The biggest part of your personal injury settlement amounts depend on the type of car accident injuries you suffered.
The amount of money you get from your settlements for personal injury from a car accident will depend on
a) Severity of your injuries.
b) How much proof you can give of your pain and suffering.
The auto insurance company divides up your injuries into two broad categories, soft injuries and hard injuries.
Soft injuries
Most car accident injuries are soft injuries.
These types of injuries are called soft injuries because they only involve muscles and other soft tissue. Soft injuries include strained neck, sprained knees or ankle, back spasms, whiplash etc.
Soft injuries don’t usually give you a lot of money from your personal injury settlement amounts. This is because soft injuries are not permanent injuries and are not considered severe or life damaging.
Another reason is that you cannot really prove how bad a soft injury really is. Soft injuries are subjective and cannot be quantified by any medical report. The only way you can show how severe the pain is through your own description of the pain you feel.
The insurance companies know this. They understand that if you ever took your claims to a court, your personal injury settlement amounts will be low because you could not prove how badly you were injured.
As a result, you typically get less amount of money for a soft injury.
Hard Injuries
Hard injuries are more severe. These types of injuries get the biggest personal injury settlement amounts because they can have serious impact on your long term health and lifestyle. Hard injuries are also easily documented and can be proven in a court.
Let’s take a look at the different types of hard injuries that pay the most.
Head Injuries
Head injuries get a lot of money from an injury settlement because the damages can be long lasting and you may experience recurring concussions, dizziness, and headaches. It is safe to assume, that the number of serious complications that can result from your head injury is extremely high.
The insurance company understands the seriousness of a head injury. They will try to settle with you more quickly because the longer they wait, the higher the risk of some major diagnosis and expensive treatment.
For a real world example, read $2.16 Million Accident Compensation for Head Injury.
Broken bones
Anytime an X-Ray reveals any kind of fracture or break in your bones, you increase your accident injury settlement amounts.
The amount you get depends on how severe the break is and how it impacts your regular life. A hair line fracture in your hand, might not be considered as damaging as breaking both of your legs and being stuck in a wheel chair.
Wounds and Scars
If you were severely wounded, you may have needed stitches or have developed a scar. Scars can increase your injury settlement amounts, if you can show any sort of psychological damage or financial loss.
For example, a scar on a teenage girl may cause her embarrassment and emotional trauma. Similarly, a scar on a professional model can hurt her ability to earn future income. If the scar is permanent, this would further increase your personal injury settlement amounts.
A good way to get an injury settlement amounts for a scar, is to consult with a plastic surgeon to see how much it would cost to remove the scar. You can then have an idea of how much you should get from your auto accident settlement.
Torn ligaments and tendons, Separated Muscles, Joint dislocation
These types of injuries pay more personal injury settlement amounts because they simply sound more painful.
If you present a medical report to a jury, which describes any sort of tearing, joint dislocation or separation, you can’t help but feel something for the injured person. This increases your injury settlement amounts because it gives a painful perception of your injuries.
Spinal injury
These type of injuries involve damaging any vertebrae or spinal discs. A spinal injury has the obvious consequence of affecting your ability to walk as well as restricting your movements.
Clearly, this injury would severely impact your ability to do normal activities like run or go on vacations.
Therefore, your personal injury settlement amounts have to increase to compensate for your difficult lifestyle.
Bottom Line
The type of your injury plays a key role in determining the range of your personal injury settlement amounts.
If you suffered a soft injury, you will most likely get close to whatever your medical expenses and loss of income were.
If you unfortunately suffered a hard injury, then your personal injury settlement claims will be much higher. This is because these types of injuries are more painful and provable in front of potential jury.
Want to know How Much Your Injury Claim is Worth? Get a free settlement estimate right now.
From Personal Injury Settlement Amounts to What is My Pain and Suffering Worth?
From Personal Injury Settlements to Car Accident Claims Home
