Calculating the fair settlement value of a personal injury claim is not as straightforward as you might think. But it is possible to get a ballpark estimate of your compensable damages by plugging a few key numbers into a rough damages formula, one that is often followed by insurance adjusters and others who try to put a dollar value on all the different variables that come into play in an injury case.
The first thing you'll need to do is get all your claim-related documents and records together. That means medical bills, pay stubs, records of time missed at work, property damage estimates, and anything else that will give you a strong (though not necessarily definitive) sense of the dollar value of all your losses associated with you injury (so far).
Next, after you plug your information into the calculator below, what you'll see is a very rough estimate of the value of your injury claim, broken up into economic and non-economic damages (these are explained in more detail below).
Remember that there is no one foolproof method that will tell you exactly what your injury claim is worth, or what you'll end up receiving after a settlement or personal injury trial. Resolution of any injury claim usually turns on far too many variables -- including the art and skill of successful negotiation -- for you to reasonably rely on numbers that have been crunched on a website.
NOTE: In the fields below, be sure to enter a "0" if a category of damages does not apply to your case. The calculator has trouble with blank fields.
This calculator is included here to give you a starting point for estimating damages in an injury claim. Neither this calculator nor the information accompanying is intended as legal advice.
After you enter your numbers and hit "Calculate," the two dollar figures you see above the "Estimated Total Compensation" field represent the two main types of damages that arise in the majority of injury cases: economic losses and non-economic losses. Economic damages are fairly easy to calculate (and to prove through documentation), including the cost of past and future medical treatment, lost income (past and future), and any property damage tied to your case. Non-economic damages are consequences of an injury that are harder to put a dollar figure on -- things like pain and suffering, and the emotional impact of your injuries and the underlying accident.
Now that you have a rough idea of how much your injury claim may be worth, you may want to familiarize yourself with the injury claims process and get a real sense of what to expect when it's time to talk settlement. To get started, check out the free, user-friendly content in our How Much Is Your Injury Claim Worth? and Settling an Injury Case topics.