The worth of a personal injury claim can persuade an insurance adjuster to consider offering the accident victim a larger amount of money. So, what factors determine a given claim’s worth/value?
Did the at-fault driver have car insurance?
If the answer to that question is “no,” then the claim made by the victim of the accident does not have much value. If the answer is “yes,” then some other factors must be considered.
What were the limits on the at-fault driver’s policy? Those limits act like a de facto cap. In other words, the insurer cannot offer a compensation that exceeds that particular cap.
What assets did the at-fault driver have? Could that same driver access those assets, if the victim/claimant were to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver?
Questions about the extent of the loss suffered by the victim:
How badly was the victim’s vehicle damaged? The greater the amount of damage, the more-readily will the jury accept a claim that the accident caused severe injuries.
What was the sum total of the victim’s medical expenses? A large amount of expenses would match with a claim about a serious injury.
How much time did the victim have to take off from work, while recovering from the accident-related injury? How much income was lost during the time spent recovering at home, or in the hospital?
Was the victim partly at fault for the accident? Had the victim’s actions managed to aggravate the accident-caused injury? If the answer to either of those questions were “yes,” then the claim would have a diminished value.
One final and significant factor: the amount of pain and suffering endured by the victim
Smart victims keep a journal, and write down any instances of pain, while recovering from the accident-caused injury. That is the best way to provide proof of having endured painful sensations. It helps to record how long the sensation lasted.
As per the personal injury lawyer in Richmond Hill, an accident can cause a victim to suffer one or more emotional problems. Some victims experience a feeling of anxiety; others report experiencing feelings of fear or stress. At times those particular feelings can cause the victim to lose sleep. It becomes difficult to function properly, if you feel under constant stress, or if you cannot get a good night’s sleep. Hence, emotional issues can become the basis for claims that the accident caused both pain and suffering.
Insurance companies try to measure that pain and suffering. They pick a number between 1.5 and 5, and then multiply the victim’s total medical expenses by the figure that corresponds with the level of the victim’s pain and suffering. Addition of the lost income yields the claim’s calculated value or worth.