You were in an automobile accident last year and have endured many months of physical therapy for your injuries.  The at-fault driver’s insurance company made a settlement offer pretty quickly, but it was a very low amount.  You did the smart thing and said continue with treatment.  You are still continuing with treatment.  How do you figure what an appropriate settlement amount would be?  Is there some sort of formula?  Does it take into account your medical bills and medical treatment?

In the old days (about 20 years ago) there used to be a ballpark formula for what a personal injury case was worth.  Most cases would settle for 3 to 5 times the medical bills. This is not the case anymore.

20 years ago most insurance companies went to computer programs to determine what your accident case is worth.  The purpose of these programs was to lower the amount paid out on injury claims and turn the insurance claims department ionto a profit center. There are various names for these programs like COLOSSUS, TEACH and SMART.  They’re all basically the same.  You’re not just a number now, you’re 10,000 plus numbers.  There are over 10,000 items that can be entered into these computer programs to determine what your case is worth.

When the insurance company has made an initial low offer is extremely difficult to get them to raise the offer without contacting an attorney that understands how these computer programs work and is prepared to take your case to trial if needed.  You need both.  Call someone to discuss your case and settlement to make sure that you’re on the right track and that you’re able to get the best settlement possible on your case.  If a low offer was made it’s probably not going to go up.  Based on insurance company statistics and their own reports, they pay almost double for an injury case to somebody that has an attorney as opposed to somebody that doesn’t have an attorney.

When a client comes into my office on an initial consultation, one of the questions that are almost always asked is “How much is my accident case worth?”  As a personal injury attorney I dislike talking about money at this point in time. It is too early. I have to look my potential client in the eye and say “I have no idea.”

         At this point in time there is no way to know.  At the beginning of the case there are too many questions that are left to be answered. To give an accurate assessment of what that value of a personal injury case is you must:

·        Have insurance information

·        Assess the strength of liability

·        Review and analyze all medical records

·        Know what the injuries are

·        How the accident has affected the client

·        The permanency of any injury 

Once you have finished treating and we know what the extent of your injuries are and whether or not you are going to recover or have permanent injuries that is the time to assess the value of your accident case.  You almost never can assess the value of it at the beginning of the case.  You need to wait to the end to find out what the real long-term consequences of the accident are on your life.

At that point in time a personal injury attorney will use their experience to put a value on your pain and suffering, medical bills and loss of power to labor and earn money. A valuable tool that is used is trial experience. I also use The Kentucky Trial Court Review which is put out every year by Shannon Ragland. Since 1990 Shannon has been summarizing every civil jury trial that has been tried in Kentucky. These summaries of verdicts are an invaluable tool that I use to help asses the true value of a case, which is an accident victim’s pain and suffering. By comparing a case with similar fact situations I can get an idea as to what a jury has awarded under similar circumstances.

Insurance companies have tried to systematize placing a value on a car accident case by using programs such as COLOSSUS. This computer program is used by part of the insurance industry in an effort to minimize settlement values in personal injury cases. These computer programs are used to make settlement offers uniform and to ultimately increase the insurance companies profits. The insurance adjuster simply enters the data into the program. The program then gives the adjuster a range that a case can be settled in. This is one of the many reasons your attorney needs your entire medical history and all of the facts about your automobile accident case.  By making sure the adjuster receives all the appropriate information that is used in the computer program and outlining that data, your attorney can increase the odds that the settlement offer is as high as possible.

        Placing a value on a case is not a science. Many times it is a gut feeling that only experience can truly give you.