Figuring out how much your truck accident settlement case is worth can be quite confusing. While you should work closely with your personal injury lawyer to settle your case, it would do you more good to know about several factors that can affect the value of your personal injury claim, especially if you have been in a truck accident.
Read on to learn more.
Why Do Insurers Try to Avoid Going to Trial?
Personal injury claims are usually resolved in two ways. Either they are resolved through a settlement, or they are resolved through a verdict at trial. Most personal injury claims get resolved via settlement, not a verdict.
When deciding how much money to offer you in a personal injury claim, the other party’s insurance company will ask itself one simple question: how much money will a jury make them pay the plaintiff if the case goes to trial and they lose?
The potential settlement value that you will get will be some amount that is lower than that because it is going to be discounted by the risk of getting less or nothing at trial and the potential time that it takes to go to trial. It will also include the cost that you will incur if you proceed with the trial.
The bottom line is that the more information you have, the better you will be able to investigate a personal injury claim. Subsequently, the more accurate your prediction or your estimate of the value of your personal injury claim will be.
Factor Number 1: Determining the Fault
Suppose you have been in a truck accident, and you have contacted the best board-certified truck accident lawyer to represent your case. The first thing that the lawyer will do is to investigate the accident to determine the fault or the person who has been at fault.
So, the first factor is evidence of fault. In a car wreck, the insurance company is going to look at the following:
- The police report
- Statements given by eyewitnesses
- Statements given by people who were involved in the incident
- Photos/ videos of the scene of the wreck
- The potential damage done
- Photos of your injuries
Factor Number 2: Determining Partial Fault
The second factor that will impact your personal injury settlement is whether or not you were partially at fault for the accident. On that note, if you were partially involved in the accident, then the value of your personal injury case will be lower than if you did not fault the accident – all other things being held equal.
In many states, your personal injury claims can be worth nothing if you are even one percent at fault. This aspect perfectly explains why you always need a personal injury lawyer by your side – that is if you have been in a truck accident.
The lawyer is aware of the complex personal injury laws and ensures that you get what is rightfully yours.
That said, if you live in a state that has the law of contributory negligence, then you could be running out of luck as you may not have a claim if your fault is even only one percent.
The Impact of Shared Value on a Personal Injury Claim
If you have sustained an injury at a grocery store due to slip-and-fall, the grocery store can state that you were, to an extent, at fault because you were scrolling on your phone and not looking where you were going. This could be an example of comparative negligence and could impact the value of your personal injury claim.
So, you will want to get a lawyer on board so that you can successfully negotiate the personal injury claim and reach a fair settlement.
Factor Number 3: Applying Insurance Policy Limitations
The next factor that you should be mindful of, as it can affect your personal injury settlement, is the type of accident that you are involved in. The thing is that the type of accident that you were involved in will determine the type of insurance policy that you will originally seek to recover from.
The different types of policies that may apply to your injuries have maximum amounts of potential damage that you can recover from the insurance companies. In many states, the defendant must disclose the limits of the applicable insurance policies to the plaintiff so that the plaintiff knows how much money they are dealing with.
For instance, if you are in a car accident and you file a personal injury claim with the other driver’s car insurance policy.
The law in your state probably sets a minimum amount of potential coverage that the driver must carry if they are using their car and driving on the road.
Factor number 4: Assessing the Pain Scale
Most personal injuries cause more pain and suffering than others do. If you get injured in an accident, you should ask yourself how bad you hurt and where on the pain scale – from mild to horrible pain – the intensity of your pain falls.
Mild Pain
The pain that you are enduring can be mild, medium, and even the worst pain that you have ever experienced. For instance, if, due to a driver’s carelessness, you get into an accident and hurt your shoulder. In this case, the pain might not be horrendous, but still, there should be money to make up for the pain, but not much.
Medium Pain
If the pain is not too bad, it means that it is low on the pain scale, and in this case, you might ask the jury for a few thousand dollars over and above the medical cost and loss of income. However, if the pain is worse than mild, it is the kind of pain that you cannot ignore, as it might affect your quality of life to the point that you cannot sleep at night.
This might be the type of case where you might ask for tens of thousands of dollars as compensation – apart from the medical bills and lost wages.
Horrible Pain
On the other hand, if you experience searing pain – the kind that just won’t go away and makes every waking moment of your life miserable – in this case, you might ask the jury for a verdict of more than five hundred thousand dollars.
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