A very common concern following a motorcycle accident is what fair compensation for a personal injury is. Some injury victims call attorneys and hope they will tell them what the value of their claim is and then in turn plan to call the insurance company and settle the case themselves.
The value of a personal injury claim is as unique as a human being. There is no such thing as average settlement value or a personal injury calculator. Insurance companies are using software to evaluate cases where they enter data taken from medical records and characteristics of the injury victim that are specific to the individual. The computer then provides a general ball park figure that has some statistical significance.
The problem is that we are all unique. In the long run there is some statistical validity to the range provided by the computer evaluation, but it does not take into account such things as the defendant's behavior, the skill and aggressiveness of the personal injury attorney, the likeability of the injury victim and the climate of juries.
The injury victim is entitled to two general categories of damages. The damages are for economic and non economic harm. Economic damages include medical expenses, lost wages, damage to your property, and other direct harm that can be computed with a high degree of certainty. Then there are non-economic damages that cannot be computed with ease, these are for such things as pain, discomfort, suffering, inconvenience, shock, humiliation, loss of dignity, and other intangibles that were experienced by the harmed individual.
Seemingly identical injuries will not result in similar results for the injury claimant. A claimant making a claim without the use of an attorney will not fare very well on significant injury claims. On modest injury claims the injury claimant is likely to do as well without the use of an attorney. Personal injury claimants exaggerating their claims don't do well either, because there is more likely than not evidence which will contradict the claims and the credibility of the claimant is destroyed. Claimants hiring attorneys usually do much better, especially when the attorney is prepared to go to trial for the claimant. Most attorneys do not like to take cases to trial, but see the chore as a necessity to obtaining the best results for the client.
Injury claimants should hire a personal injury attorney for significant injury claims. Claims where there is a substantial collision, fractured bones, herniated discs, hospitalization, or other evidence showing the injury is substantial. Contrary to popular belief, personal injury lawyers do not take frivolous cases, and frivolous cases result in little or no compensation. The possibility of a serious injury results in little or no compensation and no degree of exaggeration will improve the claim. A claim has to have a serious injury to result in a significant amount of compensation. A cut from a menu, a hair in a burger, a condom in a muffin, these things more often will be turned down by an attorney.
If there is no damage to your motorcycle, there is not much of a claim, and it is unlikely a personal injury attorney will accept your motorcycle accident claim. These claims should be handled by the injury claimant. A modest claim with a couple of thousand dollars in medical expenses likewise should be handled by the injury claimant.
previous post