Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

Your question presumes that all personal injury cases are alike, but that's not true. Some plaintiffs have very large medical bills, others don't. Some suffer a great deal of pain and anguish, others don't. Some lose the ability to work, others don't. There are many other variables involved. With no information about this particular case, there is no way to even begin to say what your damages might be.

I should add that the insurance company will pay no more than the policy limits, regardless of how much it would take to fully compensate you.

Bear in mind, too, that when you accepted payment for your car you may have signed a waiver which would preclude any further claims against the same defendant. If the defendant isn't liable for your bills, his insurer doesn't have to pay for them.

Finally, your ability to negotiate on behalf of your former husband may be quite limited since you are not currently married and since you (presumably) are not a lawyer.

In light of all these issues, your best bet is probably to at least consult directly with a lawyer in your area.

Good luck.

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

There really is no "usual" for injuries. As you might guess, a serious injury gets compensated more than a trivial one. Without knowing your and your husbands' injuries in detail, and the amount of the cost of medical treatment, you could not get a meaningful answer.

In a small claim with minor injuries, it sometimes makes sense to negotiate it directly without an attorney. More often, insurance adjusters use these un-represented contacts to take advantage, by repeatedly interviewing you to get multiple versions of the incident, to use against you later. They are not to be trusted.

Then of course, you find out that just because you have no attorney, they give you only "low ball" settlement offers. That goes double for anyone who utters any comments about not wanting "the lawyers" to get involved. (Music to their ears.) Moreover, laypeople do not know what kinds of compensation can be gotten. Few would think to make a claim for future medical expenses, or even if they do, how to prove it. It is not a simple process in larger cases.

What many people do not understand is that an experienced attorney can recover so much more than you could, that even after paying him, you net more than if you settled on your own.

If your injuries (yours and your husband's) involve any spinal injuries (bulging discs), fractures, internal injuries, more than a couple of weeks of work time, or possibility of surgery down the road, there is NO WAY you should be attempting to handle this yourself.

This is especially so when experienced personal injury attorneys will give you a free consultation to give you an idea what might be accomplished. But we need much more info than you have provided to do so.

To give you a further idea of possible reasons to talk to a lawyer first, you might wish to review the following article:

http://negligentdeath.com/article06.htm

If you would like to talk about your case, I'd be happy to discuss it without charge if you'd like to call or email me directly.

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

Hello.

To evaluate a claim and put a reasonable settlement value on it, it's important to consider all the facts and circumstances surrounding that claim, including - severity of the injuries, cost of treatment, the nature of the treatment, likelihood of future pain, wage loss and earning capacity, and many other factors.

Some people believe in a certain formula (such as medical bills x3) but it doesn't have much meaning, as there are so many factors that come into play when evaluating damages in an injury case.

Thanks, and feel free to follow up.

Arkady Itkin

http://sanfranciscoaccidentinjurylawyer.com

San Francisco & Sacramento Injury Lawyer

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

Sorry, have no idea and it's not good to speculate. Generally, injuries fall into soft tissue/muscular aches and pain or something more.

Strongly suggest you contact a good personal injury attorney for a free consultation. If you'd like, we'd be pleased to discuss it with you ... www.SeriousAccidents.com .

Mike

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

"Playing games"? That's their job [as they see it] - to deny or reduce your claim and make it difficult for you. They have no obligation to you, you're not their policy holder. Nobody said this system is 'fair'. BTW: they love people that handle cases themselves 'to save money on lawyers'.

Any injury claim is worth exactly, and only, what the defendant agrees to pay in settlement, or what the jury awards at trial. There is no 'formula' or 'usual', never has been. Neither your opinion, nor mine, is relevant, we don't get to determine value, only influence it by proper documentation, presentation, persuasion, argument and willingness to pursue it to trial if need be. When you get serious about having it handled by counsel in order to get full value recovery, and if it is in SoCal, feel free to contact me.

Re: how much a car accident personal injury is worth?

I cannot give you an answer without asking you several questions. Email me if you want help at: [email protected]

Barry J. Simon, ESQ.