Understanding the Cost of Personal Injury Claims
If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, you may be wondering if you have a personal injury claim. Clients who inquire about PI claims are often unsure about whether they have a valid case. Is your injury serious enough to warrant a lawsuit? Here is what you need to know about when you can file a personal injury claim.
When Is an Injury Severe Enough?
How can you tell if your injury is severe enough for a lawsuit? When you talk to your lawyer, he or she will most likely explain how attorneys work on a contingency basis. This means that he or she receives a cut out of your settlement. If there is very little chance that you will receive money, a personal injury lawyer may not take your case.
Personal injury cases can take a lot of time. For example, it takes hours out of the lawyer’s time if you have a medical malpractice case. Your injury needs to be severe enough to pay for the legal fees. Someone else’s negligence may have injured you, but you have to prove that the injury cost you a real monetary value. Your case should not be more expensive to fight than the settlement itself.
How Can You Calculate the Cost?
To calculate the cost of your injury, consider economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are those damages that you can assign a value to. For example, your medical bills, lost wages and other costs associated with the injury may be easy to sum up. Non-economic damages, however, include pain and suffering.
Pain and suffering account for mental anguish or mental health issues that resulted from the accident. For example, if you were an athlete before an accident, you could lose the joy you found in athletics if you can no longer compete. If your quality of life changed after your injury, then you may be awarded non-economic damages.
When it comes to non-economic damages, lawyers and insurance companies use a multiplier to decide how much you deserve in compensation. Your lawyer can negotiate with the insurance company to help you get the best possible deal.
Before you file a claim, set up a consultation with a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. He or she will be able to assess your case and determine whether the injury is serious enough to make up for the legal fees involved with a claim.
