How Much is My Personal Injury Case Worth?

By Meghan Young

One of the most frequent questions that I receive from clients is with regard to the value of their case: “How much is my car accident injury case worth”?  Judges will look to a variety of factors in determining the value of your case in court, such as: (1) the amount of medical bills, (2) additional economic loss, such as lost wages, (3) the damage to the vehicles, (4) the causal connection between your injuries and the accident, (5) the severity of your injuries, (6) the reasonableness and necessity of the medical treatment that you received and (6) the non-economic damages sustained which includes your pain, suffering and inconvenience.  The insurance companies will look at similar factors when evaluating your case.

All cases are different!  No two cases are exactly alike.  While medical bills and lost wages are generally straightforward to tally, the non-economic portion of claims (i.e. pain and suffering) will vary from case to case.  Additionally, there is no standard chart that a judge uses while he is listening to your case to determine how much you should receive for your pain and suffering.  This is why it is so important to contact an experienced attorney, who is familiar with the court system and is frequently in a courtroom trying cases just like yours, to provide advice on an appropriate and realistic value for your case.

Be wary of online calculators and websites that provide you an instant estimated value of your case, or, relying on the settlement value that your friend’s mother received on her case—every case is different!  Verdicts can also vary drastically just from one county to the next in Maryland.  So, if you’re thinking that the insurance company has made you too low of an offer on your case and you deserve more, you need to reach out to an attorney for an evaluation of your case.