Personal Injury – How Much Compensation Will I Receive?

If you have suffered personal injury, compensation is something that can be hard to determine. Each case is different and there are several factors to consider.

There are the special damages, which include any actual expenses you have incurred, such as medical bills, lost wages from work, damages to personal items that have an assigned monetary value and any medications or therapeutic equipment you were required to get for rehabilitation.

Pain and suffering amounts depend on the type of personal injury you incurred. Was there mental anguish involved, loss of future income, a permanent disability that affects your future ability to live a normal life or make income? These are things that are taken into account, besides the emotional turmoil and inconvenience you experienced during rehabilitation.

Depending on the circumstances of the personal injury, the results can vary as to what kind of compensation you can expect to receive. If it is a worker’s compensation case, then there are set amounts for loss of limb, eyesight, hearing and other injuries. If it occurred during an automobile accident, then it can depend on the amount of the policies and the coverage they provide.

Some cases will go before a judge and others may go before a jury trial, which can have an effect on the compensation you will get, especially when it comes to anything over actual expenses. It is for this reason that many people will hire an attorney to handle personal injury lawsuits for them. The attorney will work on contingency basis, where he gets a percentage of what he collects.

Long term disability, traumatic emotional and mental anguish, all factor into compensation settlements and so do the settlement negotiations. If you are unsure of what you are doing, the best thing to do is to consult with an attorney because it can mean the difference of thousands of dollars when it comes time to settle. Most insurance companies are going to have an experienced claims adjuster negotiating on their behalf, so that is the reason most individuals should consider hiring a lawyer.

Even though many personal injury lawyers are going to want contingency fees from 20% to 40%, typically, it is still worthwhile, because most people have no idea how to negotiate or calculate the amount of compensation they should receive. Even figuring up lost potential income can be hard to prove because there can be a number of factors that go into actual lost income and potential loss of income.

Future medical expenses also have to be considered. If you suffered a back injury, you might feel fine now, but could suffer side effects that may not surface for several months. Or the injury could limit the amount of heavy lifting, bending or types of jobs that you could do. Once you have settled a personal injury lawsuit, you cannot go back to the courts for more compensation. This is the reason that compensation settlements should be well thought out and negotiated. You may only have one chance to include your actual and potential monetary losses. A personal injury attorney can give you a consultation to make your decisions easier.

Published by: Admin on January 3rd, 2010 | Filed under Attorneys Personal Injury