Calculating Damages For A Head Injury Settlement

The only method to calculate damages for a potential head injury settlement is to consult a lawyer, who specializes in personal injury claims involving head injuries. With this being said, a victim can do some relative guesswork to determine the value of a head injury in a personal injury claim. In short, the value of a personal injury claim is the total of economic (special) and non-economic (general) damages incurred by a victim, and in rare cases, any potential punitive damages applicable as well. The value of a claim, in practice and theory, is based on the potential award a plaintiff (victim) can receive should the case go to trial. Given that the outcome of a trial is unpredictable and based on number of factors, calculating a potential settlement is difficult. In essence, liable parties offer settlements to injury victims to prevent further losses should a case proceed to trial. From a negotiating perspective of the victim, the relative strength of a personal injury claim, the amount of damages sustained (or the amount of financial losses a liable party is at risk of realizing should a trial go in favor of the plaintiff), and many other case-specific considerations go into calculating potential head injury settlement amounts. (See also Brain Contusion Injury Claims).

Liable Parties and Settlement Offers

Aside from the relative strength of a claim, the propensity of a liable party to offer a settlement amount is a major factor. Furthermore, who the liable parties may be is also a highly influential factor. In most cases, although not always the case, a liable party is often ultimately an insurance company, who provides liability coverage to a driver, property owner, employer, or professional. In most cases, insurance companies have a thoroughly defined process for negotiating and settling personal injury claims. On the other hand, should the liable party be uninsured, a victim may experience a vastly different approach to negotiating claims settlements, and in certain cases, a liable defendant simply may not be able to offer any equitable form of settlement amount and can only hope to garner a favorable outcome at trial.

How Insurance Companies Value Personal Injury Claims

An insurance company, who is liable for their client’s negligent actions, will value a claim and offer settlement amounts for head injuries based initially on the special damages demanded by a victim. These will include any amount of documentable, economic losses incurred or sustained by a victim during a head injury, as well as future considerations for more expenses and losses. This will include medical care, rehabilitative care, and any other definable costs associated with a head injury, both past, present, and future.

Using the figure from the calculation of relatively easily defined special damages, an insurance company must value to amount of the general damages. This process uses the figure from the special damages amount and applies a single-digit multiplier, typically 1.5 through 5, to compensate for general damages. General damages include claims for pain, suffering, disfigurement, disability, and others. The more serious, lasting, or invasive a head injury appears, the higher the multiplier applied to a victims settlement offer. In cases of severe head injuries and other damages that will present lifelong complications, multipliers higher than five (5) may prove applicable.

Once the general damages and special damages figures are ascertained, an insurance company also computes the lost income sustained by a victim following a head injury. All three numbers are then computed together to value a potential claim, and in turn, adjusted throughout the settlement negotiations process.

Getting Legal Help with Calculating Head Injury Settlements

Again, only a lawyer, once having reviewed your claims case and investigated elements of the case, can make an accurate determination of the true value of your claim. Furthermore, in order to obtain a favorable settlement offer, it is always in the best interest of a victim to retain legal counsel to represent their interests in a personal injury settlement.

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