After a personal injury accident, you and your family may face a ceaseless stream of medical bills. Your household may also be struggling to pay normal monthly bills like the rent and car payments while an injured family member can’t go to work.
It’s understandable to wonder how much your family could earn in an insurance claim directed at the negligent party that caused your accident.
An accident caused by the carelessness of someone else can affect your wellbeing for the rest of your life. It may also rob you of the ability to support your family. It’s only fair that an at-fault party be held accountable for those consequences. But in determining how much support is fair, many, many factors must be considered.
Types of Personal Injury Accidents in California
A personal injury accident is an accident where someone owed you a legal “duty of care” and instead, allowed you to get hurt.
The most common example is a car accident. In almost every collision there is a driver who behaved carelessly or recklessly to cause the crash. They neglected the duty of care they owed other drivers. That driver is held fully accountable for the physical and financial damages an accident causes.
A slip-and-fall at a grocery store is another example. A store owner or operator fails to mop up a spill on the floor and you come along and fall and fracture a hip. The local owner or corporate supermarket chain is liable.
Large companies that make the products we use every day are also responsible for the personal injuries they cause. A household item that burns someone or a manufacturing flaw in a car that causes a crash leaves the manufacturer liable.
Personal Injury Settlement Amounts in California
Putting a number on settlement amounts is almost impossible because each personal injury case is so different. Finding an average on personal injury claims is also difficult because these claims include so many different types of accidents. The magnitude of the harm done by a careless act and the level of negligence for the at-fault party will vary greatly from case to case.
Personal injury settlements involving large corporations like in the automotive or tobacco industries typically earn the most in settlements and courtroom awards. When an individual or a large group (class) of victims sues a major industry, the compensation can reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and even into the billions.
Cases involving smaller damages, such as a dog bite injury or a workplace accident will usually earn much less, but awards can still be substantial. When victims spend considerable time in the hospital or miss weeks or months at work, those losses add up quickly. Just the medical costs alone can quickly reach $50,000 or even over $100,000.
Personal Injury Settlement Calculator
There is a way you can get a rough estimate on what your personal injury claim may be worth. A personal injury calculator allows you to enter some of the known factors in your case to see an unofficial appraisal of the value of your claim.
You can try out Maison Law’s personal injury calculator here. This calculator is not intended to provide legal advice. The best use of this calculator and others is to inform the victims of serious accidents and to encourage them to explore their case potential further with a legal professional.
The only way to tell how much your personal injury case may really be worth is to talk to a lawyer with extensive experience in personal injury claims. Taking advantage of a free case consultation with a real California personal injury lawyer is a great, no-risk way to determine how much support you should expect.
What Determines Personal Injury Settlement Amounts?
It’s difficult to put a dollar amount on a personal injury claim before a legal professional is able to talk with you about what happened and fully investigate your incident.
There are many factors that your lawyer, insurance adjusters, and in some cases a judge and jury will examine when determining how much compensation is fair for what you’ve been through.
These are just some of the details that can have a big impact on the support you are awarded:
The seriousness of your injury and the length of recovery. Recovery includes the weeks or months you’re in rehabilitation and physical therapy.
The cost of your care to this point and the care that may be needed in the future. A permanent disability suffered can mean the expense of a lifetime of treatment must be estimated.
Non-economic damages. Extreme physical pain suffered and the emotional trauma you experience should increase the amount of your insurance settlement check just like any physical injury. The effects of an injury on your family life and your favorite hobbies also count.
The limits of the at-fault party’s insurance coverage. Drivers with the minimum auto accident coverage California allows will have low policy limits. Once a cap is hit, bills left unpaid come out of your pocket. Large businesses and corporations will have liability insurance with much higher limits and much larger settlements are often possible.
The number of people or business entities that are accountable for your accident. Your personal injury lawyer makes sure every party bearing liability is included in your claim. This gives you the best chance of earning maximum compensation.
Wrongful Death Personal Injury Settlements
In the worst accidents, a precious life can be lost. When someone’s negligence is to blame, California allows remaining family members to seek support.
A wrongful death claim hopes to secure insurance settlement money for the family to pay for a funeral. It would cover any medical bills and ambulance fees the deceased collected before passing on.
What’s more, a wrongful death lawsuit factors in the loss of income the family must potentially deal with now that a loved one can no longer provide financial support through a job. This loss of earning potential and emotional support can be factored over decades and greatly increase the support families receive.
