The Worth of My Claim

Often, someone who has been wounded is inquisitive about how much they may receive in a settlement. That’s understandable. But early in a case, and especially during an early consultation, an attorney generally can’t provide a reasonable estimate. Attorneys should not be preferred based on whether they will give such an estimate, or how high that estimate is. Many of the finest attorneys won’t make such estimates, because it’s not reasonable to either the client or the attorney, to generate expectations that might not come about.

A bodily injury claim can only be assessed by a skilled and experienced attorney with the knowledge of all significant information, including the following:

• All of the factual details surrounding how, where, when and why the injury occurred in order to find out if there is any liability for the injury at all and, if so, to evaluate what defenses may be existing and to approximate the degree of fault which may be charged against the injured person, as well as the prospective defendant(s);
• Whether it is a worker’s compensation, a tort claim or both;
• The particulars of the injured person’s medical history, both before and after the injury;
• All medical expenses, including physician drugs, hospital, therapy bills and other expenses incurred or finished to date for diagnosis and treatment, and all such expenditures which may be incurred in the future;
• All past and expected future loss of income arising from the injury;
• All other projected and past monetary losses and expenses arising from the injury;
• How the injury has changed the injured person’s ability to execute the various activities he or she performed before the injury, including work, social, sports, household and recreational;
• Whether the potential defendant has insurance and, if so, how much; or if there is no insurance, information relating to the ability of the prospective defendant to pay;
• The injured person’s marital status, work history, educational history, and appearance, demeanor and credibility as a witness;
• The capacity and readiness of the injured person to train for and execute other work, the cost of any such retraining and the earnings which might be earned after retraining;
• The prospective defendant’s credibility, appearance and demeanor as a witness;
• The credibility and availability of both expert and non-expert witnesses on all damage issues and liability;
• The law which would be functional to the case in the state(s) where it would or could be filed;
• Whether the case could be filed in or eliminated to a federal court and, if so, which one(s);
• A history of the jury verdicts who have been rendered in alike cases in the court(s) where the case would be filed and a “feel” for how a jury in that jurisdiction would react to the case;
• The anticipated expenditure of prosecuting the case through possible appeal and trial.

That list is not exhaustive. Any figure of other factors may come into play before a right settlement assessment can be made.  These include the existence of medical and other liens not in favour of the claim, the willingness or unwillingness of the offended person and the prospective defendant(s) to employ in what could become a long legal battle, the relative skills of the attorneys, and judicial attitudes.