What is the value of my personal injury claim? It’s a common question with a complex answer.
Whether you have been injured due to medical negligence or a motor vehicle accident, you may be facing medical bills, lost wages, and uncertainty about your future. When you meet with a personal injury attorney for the first time, you naturally have lots of questions. Many clients have questions about the value of their claim. This is a complex question that is nearly impossible to answer accurately at the beginning of a claim.
If an attorney provides a settlement value during an initial consultation, it might feel reassuring. However, it should raise a serious red flag. Here’s why an attorney can’t accurately value your personal injury case at a first meeting.
Your Treatment is Still Unfolding
When you first meet with an attorney, your medical treatment is likely still ongoing. Your attorney doesn’t yet know if you’ll need surgery, how well you’ll respond to treatments like physical therapy, whether you’ll develop chronic pain, or if complications will arise down the road. Promising a settlement value before knowing the full extent of your injuries is like appraising the damage to a house while it’s still on fire.
Your “Maximum Medical Improvement” Hasn’t Been Reached
The true value of a personal injury claim cannot be determined until you’ve reached maximum medical improvement, or MMI. This is the point where your condition has stabilized, and your doctors can accurately assess any permanent limitations as well as potential for future complications. Depending on the severity of your injuries, reaching MMI could take a long time.
Details of Your Claim Must Be Investigated
Your attorney needs to review crucial evidence: medical records, police reports, witness interviews, surveillance footage, accident reconstruction analysis, and the defendant’s version of events. True issues concerning liability and apportionment of fault between the parties affects the value of your case.
Insurance Coverage is Unknown
Your attorney hasn’t yet identified all applicable insurance policies, policy limits, or whether umbrella policies exist. They don’t know if the defendant has assets beyond insurance coverage, or if multiple parties might share liability.
Expert Review Takes Time and Resources
Personal injury claims involve more than just medical bills. They can include permanent injury, lost wages, costs of future medical care, lost earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and disfigurement. Each of these requires consideration and may require expert support and valuation.
Complex personal injury cases require medical experts to review records and provide opinions on causation, prognosis, and future care needs. Vocational experts may need to assess your ability to return to work. Economic experts might be needed to calculate lifetime earning capacity and losses.
Big Promises May Be a Sales Tactic
Promising impressive results may be nothing more than a tactic to get you to sign a retainer agreement. Clients naturally want answers to their many questions and may be more likely to hire an attorney that promises big results than one who does not claim to have all of the answers before fully investigating the claim. Be wary of such tactics, which are often accompanied by pressure to move quickly.
Your Claim is Unique
Just as every individual is unique, no two incidents, injuries or claims are alike. Even in similar cases, many factors can have an impact on claim value. Each claim represents a unique combination of legally relevant factors that courts and insurers evaluate differently. The strength of the evidence supporting liability matters enormously. The severity and permanence of injuries vary, and so medical expenses, lost wages, and rehabilitation needs differ accordingly. The injured party’s age, occupation, and pre-existing conditions affect both economic and non-economic damage calculations. Your credibility, reputation in the community and even your social media presence can influence settlement negotiations.
Jurisdiction plays a significant role, as jury verdict trends vary in different counties. Even the assigned judge can be a factor in your claim. The defendant’s insurance policy limits and financial resources available to pay a claim can create practical barriers to recovery.
What Your Case is Worth Can Evolve
What a case is ultimately worth depends partly on the strength of your negotiating position, which evolves as the case develops. Discovery might reveal damning evidence against the defendant — surveillance footage showing reckless behavior, or internal documents proving knowledge of a dangerous condition. Conversely, investigation might expose weaknesses in your claim that must be addressed. Settlement value shifts as these facts come to light.
The Attorney You Hire Matters
The quality of your legal representation is also a factor in your claim. The attorney representing you can significantly affect your case outcome because insurance companies maintain institutional knowledge of how different lawyers handle claims. Experienced attorneys with established trial practices tend to achieve more favorable outcomes because insurers recognize these lawyers have demonstrated both the capability and willingness to litigate cases through verdict when necessary. An attorney’s preparation, case evaluation skills, and professional reputation influence how insurance adjusters assess risk and approach settlement negotiations. The strength of your legal representation is one factor among many that insurers consider when determining their settlement position
The attorneys at Lacy Katzen LLP have been helping the seriously injured for more than 75 years. If you’ve been injured and are considering your legal options, we invite you to contact Lacy Katzen LLP for a free consultation to discuss the specific circumstances of your claim.
