictly to punish the offender. If your injuries were caused by the intentional or reckless actions of someone else, you may be able to pursue punitive damages for your case.
How Insurance May Affect Recovery Amounts
Experienced personal injury lawyers will examine sources of insurance coverage to gain compensation for your injuries. Our attorneys and staff will first request the at-fault party’s available coverage, which their insurance company is required by law to send. We then compare that to the amount of damages sustained in the accident. If those damages surpass the at-fault’s amount of coverage, other methods of compensation must be determined.
At Jones & Swanson, we understand the best methods of dealing with insurance companies so that the greatest amount of compensation can be achieved for victims. In some cases, injury attorneys may even use “stacking” or “add-on” methods to compensate for victims’ injuries. This allows for multiple insurance policies to be combined to pay for damages in your case, but the laws governing stacking policies are complex, so hiring an attorneys that is well-educated in insurance law is important.
Please be wary of attorneys willing to guarantee the value of your case in your initial consultation or at any time before the extent of your injuries is known.
Call Our Marietta Personal Injury Lawyers Now For Help At (770) 427-5498!
You deserve to be represented by local Marietta attorneys with the experience necessary to prosecute your claim appropriately. The accident lawyers at Jones & Swanson have extensive knowledge of personal injuries and will be able to work with you to decide whether to pursue legal action and how to proceed. We will provide personalized attention and superior representation to maximize the value of your claim. With more than 45 years of combined legal experience, our injury attorneys can discuss your case and guide you from start to finish.
Contact us today for a free case evaluation.
