What is my case worth?
Pain and suffering encompasses pain, or loss of quality of life (such as the inability to participate in activities with your family and friends, inability to engage in hobbies, sports, travel, etc., depression, and damage to relationships with loved ones, including sexual relations) due to a major injury. There is no set figure or formula that defines how much this amount should be. The truth is, no lawyer can tell you at the beginning how much you will get for your case until he or she has the medical records, bills, and wage loss analysis in hand. But I can give you a ballpark figure based upon an understanding of what happened to you.
Every case is unique. Before an accurate determination of the value of your personal injury case can be made, your doctors must have determined that you have reached maximum medical improvement, and we must have a thorough understanding of your course of medical treatment, your current condition and your future prognosis. Additionally, we must have had an opportunity to completely investigate the details of the accident, and analyze the impact that the accident has had on your wage-earning ability and on your lifestyle. Only then can an experienced and knowledgeable personal injury attorney accurately determine the value of your case. You should be wary of any law firm that purports to put a specific value on your claim before having an opportunity to learn all of the relevant facts and determine the impact that the accident will have on your future.
How much is your case worth? No one can tell you an exact amount what your case is worth without fully evaluating all the facts. In most cases, an evaluation cannot be performed until your medical condition has stabilized or your claim is ready to be evaluated. An investigation may be performed and your doctor or other experts will need to provide final reports.
This is the question that a lot of people want to know during an initial consultation. The answer is nearly impossible to determine at the beginning of a case. Many factors affect case value including: the nature of the injuries, severity, permanency; amount of medical bills, future medical expenses; past and future wage loss; effect of injuries on daily activities and recreational activities; and intensity of pain and suffering. Age can play a large role as well. A neck injury requiring surgery and resulting in permanent injury is worth more if the victim is 25 rather than 65. Why? Life expectancy, the amount of time both can be expected to live with the pain, plays a large role. There is no neat and easy formula such as three times medical bills. Take for example an individual who has a back injury with a lot of expensive diagnostics such as CT and MRI that eventually improves without surgery and another who loses an eye. The eye case will have far lower medical expenses than the bac
