Determine Your Personal Injury Settlement

Have you recently been hurt in an accident that wasn't your fault? Maybe you fell on an icy piece of property that wasn't properly maintained for pedestrians. Maybe you were rear-ended in a car accident and now have extensive medical bills to treat your whiplash. Whatever the reason, you may qualify for a personal injury settlement to help you cope with lost wages and mounting medical expenses.

One of the biggest things that most people wonder with regard to their personal injury claim is how much money they are actually entitled to. In the United States of America, there aren't many laws that restrict how much you can sue another person for. But how much of that money are you going to actually get? How much is the judge or jury going to award you to pay for your medical bills and monthly home maintenance bills? There are four major categories to keep in mind when determining your personal injury settlement worth.

The first and often most obvious expense to determine how much you have spent on medical bills associated with the personal injury. This is relatively easy to tally up as it should consist of hospital or physician bills and insurance claims with co-pay information. Pharmacy medication such as painkillers should be included here as well.

If your personal injury involved a motor vehicle accident, then the next two sections apply to you. The amount of money that it will cost to repair your car is an important factor to keep in mind. Take note of repair invoices and add up the total for all repair jobs from front to back. While your car is in the shop, you may be utilizing a rental car. This cost should also be added to your total settlement claim as it is another expense directly related to the accident.

Lastly, one of the biggest factors in personal injury settlements that inflates the figure quite dramatically in some cases is lost income. Calculate all of the money that you would have made if you hadn't missed any work due to the accident. If you are still working, this is obviously less important than if you have a new-onset disability that prevents you from doing your job.

Keep all of these items in mind when determining the value of your case. In the end, the judge will also decide how much of the responsibility is shared between the two parties. For example, in many auto accidents, the driver that was hit is determined to be 10% responsible for the accident. This means that the other party only has to pay 90% of the total personal injury settlement claim.