Punitive Damages in California Personal Injury Settlements
Punitive Damages are possible in some cases, especially when extremely reckless behavior on the part of companies or corporations is involved.
Punitive damages are additional financial penalties for a guilty party, above any compensation awarded for a victim’s damages. They are a penalty for any especially dangerous or intentional actions an individual or business engages in. It’s hoped the severe financial punishment deters future reckless behavior.
The good news is that punitive damages are kept by the victims of the personal injury accident. This can multiply the settlement award amounts victims receive.
The Skill of Your Personal Injury Lawyer in Negotiations
The skill and experience of your personal injury lawyer often play a major role in the amount of compensation you’ll receive for your hardships.
A California attorney with a long history of protecting personal injury victims helps you reject any claims that don’t cover your needs and fight for more. Your personal injury attorney also represents a threat to insurance companies.
Insurance adjusters know that if they don’t offer you full support for what you’ve been through, a trip into a courtroom is a real possibility. Your lawyer would prepare all evidence and testimony for you in case a lawsuit is necessary when an insurance company refuses to pay what’s fair.
Generally, insurance representatives want to avoid facing a judge and jury at all costs. It’s expensive for them and a trial can also damage their company reputations. This means they are more likely to make you a substantial settlement offer rather than defend their actions in court.
Contact a California Personal Injury Accident Lawyer
After you or a loved one suffers a serious injury due to someone’s carelessness, don’t let an insurance company decide how much you should receive in a settlement.
Discuss your case with a skilled California Personal Injury Attorney like Martin Gasparian at Maison Law. You’ll have a better understanding of the benefits available to you and how much your injury may be worth.
Mr. Gasparian offers a free, confidential case evaluation to victims and their families. If you decide you want Maison Law safeguarding your injury claim, you won’t owe any money now. We don’t get paid unless we secure a settlement or verdict on your behalf.
Personal Injury Settlement FAQs
You won’t have to pay taxes on a large portion of your settlement. Compensation for medical bills is not taxed. You would have to pay taxes on any reimbursement for the income you lost while missing work. You would also pay if an insurance company overpaid you.
You may receive money to repair your vehicle, but end up not spending it all. You could also make the repairs yourself. Any money provided to you that’s not used to pay bills and invoices would be taxable money. Generally, any money you have in surplus after your recovery bills are paid would be taxable.
Other insurance settlement funds that would be taxable include any awards for punitive damages. The money you receive for emotional trauma experienced in an accident or in recovery would also be taxed.
If a personal injury victim dies after earning an insurance settlement, the award would go to the estate of the victim. In most cases, all or a portion of the award would be divided among remaining family members as beneficiaries of the estate.
Survival Action on Behalf of a Personal Injury Victim
When an accident victim tragically passes on while a personal injury insurance claim is still open, there are few options for the family members left behind.
A “survival action” has a personal representative of the deceased’s estate take over the personal injury claim. The representative is usually a close relative. It’s often the most effective way to earn the most support for the estate and family members after a victim survives for a considerable time after the initial accident.
A survival action considers the physical, emotional, and financial hardships faced by victims before they pass on. This can include medical bills built up while victims were still living. It also adds up the lost wages endured while victims couldn’t go to work. This claim asks the at-fault party’s insurance provider for compensation for these damages experienced by victims before they died.
A survival action can also involve “punitive damages.” These are added penalties levied to punish the at-fault parties further for their negligent and reckless behavior. The penalties aren’t meant to compensate the family, but the estate receives the additional funds and family members can greatly benefit regardless.
Wrongful Death Claim for the Family of a Personal Injury Victim
California also allows families who have lost a loved one to file a “wrongful death” claim. A wrongful death claim is usually filed by a spouse, adult children of the victim, or the parents of a minor who has been killed.
The wrongful death claim is meant to provide support for the hardships family members face after a close relative has been taken from them. A wrongful death claim seeks to gain support for funeral and burial expenses. It also seeks to carry the family through the coming years as they face the future without the guidance and financial support a victim can no longer provide.
A wrongful death claim cannot earn money for “punitive damages.” A wrongful death claim and a survivor action may be filed as separate cases or combined into one personal injury case for the estate and family.
Once you have accepted a settlement offer after an accident, it is final. That is why it is so important to hire a personal injury lawyer who can identify all of your potential damages – past, present and future – and include them in your personal injury claim.
In these cases, you can’t expect your health insurance plan to provide coverage for your injuries in addition to your personal injury claim. Subrogation policies in insurance agreements protect your health insurance provider from paying for damages caused by a third party.
