After encountering a car accident, you must file a personal injury lawsuit and seek compensation. While doing that, you may be interested in getting more information on how much your lawsuit would provide you as the settlement. To get a better understanding on it, let’s take a look at some of the most common car accident injuries and how they impact settlement amounts.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are some of the most devastating injuries one can sustain in a vehicle collision. They frequently result in permanent disabilities and completely alter a person’s quality of life. As such, spinal cord injury settlements are often exceptionally high compared to other types of injuries.
The level of the spinal cord injury (paraplegia versus quadriplegia) also impacts the value. However, even the most basic spinal cord injuries usually result in six and seven-figure settlement amounts.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Right behind spinal cord injuries in severity are traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) sustained in car wrecks. They too result in lifelong disabilities for many crash victims. TBIs can impact everything from cognition, personality, speech, vision, balance, and more. TBI settlement amounts vary greatly depending on the severity.
Minor TBIs may result in modest five-figure settlements while moderate or severe TBIs often yield seven-figure+ case values. Lifetime medical costs and lost wages factor hugely in TBI cases.
Amputations
Loss of a limb is a devastating outcome for any car accident victim. Amputation severely impacts one’s mobility and ability to work, not to mention self-confidence and quality of life. Settlement figures for amputations often reach the million-dollar mark, especially in cases of double amputations.
Damages include extensive medical bills, prosthetic device costs, loss of future earnings capacity, and pain/suffering. The higher up the limb was severed (e.g. above versus below knee/elbow) the higher the usual settlement value.
Internal Organ Damage
Getting internal organs like the liver, kidneys, spleen, bladder, intestines, or stomach injured in a crash can require multiple dangerous surgeries. There may be high risk of mortality with such injuries too.
Resulting issues include organ failure, sepsis, extensive hospital/ICU stays, colostomy bags, digestive issues, urinary issues, infertility, and more. Settlement figures for serious internal organ damage often exceed one million dollars owing to high economic and non-economic losses.
Scarring and Disfigurement
While not physically disabling per se, having visible scarring or disfigurement following a car wreck can still drastically impact a victim’s life. Having severe scars or burns on one’s face or body parts can demolish self-esteem and make normal social/work life extremely difficult. Settlement payouts for serious disfigurement caused by another driver’s actions can thus still yield six and seven-figure case values. The location and severity of scarring impacts value.
Other Factors Impacting Settlement Amounts
Keep in mind that settlement figures derive from more than just injury type/severity. The at-fault driver’s level of negligence, details of accident causation, availability and limits of insurance coverage also determine value. Having an experienced personal injury attorney assess liability issues helps maximize settlement amounts to cover all past and future crash-related losses.
Additional Long-Term Effects That Increase Settlement Values
Beyond the initial injury itself, car accident settlements also account for any resulting long-term impairments or health effects. Ongoing medical complications raise the settlement value. Some additional crash injury consequences that boost case values include:
- Chronic Pain and Required Pain Management
Many crash injuries cause chronic pain that never fully goes away. Victims may need to attend pain therapy, take medications, or receive injections for years. These costs plus the impact on quality of life factor into settlements.
- Addiction to Prescription Pain Medications
It’s tragically common to develop addiction to opioid pain pills after an accident. Victims then require expensive rehab/therapy for this secondary condition. The costs and life disruption of addiction/rehab expand settlement amounts.
- Psychological Trauma and Mental Health Issues
Crash injuries frequently lead to PTSD, depression, anxiety or other psychological issues. Ongoing therapy and medication for conditions like these increase the value of accident claims.
- Permanent Physical Limitations
Injuries causing long-term restrictions in mobility, lifting, range of motion, dexterity and strength abilities used to demand higher payouts. Damages cover home/vehicle modifications, home health aides, loss of hobbies, etc.
These severe secondary conditions almost always occur following spinal cord trauma, brain injuries, amputations or massive internal damage. Documenting how a negligent driver caused extensive “ripple effects” from an original injury earns victims far higher settlements.
Final Words
Statistics show that the average car accident settlement over the past decade falls between $14,000-$28,000 depending on variables noted above. However, victims who sustain severe spinal cord trauma, TBIs, amputations, or internal organ damage in a serious collision often settle cases for over $1 million. A skilled Denver Car Accident Lawyer can advise on what settlement amount reasonably covers true costs stemming from catastrophic crash injuries caused by a negligent driver.
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