What Is a Fair Settlement for a Personal Injury Claim in OKC?
Sudden injuries are painful and distressing, especially when you know the injury was preventable if only someone else had taken reasonable care. When medical bills pile up at the same time that injuries keep you from returning to work, financial hardship can quickly become unmanageable. When another party’s negligent, reckless, or wrongful action causes an injury with resulting economic and non-economic damages, the injury victim has a right to file a personal injury claim to recover compensation for their damages.
When facing an uncertain future due to serious injuries, the first question most injury victims ask their Oklahoma City personal injury lawyer is, “What can I expect for a settlement in my personal injury claim?”
Understanding The Economic Factors That Impact Your Personal Injury Settlement In Oklahoma City
Although Googling “average personal injury settlement” turns up a variety of results, it’s important to remember that arriving at an average settlement requires first totaling a very wide range of numbers. A fair settlement for each individual case depends on the unique circumstances of the case. The severity of the injury and whether or not the impacts are permanent, such as disability or impairment, are important factors that impact the total amount of the settlement an injury victim can expect. The following economic damages may or may not apply in your case:
- The cost of the medical treatment that the injury victim has already undergone
- Projected future medical costs for necessary further treatment like surgeries, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and home health aide
- Costs of prescriptions, medical equipment, and out-of-pocket costs like travel expenses for seeing specialists
- Lost wages
- Future income loss for expected further required treatment
- Diminished capacity for future earning in cases of disability
When a personal injury ends in wrongful death, a claim includes funeral and burial costs, plus lost income and benefits like healthcare insurance and retirement contributions for the working years the decedent would have had remaining to them if they’d survived.
Non-Economic Damages Included In Personal Injury Claims
In addition to arriving at a total for economic damages, personal injury claims also cover non-economic damages. Even though monetary compensation doesn’t alleviate non-economic damages, it is the court’s only way of redressing the worst consequences of a personal injury. Common non-economic damages factored into personal injury settlements include the following:
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Compensation for diminished quality of life due to temporary or permanent disability
- Compensation for non-economic damages that apply in some cases such as traumatic limb loss, the loss of vision or hearing, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and PTSD
Non-economic damages are sometimes included for wrongful death personal injury cases in Oklahoma City as well, such as compensation for grief and anguish, loss of consortium, or the loss of parental nurturing and guidance.
How Do You Arrive at a Settlement In Personal Injury Cases?
It takes an experienced investigation by a skilled attorney to make a compelling case for the at-fault party’s liability and then to make a meticulous list of the injury victim’s damages. A personal injury attorney sends this evidence to the appropriate insurance company and then begins negotiating for a settlement agreement. More than 93% of personal injury cases are resolved through settlements, but a minority of cases require litigation in court if the insurance company doesn’t offer an acceptable amount.
In some cases, an insurance company may try to assign a portion of fault for the injury to the injury victim. Under Oklahoma’s comparative negligence insurance system, this reduces the compensation amount by the injury victim’s percentage of fault.
How Can an Oklahoma Personal Injury Lawyer Help My Claim?
Insurance companies commonly protect their profits at the injury victim’s expense, including assigning an undue percentage of fault to the injury victim. If you’ve suffered a preventable injury caused by someone else, you deserve legal representation. By having experienced representation throughout the claim, you’re far more likely to achieve the maximum compensation available to you. Contact Dan Davis Law today so we can begin asserting your legal rights.