What Is the Average Settlement Value for a Personal Injury Case in Georgia?
The value of your settlement depends on multiple variables. A good personal injury lawyer will be able to help you understand the factors that can influence the value of your claim.
There are no guarantees in personal injury law, litigation or claim negotiations. Any lawyer who guarantees an outcome is being disingenuous. The value of your settlement depends on your specific circumstances and a lawyer will need to investigate your case before they can provide an informed estimate.
What Is a Settlement?
When you settle a personal injury case, you agree to accept money in return for dropping your action against the person who injured you. For example, if somebody who is driving under the influence hits you and causes you to become paralyzed, they have not only made your life harder in regard to tasks of everyday living, but they have also affected your ability to earn a living.
The permeance of the injury will also impact the settlement value. A broken leg might keep you out of work for a month and temporarily inhibit your ability to do chores or handle daily tasks. Becoming paralyzed will result in a lifetime of lost wages and inconvenience. Since personal injury claims are intended to make you financially whole, the appropriate compensation will be drastically different in those two scenarios.
What Are Damages?
In the example of somebody paralyzing you while driving under the influence, the accident would cost you a fortune in medical bills. From the ambulance ride to X-rays and MRIs to invasive surgeries and round-the-clock care, a long hospital stay is never cheap. Even short visits to the emergency room can cost several thousand dollars. In fact, half of Americans now have medical debt.
You should not be forced into bankruptcy because of someone else’s actions. Even if the driver is sober and it is a genuine accident, it is not fair to leave you with the bill.
It might be reassuring to learn that the driver in this example is likely not paying your settlement out of their own pocket. You are not forcing them into bankruptcy with your medical bills because their insurance company is the one who is paying your settlement.
In Georgia, the minimum auto insurance is 25/50/25 ($25,000 bodily injury liability per person/$50,000 per accident and $25,000 of property damage liability). If the driver who hit you only has minimum coverage, the driver’s insurance would pay you $25,000. In this scenario, if your damages exceed $25,000, the driver will have to pay the difference between their policy limit and your damages if they have the assets.
Types of Personal Injuries
There are different types of personal injuries. Some of the most common personal injuries in Georgia are car accidents, truck accident, motorcycle accidents and medical malpractice.
The value of a personal injury claim has less to do with the source of the injury than the severity of the injury and the entity or person who caused it. In the car accident example, a driver with only minimum insurance coverage won’t pay all that much. Your hospital bills and lost wages could be far higher than the $25,000 maximum you can recover from their insurance.
Your compensation could potentially be far higher if a commercial truck driver hit you. Commercial liability policies often have six- or seven-figure limits. The same is true for doctors in medical malpractice personal injury cases or businesses and property owners in slip and fall injury cases.
What Is Pain and Suffering?
The meaning of “pain and suffering” does not change much in the context of personal injury cases. Whereas economic damages focus more on the financial burden of your personal injury, pain and suffering refers to the pain and emotional/mental repercussions of your injury.
While medical bills and lost wages are, for the most part, easy to track, it can be difficult to put a monetary value on something less concrete, like how you feel.
For instance, if your plastic surgeon’s botched surgery leaves you disfigured, you deserve payment for the emotional distress. Any good lawyer will fight for you and will make sure you are fairly compensated for the pain and trauma of your injury.
Get What You Deserve After an Injury in Atlanta
If you suffered a personal injury, you should not suffer in silence. Contact one of the attorneys listed on ATL Elite. They will fight for the compensation you deserve.
