You suffered a car accident. The guy in the pick up behind you wasn’t paying attention in stop and go traffic on the 5 freeway and you got tagged from behind. Your car suffered a couple of thousand dollars worth of damage and your neck and back were injured. You were fortunate that a friend recommended a good car accident expert doctor in Orange County and your injuries pretty much resolved.
After 3 months of car accident chiropractic treatment, you’re ready to settle. You’ve decided to try to settle on your own because you recall the last time you had an accident and hired a lawyer, he and his doctor made out just fine but you were left with nearly no settlement and it took months and months.
You’ve researched online and found that you need to write a demand letter to the insurance company and request a personal injury settlement. The”hard” costs you understand: your doctor’s bill, 2 days off of work because you were in too much pain and a laptop that was on the seat was broken. Your car was already fixed and you signed off on that already. Your problem is, you have no idea how much much to ask for in “personal injury pain and suffering.”
Personal injury pain and suffering is an amount that has no fixed amount. It is supposed to compensate you for the period of time you were in pain and could not enjoy your normal home and work life. You couldn’t do laundry without a lot of pain. You worked but everyday your shoulders and neck burned. You had to give up your position on the company softball team. These are all real losses, but how do you quantify them? Hence, it is better to hire a reliable and reputable car accident lawyer to help you to deal with all the regulations and legal processes including your claims. This will allow you to deal with less stress towards the impact of injury.
A common manner in which a personal injury lawyer will make a demand for pain and suffering is to multiply the cost of your medical treatments by a number ranging from 1 to 5. The number you choose depends on how affected you were by the pain.
Let’s say for 1 month you could not work at all, for 6 months you were unable to do anything but very light activity and had to take over the counter pain relievers all during that time. That would warrant a higher number say a 4.
On the other hand if you had pain that was present but tolerable and did not impact your daily life much after about 2 months, that number would be more like a 1.
Remember this is all negotiated and there are no hard and fast rules, so be as accurate as possible and pick your multiplier. Overreaching will only sour the negotiations. Most common car accidents with treatment periods of 2 to 4 months will use multipliers of 1-2, 6months of treatment and significant alterations in daily activities are 3′s . Prolonged treatment 6 months to 2 years, large medical bills, hospitalizations, visible scars, prolonged periods off of work will be 4-5.
After you’ve arrived at your number and made your demand, be reasonable in your negotiations. A car accident is not hitting the lottery. Personal Injury cases in Orange County CA can yield fair settlements, but it is an uphill battle. If the insurance company is not being reasonable and you cannot reach a fair personal injury settlement, then you should consider talking to an Orange County CA Personal Injury Lawyer who may be able to pick up where you left off and get you the settlement you deserve.
