When a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer, on behalf of a plaintiff, files a lawsuit against a negligent driver, property manager, dog owner, or other defendant, that plaintiff may decide to accept a settlement. In fact, the majority of personal injury cases are resolved through settlement deals, rather than with a jury verdict at the conclusion of a trial. A personal injury settlement is an arrangement that both the plaintiff and defendant may decide to accept. If it’s accepted, the plaintiff agrees to drop the lawsuit in exchange for the defendant’s payment of a set sum of money.
Of course, before you can decide whether or not to accept a personal injury settlement, you need to consider how much your lawsuit is worth. Every case is different. It’s in your best interests to speak with a personal injury lawyer before deciding upon an appropriate course of action. Your lawyer will evaluate your case to determine a reasonable settlement amount. Note that accident victims tend to receive a much higher settlement amount if they hire a lawyer.
Add up your monetary losses
Apersonal injury demand letter can request compensation for your actual losses.These can include your medical expenses, property damage, and lost wages, andany other losses that directly stem from the incident. It’s important to keeptrack of all of your losses after the incident. Preserve your medical bills,pharmacy receipts, collision repair estimates, and any other documentation thatproves you have lost money due to someone else’s negligence. Your personalinjury lawyer will need copies of all of these documents in order to prepareyour demand letter to request compensation.
Evaluate your non-economiclosses
Thecalculable monetary losses are referred to as economic losses. Non-economiclosses are less tangible. They include things like pain and suffering, mentalanguish, and disfigurement. In general, the more severe a person’s injuriesare, the more money that plaintiff can expect to receive for these non-economiclosses. In addition, plaintiffs can generally request more money fornon-economic losses due to the following factors:
- There was a very long recovery period.
- The plaintiff required an invasive medical treatment, or medical treatments that were ongoing and lasted a long time.
- The injuries were particularly painful.
- There were obvious physical signs of the injury.
- The injuries were serious and/or resulted in permanent physical alterations (e.g. disfigurement or permanent disability).
To putthis into perspective, a plaintiff who lost a limb in an accident can generallyexpect to receive a higher settlement than a plaintiff who suffered minorlacerations and bruises.
Understanding the special damagesformula
Insuranceadjusters follow a company formula when determining how much to offer fornon-economic damages. They will then add economic damages to the result of thatformula. Insurance companies don’t make their formulas public. However, their formulasinvolve multiplying the amount of “special damages” (for pain and suffering,etc.) by 1.5 to three for relatively minor injuries. For more severe injuries,the special damages may be multiplied by as much as five. Your personal injurylawyer will follow a similar formula to determine how much to demand on yourbehalf.
Ask for more than what youthink you’ll get
Rememberthat a personal injury settlement agreement is the result of a negotiation. Inorder to achieve favorable results in any negotiation, it’s necessary to startwith a higher number than what you hope to get. There’s no precise formula, butit’s generally recommended that personal injury plaintiffs ask for about 75% to100% more than what they hope to receive. In other words, if you think yourlawsuit might be worth $10,000, ask for $17,500 to $20,000. It’s generally bestnot to ask for more than that, as the negotiations might stall.
Speak with a personal injurylawyer about your case
Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Sean Salamati of the Salamati Law Firm has provided vigorous legal representation to clients in California for two decades. Our results-driven approach optimizes our clients’ chances of securing maximum compensation for their injuries and other losses. If you would like to know how much your personal injury lawsuit could be worth, you can call today to schedule your complimentary, no-obligation case review with a seasoned personal injury lawyer.
