Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: How do I determine the value of a personal injury?

Thanks for your question. It depends on your medical injuries, treatment to date (& type) and other factors. I need more information. You are entitled to pain and suffering, including for permanent injuries. Also, note that asking $35K means that if it settles for that amount, your attorney's fees, costs, and all medical bills will be also out of this amount, so you will likely get less than that. I will gladly discuss the matter with you. Please call or email me.

Thanks and good luck. (714) 835-7000.

Re: How do I determine the value of a personal injury?

Thanks for your posting.

How to value a case is a subject of much debate, between lawyers and insurance companies, between lawyers and clients, and even between lawyers and lawyers.

Some use a value per month of treatment, and others use medical bills and future medical treatment (which only your doctor can truly testify to), as the measure of how much as a multiple the entire case is worth.

The average client has no idea of the amount for which a personal injury case should settle. The client�s fate, for all intents and purposes, is in the hands of the attorney. If the attorney, for whatever reason, wants to settle the case even though fair value has not been offered, how is the client to know this? There are no easy answers here, which is why it is vital to retain a lawyer you can trust. I know of no other area of life, with the possible exceptions of going to your doctor or getting your car repaired, where the unsophisticated client has to trust the honesty and good judgment of another.

One other good way of valuing a case (in my opinion), is through jury verdicts. Verdicts from other similar cases that have gone to trial set the market rate for settlements. Thus, if the average jury award for torn knee cartilage with two surgeries and a guarded prognosis is $175,000, it is likely that the insurance company ultimately will offer an amount close to this to settle such a case, provided they believe your lawyer is experienced and competent and the rest of the case is solid. The company will begin by offering much less, hoping to buy its way out of the lawsuit as cheaply as possible. If your lawyer realizes the true value of the case, he will hold out until the offer reaches or closely approaches $175,000.

As you might expect, much of this expects on the reputation and experience of your attorney, the reputation and experience of your doctor, and how good of a witness you make, as well as the facts of your case.

I hope this helps, and I might suggest sitting down with your attorney and having a discussion. If you want more information or feel you need to ask more questions, please email me at [email protected]. Best of luck.

Re: How do I determine the value of a personal injury?

There are many factors involved in deciding the value of the case. You have not provided enough i

nformation. Things that must be considered are:

-Your age

-Your occupation

-How much damage there was to your car

-How serious your injuries are

-How long you received medical treatment for

-What residual problems you are having

-What jurisdiction the case is filed in

-Did you have previous injuries to the same parts of your body injured in the accident.

Without all of the above information it is hard to say how much your case is worth. Ask your attorney how he arrived at the evaluation of $35,000.

Re: How do I determine the value of a personal injury?

What stands out in your question is the fact that you had soft-tissue injuries from this incident... and, without reading further information from you, $35,000 sounds like a LOT more than the average soft-tissue case is likely worth.

I imagine that you must have had a pre-existing condition that has been exascerbated...

Bottom line: if you do not trust your attorney, you have the wrong attorney.