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How Much To Ask For In A Personal Injury Settlement?

Figuring out how much to ask for in a personal injury settlement can be almost as stressful as pursuing the claim itself. A person may be asking themselves what is too much, what is too little, what about his situation, or that one, and perhaps driving themselves to greater stress by debating the settlement figure.

There are factors in a personal injury claim that can help guide you on how much is appropriate for the settlement, but these same factors can also make it difficult for an attorney to give you an accurate estimate for your potential settlement before looking into your case. 

Below you’ll find several ways to help figure out how much to ask for in a settlement claim.

Ways to Calculate a Personal Injury Settlement 

There are several ways an attorney, or you yourself, can assign a figure to a personal injury settlement. While no method can predict what you’ll be awarded, they are tried and true methods to an appropriate amount that can satisfy much of what you seek:

  • Calculating special, or economic, damages by adding the cost of expenses like medical bills after an accident. Adding all these costs together will give the basis for how much to seek in your settlement.
  • For non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, there is no objective method used to calculate how much to ask for in a personal injury settlement. Instead, lawyers tend to use two methods for this particular kind of case: 
    • Daily: Using your annual salary or income as a guide, they break down the value of your pain and suffering by days and then multiply the daily amount by the number of days your recovery takes. 
    • Multiplier: This method lawyers will use for pain and suffering takes forms of compensation, like medical expenses, and multiplies it by a set number, often between 1 and 5. The number depends on the severity of your injuries and is well used in civil cases. 

Each of these methods to figure out how much personal injury damages you should seek are regularly used by attorneys and can be used by a plaintiff to help decide on what to discuss with your lawyer.

Expenses of Injuries and Injury Claim Considerations

Before you decide on how to spend your settlement, it’s important to take into account what you owe

The next part of figuring out how much to ask for in your personal injury claim is determining what expenses to include. This is often the most challenging part because there can be many expenses related to your recovery that can be included in your asking:

  • General medical expenses: this would include any bills for any medical treatment, including physical therapy, you received that is related to the case and your accident. It’s very important that you have evidence that ties the injuries the treatments were for are related to the accident that caused them. Medical records will usually suffice.
  • Property damages: Any personal property that was damaged or destroyed related to the accident.
  • Mental healthcare: if you’ve received therapy or counseling due to the accident, you can be compensated for it in your claim.
  • Lost wages: If you miss work due to injuries sustained from the incident, you can be compensated for it. This includes work-related benefits, bonuses, and promotions as well. 

The most important thing here is to save your bills for these treatments and document any expenses you’ve incurred during your recovery. You can claim most of them as compensation in personal injury settlements, so long as you have documentation.

Other Personal Injury Settlement Factors 

Another factor in your case depends on the judge and juries if the latter is present for the case. The amount of damages awarded usually depends on the severity of the case itself, such as severe injuries, significant impact on your life, and struggling financially through recovery. A judge and/or jury will take these into account when determining how much you should be given. Other factors they may consider include:

  • at-fault party’s actions
  • the applicable laws
  • precedents
  • long-term impact
  • disabilities and disfigurements
  • that you’re going to trail
  • negotiations that have happened

It would be difficult for you to consider these kinds of factors, but a personal injury lawyer would be able to guide you from their experience.  

Ask Your Personal Injury Lawyer

The short answer here is no. Once your claim is settled and the payment has been received, then your

Here at Marken Law Group, we have extensive experience on the factors that affect how much to ask for in a personal injury settlement. We have extensive experience in personal injury cases and to better help our clients through this stressful time, we don’t charge fees unless we are successful in your case. This is a good opportunity to discuss potential damages and how we would go about getting the amount you deserve.

We understand how stressful it can be to navigate a personal injury case and don’t want to add any more stress during a difficult time. We have represented hundreds of claimants in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and California to help our clients get what is rightfully theirs. We focus on your individual needs and bring our professional experience to help guide you through.

Partner with an experienced ally that is by your side from start to finish and can help you get what is rightfully yours.

We look forward to fighting for you.