In order to receive a fair amount of compensation for a Texas personal injury claim, it’s important to accurately add up the costs of your accident and damages.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as basic addition. If you’re thinking about filing a personal injury claim for your accident injuries, it’s important to accurately estimate the value of your damages when determining how much your settlement is worth.
Here are some factors that can determine that damage value and information on how your personal injury settlement can be calculated in Texas.
Factors that determine accident claim value in Texas
The first thing that many think of when they think of claim value is medical expenses, but medical bills aren’t the only thing that determines how much compensation you can seek. Other damages that need to be added up include:
- Predicted lost wages
- Future medical expenses
- Pain and suffering from injuries
- Property damages
The value of some of these factors can’t be added up mathematically; how do you assign a value to the pain you experienced because of a broken back? This is where determining value becomes tricky.
Calculating your settlement value
The most common way that your settlement total will be calculated in the state of Texas, and across the U.S., is a multiplier. The multiplier works to add up your non-economic damages that aren’t definite amounts (i.e. pain and suffering).
Your non-economic damages like pain and suffering are assigned a number based on the severity of your accident. That number is then multiplied by your economic damages like medical expenses and the total is considered the amount your settlement is worth.
Unfortunately, insurance companies will not want to give you the amount you feel you are owed. Negotiation will be used to reach an agreement unless you decide to pursue your compensation in court.
To learn more about how personal injury settlements are added up, check out our article “How Much is my Injury Worth?”