What Is The Average Settlement For Personal Injury?

When you are injured in an accident, your number one priority should be getting better. Unfortunately, accidents cost a lot of money. You may have to go to multiple doctors appointments and you are certain to miss plenty of time away from work. You are going to have to rely on an insurance company to pay your bills and you are probably wanting a ballpark figure of how much money you will get.

There is no national average for personal injury settlements. The settlement you get will depend on the type of injury you have and how you got the injury. It may also depend on how much the insurance the person who caused the accident has.

What Type of Injury Was It?

If yours was a Worker’s Compensation accident, Your employer should pay for your medical bills plus a portion of your salary. If you are temporarily disabled by an accident, they are expected to pay ⅔ of your salary for the period of your disability. If you are permanently disabled they may offer you a lump sum.

Car Accidents

In the state of Missouri, a driver must carry $25,000 of insurance per person per accident and $50,000 for all persons per accident. They must also carry $10,000 of insurance for damage to property.

There may not be a statewide average settlement for auto accidents, but a personal injury attorney may be able to give you a good idea of what you will get based on your circumstances. If you had a hospital bill that was less than the amount of money for which the at-fault driver was covered, you would have a good chance of the insurance paying your medical bills.

For example, The National Safety Council did a study in which they found that the average back injury cost a total of $10,000. If the at-fault driver was carrying the expected amount of insurance, the insurance company should at least cover the $10,000 for your medical bills, plus the cost of medication and the hours you have missed off of work.

The average cost of a broken bone is $2500, so the insurance company should pay at least that amount of money as well as lost wages.

Although it may seem pretty straight forward, there are often times when an insurance company does not agree to pay all of an accident victims’ bills. They may try to say that the victim had pre-existing conditions that increased the severity of their injuries. They may argue that the time a person missed from work was not always for medical treatment. This is why it is always a good idea to hire an attorney.

What Insurance Companies Require

In order to compensate you for your accident, an insurance company will want to see an accident report, copies of all your medical bills and receipts for, any medications you may have had to take. You should also obtain a letter from your employer stating the hours you have missed from work.

When they have provided the insurance company with the information they need, an adjuster will review your case and either make you a settlement offer or deny the claim. If they offer you too little money or deny the claim entirely, you will need to hire a personal injury attorney.

Be sure to ask a potential attorney how many years of experience they have in dealing with accidents, what their success rate is, and if they can provide references. You deserve the very best representation for your case and you should get the money necessary to move forward.