There is no “average” settlement amount that you can reference when assessing how much your personal injury case is worth. If you were hurt in an accident and want to pursue compensation from the liable party, your settlement will depend on various factors unique to your case. You will need to consider questions like:
- How badly were you injured?
- What type of accident or incident caused your injuries?
- Are your injuries permanent, or do you expect to recover fully?
- Do you have convincing proof to back up your case?
If you sustained debilitating injuries in an accident that was someone else’s fault, you may be able to secure compensation for healthcare bills, lost income, and other damages. A personal injury attorney from our office can evaluate your situation and provide legal guidance.
What Personal Injury Damages Can I Recover?
There are two main kinds of damages that you can recover in a personal injury claim: compensatory and punitive. Compensatory damages are those that compensate you for any direct and indirect costs associated with your injuries. For example, they can cover:
- Medical costs: Your injuries are serious enough that you need treatment from a medical professional, either now or in the future.
- Property damage: For instance, if you were involved in a car accident and your car was damaged, you may have needed to pay for repairs or a car rental.
- Lost wages: You could not do your job because of your injuries, so you lost income.
- Loss of consortium: Your injuries have negatively impacted your relationship with your spouse in any way.
- Pain and suffering: The injuries have been physically and emotionally distressing and affected all aspects of your life.
- Reduced quality of life: You cannot do all of the things you used to, including necessary household chores or even fun leisure activities.
When you work with our team, we will take the time to identify and determine the value of each of your compensatory damages.
Punitive Damages
There are multiple differences between compensatory damages and punitive damages, including:
- Purpose: While compensatory damages reimburse you for injuries, punitive damages punish the liable party financially for gross negligence or especially reckless behavior.
- Rarity: Punitive damages are not awarded very often and probably will not apply to your case.
- How to get them: Punitive damages will not be part of any settlement you request. It is up to a jury to decide if the liable party’s actions are so egregious that they should be penalized.
The idea of punitive damages is a contentious one in civil courts. If you think you deserve them, a lawyer can help you determine if you have grounds for such a claim.
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How Do You Calculate Pain and Suffering?
There are several ways to determine what a reasonable settlement might look like for your particular situation. For example, you can start by understanding what kinds of damages you are eligible to recover.
Our team has more than 250 years of combined legal experience. We can put that experience to work for you by figuring out exactly how much your case is worth. This process may include:
- Collecting evidence from as many different sources as possible to corroborate your claims, including medical records, police reports, and witness testimony
- Requesting statements from experts in relevant fields, such as economics or medicine, to support your lawsuit
- Speaking with you about your accident and the effects it has had on you
- Identifying all of the different kinds of compensatory damages for which you qualify
- Deciding which calculations to run to get you an appropriate settlement
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Are There Laws That Affect My Case’s Worth?
In Louisiana, several laws may affect your ability to collect compensation for a personal injury. These include:
- CC Art. 3492: Also called the statute of limitations, this law gives you one year from the accident date to start a lawsuit. After this date, you no longer have a right to seek damages.
- CC Art. 2323: If a court finds you partially responsible for the accident or your injuries, your payout will decrease accordingly.
- RS 13:5106: Depending on who you sue, you may only be able to collect a maximum of $500,000 in non-economic damages. Non-economic damages include compensation for physical and emotional loss but not financial loss.
Our office understands how each of these laws work and would be happy to explain how they apply to your case.
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We Take Personal Injury Cases in Louisiana
If you were injured in any sort of accident, you can depend on Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers for legal guidance. We can help calculate how much your personal injury case is worth and fight hard to get the insurance company to pay that amount.
Our firm has multiple locations throughout Louisiana, including offices in New Orleans, Lafayette, Alexandria, and Marksville. For a free consultation with our team, call (337) 777-7777 whenever you are ready.
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