Making Up For Lost Time

« Back to Home

Four Factors That Will Influence The Amount Your Personal Injury Case Settles For

Posted on

There are a variety of different expenses you incur in addition to medical bills when you deal with recovering from an injury. All these expenses will go into how much you should be looking to settle for, if settling is a possibility, in your personal injury case.

The following are four potential expenses you may be dealing with or have dealt with that should increase the value of the personal injury settlement you're looking to negotiate with the defendant in your case:

The amount of medical bills that you've had to pay

The first expense that comes to mind when one thinks of expenses that contribute to a settlement amount is medical bills. Medical expenses are easy to document and calculate by referencing medical bills.

You'll want to have copies of all your medical bills for your accident when you meet with your personal injury attorney. Your personal injury attorney needs to know exactly how much your injury has cost you in terms of medical expenses to calculate a minimum amount to shoot for in a possible settlement.

The physical suffering you've experienced as a result of your injury

You can also be compensated for pain and suffering expenses. Pain and suffering expenses can involve both physical pain you've suffered as well as emotional turmoil from the stress and problems that have been created by your injury.

It's more difficult to put a monetary value on pain and suffering expenses than it is to put a monetary value on medical bills. However, pain and suffering is an important negotiating point for increasing your settlement amount.

The amount of time that you've not been able to work while recovering

Another expense that tends to be fairly easy to calculate in determining a fair settlement amount is lost wages, If you were not able to work for a period of time because you were recovering from your injury, your injury caused you to lose wages. 

You can calculate your lost wage expenses by determining the amount of time you were off work without compensation and figuring out how much you would have made during that time based on your pay rate.

The opportunities that you've missed out on as a result of your injury

If you have missed out on a professional opportunity like a promotion because of your injury, this fact can also give you some leverage to help push up your personal injury settlement.

Possible lost opportunity costs include not only promotions you would have had without the injury, but also training opportunities and credentials you would have taken advantage or of achieved if the injury had not occurred. For more information, contact a company like Trammell and Mills Law Firm LLC.


Share