What Is My Personal Injury Claim Worth?
No two personal injury claims are the same. In determining the value of a personal injury claim, a personal injury attorney will take various factors into account, including:
- The severity of your injuries
- Your accident-related expenses (medical bills, wage loss, etc.)
- Degree of fault of the other party
- Available insurance coverage
- Your attorney’s experience and negotiation skills
- Chance of success at trial
While compensation for personal injury claims can vary, below, you will find some of the damages you could be entitled to.
Damages in Personal Injury Claims
- Medical expenses: You may qualify for all necessary costs for medical treatments resulting from your personal injury, including hospital stays, medications, medical devices, and rehabilitation therapies. You may also recover future medical costs and ongoing care.
- Income loss: If you are severely injured in an accident, you may be unable to work for some time. Some victims may never return to their careers. In this case, you may be entitled to damages for past, current, and future loss of income.
- Property damage: If your property, such as a vehicle, laptop, or eyeglasses, was destroyed or damaged in the accident, you are generally entitled to reimbursement with a personal injury claim.
- Non-Economic Damages: Non-economic damages are awarded for losses that are not easily quantifiable in monetary terms. They can include emotional anguish, chronic pain, disability, and loss of life enjoyment.
Determining the exact worth of your personal injury claim involves a comprehensive evaluation of your damages. This requires the help of trained experts, such as economists and life care planners, who can determine the likely financial impact in the future. It is not enough to say that you can’t work; you must show the wages that will likely be lost as a result of your injuries.
A personal injury attorney at the Ammons Law Firm can provide guidance, assess your damages, and work toward securing maximum potential compensation.
Punitive Damages
While not as common in personal injury lawsuits, you may be entitled to punitive damages if the wrongdoer acted particularly recklessly or maliciously in causing your injury. Examples include:
Gross negligence. Under Texas law, gross negligence means an act or omission by the defendant:
(A) which when viewed objectively from the standpoint of the actor at the time of its occurrence involves an extreme degree of risk, considering the probability and magnitude of the potential harm to others; and
(B) of which the actor has actual, subjective awareness of the risk involved, but nevertheless proceeds with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others.
Malice. Under Texas law, malice means the act had “specific intent by the defendant to cause substantial injury or harm to the claimant.”
Punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer rather than compensate the injured victim for their harm.
How to Calculate Personal Injury Compensation
Compensation should make you “whole” again and is generally based on your injury-related expenses and non-economic damages, such as pain and anguish, emotional distress, and others.
Calculating past medical bills and income loss can be proven with documentation such as receipts, bills, and bank statements. Proving future medical expenses and loss of wages requires expert opinion that accurately establishes and proves the value of these losses.
Establishing Non-Economic Damages
Putting a dollar figure on damages such as physical pain or emotional trauma can be difficult. Assessing non-economic damages involves considering various factors, including the permanence of your injury, your pain and suffering, the potential length of your recovery, and the impact of the injury on your home and work life.
This often will require expert opinion from doctors, psychologists, and other professionals with experience in injuries and how they affect you.
- The specific injury experienced
- The liable party’s percentage of fault
- Whether you had any responsibility in the accident or incident
- Your medical and other evidence for proving non-economic damages
- Texas damage caps (in medical malpractice and government cases)
An Attorney Can Help You Receive Fair Compensation
Attempting to calculate your compensation amount can be a costly mistake, as you may not know all the damages you are entitled to or make a critical mistake in your calculation.
Moreover, if you suffered a severe or disabling injury, you may not understand the full impact on your life and career.
The Ammons Law Firm’s dedicated personal injury attorneys can accurately determine your damages and prevent you from leaving money on the table. Our attorneys have handled hundreds of seven and eight-figure recoveries and understand how to maximize each of our client’s recovery.
You can read our personal injury law resource to learn more about the cases we handle.
