There isn’t a one-size-fits-all number for calculating compensation. Every accident situation is unique. Lawyers and insurance adjusters have some ways to figure it out, but it’s mostly about the details.
After a serious car accident, people have so many bills to pay; there are hospital bills, car repairs, and even lost money from not working. That’s when lawyers step in. They help figure out how much money someone should get to make things a little better.
Things like medical bills, lost pay from not working, how bad the pain is, and even how much life got messed up.
Knowing the methods helps victims guess how much they might get and make sure they’re not taken advantage of.
How Lawyers Calculate Economic Damages
Economic damages are the easiest part to understand. These are things you can see and count with numbers.
Medical Expenses
Lawyers collect all medical bills. This includes ambulance rides, hospital visits, surgery, medicine, physical therapy, and follow-up appointments.
They also look at future medical care. If a doctor says the person will need more treatment later, lawyers include that cost too.
Lost Wages
If someone cannot work because of the accident, they lose money. Lawyers look at pay stubs, work schedules, or letters from employers to see how much money was missed.
If the person cannot go back to the same job or has to work fewer hours in the future, lawyers calculate that lost money too.
Property Damage
Property damage refers to the cost of repairing or replacing personal property damaged in the accident, such as a vehicle or other belongings. Lawyers review repair estimates, invoices, and photographs to calculate these losses accurately.
All of these numbers get added together. This total is the economic damages.
How Lawyers Calculate Non-Economic Damages
These are the main methods lawyers use to calculate non-economic compensation for car accident victims:
The Multiplier Method
This is one of the main ways lawyers figure out money. First, they add up all the bills you got: hospital, medicine, lost wages, and car repairs.
Then, they multiply that number by something like 1.5 to 5. The bigger the injuries or the harder the accident messed up your life, the bigger the multiplier.
For example, if all your bills are $20,000 and the multiplier is 3 because the injuries are bad, the settlement could be $60,000. Lawyers help argue for the right multiplier so it reflects how bad the accident really was.
The Per Diem Method
This one is different. Lawyers put a dollar amount on every day someone suffers because of the accident. Then they multiply it by the number of days the victim was hurting.
Say the daily amount is $200, and someone was in pain for 150 days. That comes out to $30,000 just for pain and suffering. This works better if the injuries heal in a predictable time. If they’re permanent, the multiplier method usually makes more sense.
Insurance Settlement Calculators
Some companies or lawyers use calculators to guess settlement numbers. They plug in bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering.
But calculators can’t feel what it’s like to live with the pain or stress. They don’t always count future medical needs or the emotional stuff.
So, victims should never trust a calculator alone. A lawyer can make sure everything is counted before agreeing to a number.
Key Takeaways
- Lawyers add up your bills and pain and try to make it fair.
- The multiplier method is like taking your actual damages and multiplying them if it really hurts a lot.
- The per diem method counts every day you hurt.
- Serious injuries mean more money; small injuries mean less.
- Insurance might try to cheat you, but your lawyers stop that from happening.
