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If you were hurt in an accident caused by someone else, your injuries make you eligible for a settlement or award. You deserve some amount of recovery. At the very least, you need to be reimbursed for your medical expenses and any property damage that occurred.

But when you look at the news, you hear about million and multi-million dollar settlements. It makes you wonder: What is my personal injury claim worth? If you are hurt and seeking to recover, contact the Randall Spivey and his team of Cape Coral personal injury attorneys at the Spivey Law Firm to learn about your options.

Monetary Compensatory Damages

Recovery for a personal injury claim begins with identifiable compensatory damages. These are monetary damages you can prove you have already incurred or are highly likely to incur in the future, including:

• Medical expenses
• Transportation and travel costs
• Lost wages
• Lost earning capacity
• Property damage

By seeking these damages, you are asking to be made whole under the law. It might not be possible to make you entirely whole, depending on the physical and emotional consequences of the accident, but you should not have the burden of paying for the consequences of injuries you did not cause.

Non-Monetary Compensatory Damages

Anyone who has been in an accident understands not all damages can be calculated from a receipt or invoice. There are injuries that are not as easily quantifiable but need to be addressed monetarily as best as possible. Additional compensatory damages include:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Disability or disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment

This type of recovery is also meant to make you whole but is not based on monetary figures. How much you can seek for these harms depends on the extent of your emotional injuries, where you live and the discretion of the judge or jury.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are in no way compensatory. They are meant to punish the wrongdoer. Florida allows this type of recovery in a personal injury case only if the defendant is found grossly negligent, engages in intentional misconduct, acts with a reckless attitude by putting profits over safety or drives while intoxicated.

Other Influential Factors

There is not one set amount you must recover or are likely to receive. Factors outside of your injury and control will influence whether the insurance company, judge or jury awards you a significantly higher settlement, such as:

• Type of injury: Soft tissue injuries often receive lower settlement offers or jury awards because it is more difficult for others to see the physical damage and pain. A broken bone can be seen on an X-ray or scan. It is visible and real. Soft tissue injuries are less observable.
• Severity of the accident: While the severity of the actual accident is not analogous or correlated to the injuries you suffer from it, juries sometimes award higher damages when the accident is more shocking or serious.
• Location of the court case: Politics, religion and other cultural factors affect jury awards. More liberal and economically depressed regions tend to give higher jury awards.

Contact Us Today

If you were injured because of someone else’s actions and you are not sure how much your injuries are worth, contact the experienced Cape Coral personal injury attorneys of the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. to learn more.