Hiring a car accident lawyer will be a step in the right direction in putting yourself in a good position to receive the best settlement for your personal injury case. Taking this step will also be a very wise decision considering that a 2017 research showed that 70 percent of personal injury claimants received a payout. This may lead some to ask, “How much is the average settlement for a personal injury case?”
Around 67 percent of the 70 percent of personal injury case payouts received their compensation via out of court settlements while the remaining 3 percent received theirs after a trial. This means that a majority of personal injury cases end up being settled out of court. Here a look at how much you can expect to receive in a settlement if ever you file a personal injury claim.
Average Settlement in Personal Injury Cases
The 2017 survey referenced earlier placed the average financial settlement in personal injury cases at $52,000. Should you expect then to receive a settlement in your own personal injury claims around that same average? While it would be nice to receive a hefty compensation for a personal injury claim, this is not always the case. What you don’t see in this average is that your settlement may be even lower than $3,000 or go on the upward of $70,000. In other words, personal injury settlement amounts can vary wildly.
Among those surveyed in the study who received payouts, around 37 percent of them received $3,000 to $10,000. Others weren’t so lucky as 16 percent of them received less than $3,000. Some 21 percent of claimants are luckier, receiving $10,000 to $25,000 in settlements. Around 10 percent of the cases ended with financial settlements ranging from $25,000 to $75,000. Surprisingly settlements amounting to more than $75,000 comprised 16 percent of those who were surveyed. Based on this data, it would be a stretch to assume that your own personal injury case will be settled around the average payout amount.
Factors That Affect Personal Injury Claims
Several factors can affect the amount of the personal injury settlement that insurance companies are willing to pay. However, two of these factors are important because you cannot do anything to change them. These are the injuries that you sustain and the limits of the defendant’s insurance policy.
If you sustain serious injuries, payouts will mostly be higher to compensate for the costs of your treatment and therapy, loss of income and other damages. As for the defendant’s insurance policy, it should be expected that the company providing coverage for the defendant won’t be agreeable to paying beyond the limits of the policy.
How Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Affect Your Settlement
Data from the 2017 survey also shows that the chances of receiving a payout are significantly higher in claimants who hired legal representation at 91 percent. Those who choose to handle their claims on their own are successful at only 51 percent of the time. This means that you only have a 50-50 chance of receiving a payout if you decided against hiring a lawyer.
The disparity of the amounts paid to claimants who hired lawyers versus those who did not is also significant. Those with legal representation received an average of $77,000 compared to $17,000 for those who did not hire a personal injury lawyer.
All of this information provides clear proof of the importance of hiring personal injury attorneys to help you file a claim. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to look for seasoned lawyers to make yourself better prepared in case you suffer injuries because of the negligence of another person.
