How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?

Determining the value of a personal injury case in St. Petersburg, Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, is very difficult, as there is no magic formula.  It helps to have 27 years of trial experience to come up with a general range, but since every injury effects every person differently, and every jury is made up of a different mix of people, no one can give you an exact answer.  If they say they can, run away! 

In simple terms, your case is worth the amount of your damages, which include your out of pocket medical bills; your potential future medical bills; your past and future lost wages; and your past and future pain and suffering.  You are also entitled to be paid for any damage to your personal property, such as your vehicle.  Past medical bills are usually pretty clear cut, but even those can cause battles between you and your own insurance company.  Future medical bills can be predicted by your treating doctors, but anything in the future is always just an educated guess.  Showing lost wages can be as simple as showing prior paychecks compared to future ones, or can be extremely complicated if you own your own business, or had the potential to earn more than you had been making.  Finally pain and suffering is the most difficult thing to prove.  There is no "pain-o-meter" machine to plug you into to prove how much you hurt.  This usually depends on the testimony of the client, and frankly, how believable they are.

As a trial attorney, I am always looking ahead to what a jury would think.  It is not always fair, but we don't go to the "fairhouse", we go to the "courthouse" and perception is most important.  A significant amount of property damage, and going to the hospital or a doctor immediately are often important to a jury.  Obviously the amount of treatment, and wheather the treatment is painful, such as injections, or significant, such as surgery, are likely to make a jury think "Wow, they must have really been hurt to go through that!".

Finally, the effect on you can be tremendous.  As an example, if I had a severe hand injury, it would be inconvient, but I could still do my job as a lawyer.  If I was a carpenter, or a surgeon, or a professional musician I might be completely out of work forever.

An experienced trial attorney puts all these factors together to put your case in the best light in dealing with the insurance company, or presenting it to the jury.  It is not always possible to give an exact prediction of outcome, but the real job is getting the highest offer possible on the table, or getting the highest amount your particular jury is willing to give.