Have you ever wondered how lawyers come up with settlement amounts? Serious injury lawyers in Los Angeles calculate appropriate settlements for their clients using complex methods, after collecting evidence and learning the details.
What Counts as a Serious Injury in California?
Serious injuries in personal injury cases include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Permanent disability
- Amputations
- Severe burns
- Serious disfigurement
- Multiple fractures
- Long-term impairment
Key Factors Serious Injury Lawyers Use to Calculate Settlement Value
If you’ve ever wondered how injury settlements are calculated, the answer is complicated. High-value claims are complex because there are many factors to consider beyond the initial medical bills. This is why expert legal help is crucial. At The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani, our lawyers take several factors into account, such as:
- A loss of wage-earning capability.
- Severe pain and suffering compensation.
- Accumulated medical bills.
- Future medical and physical therapy costs.
Catastrophic injuries, like paralysis, limb loss, blindness, or brain injuries, are injuries that will never heal and require higher settlements. This means we need to consider additional factors like:
- A lifetime of medical care costs: Depending on the extent of the injury, victims may not ever be able to live without ongoing medical assistance. These life-long costs must be considered when calculating the settlement.
- Impacts on quality of life: Along with everyday functioning, severe injuries affect a person’s ability to enjoy hobbies and activities in their community. While this is a non-economic loss, the emotional pain it causes is severe.
- Assistive device costs over a lifetime: Victims with certain impairments require assistive devices like wheelchairs or prosthetics, and home modifications to live day-to-day.
At The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani, we don’t just fight hard — we win cases. Los Angelinos count on us every day, and we work tirelessly to ensure they get the compensation that they deserve.
Pain and Suffering Calculations for Serious Injuries
Serious injury compensation in California means getting enough to compensate for the total impact of the incident on your life, not just on your finances. Because pain and suffering are difficult to quantify, calculating pain and suffering damages in California is often done by:
- Considering past cases: If precedent has been set by similar past cases, you may receive a similar amount.
- Using the multiplier method: In many cases, the total sum of your economically-based damages will be added up, and that number will be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 to 5, depending on the severity of your injuries.
How Future Medical Costs Are Estimated
In Southern California, future medical costs in personal injury cases are estimated by the physicians who are treating you, as well as life care planners. They’ll need to provide documents stating ongoing treatment plans with cost estimates that take inflation into account.
Calculating Lost Earnings & Diminished Earning Capacity
A lost earning capacity calculation involves checking your current pay stubs, time sheets, and other forms of income, and calculating what was missed after an accident.
Diminished earning capacity means what you can realistically earn now, vs. what you would have been earning if the accident hadn’t happened. This is a complex calculation involving your post-injury abilities, your career path, and evidence like expert testimony that proves that your ability to earn money has been reduced.
The Role of Liability and Comparative Negligence
Liability is what establishes who was at fault for your injuries from a legal perspective. In California, one of the personal injury settlement factors we need to consider is the “comparative negligence” system. If you’re found to be partially at fault for an accident, your compensation may be reduced. For example, if the courts find you to be 10% at fault, they can take away 10% from what you’re paid.
Evidence Serious Injury Lawyers Gather to Maximize Your Settlement
After a life-changing injury, your lawyer in Los Angeles will need to gather evidence like:
- Medical records, bills, and professional medical opinions.
- All relevant documentation of the accident scene, including photos, traffic cam videos, and police reports.
- Eye witness accounts.
- Proof of lost wages.
- Documentation of pain and suffering, like pain journals.
The more tangible evidence we can produce, the more your claim will be worth, according to a catastrophic injury settlement calculation.
How Insurance Companies Approach Serious Injury Claims
After seeking medical help, if you’ve been injured in an incident that wasn’t your fault, it’s important to choose an experienced injury lawyer in Los Angeles who knows how to work with California insurance companies.
Insurance companies work for profit, and won’t want to pay out as much as a serious injury claimant deserves. Without expert legal counsel, many victims are at a disadvantage and won’t receive appropriate compensation.
Some tactics insurers use include:
- Offering low initial settlement offers and dragging the process out in the hopes you’ll accept a lowball offer.
- Trying to blame pre-existing conditions for current injuries.
- Undervaluing non-monetary damages like emotional distress, pain, and suffering.
Don’t allow insurance companies to discourage you from seeking legal representation. Contact Jacob Emrani for help. We know how to handle typical insurance adjuster tactics.
Why You Need an Experienced Serious Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles
Some of the ways The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani help Los Angelinos include:
Expert negotiation
After a major accident, the last thing you want to be doing is fighting with insurance companies. At The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani, our strong legal team includes expert negotiators who will ensure your claim is not devalued by a smooth-talking insurance claims department.
Evidence collection
The more evidence you have on your side, the better the overall outcome of your claim. Our lawyers will help you gather expert testimony and as much evidence as possible from witnesses, police, and medical records, so you don’t have to rely on your memory alone. This way, you can focus on your recovery as we fight for you.
Local LA knowledge
Our legal team has an in-depth understanding of local personal injury laws, the court system, specific deadlines like California’s two-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims, and the complex procedures involved in personal injury compensation.
Call the Law Offices of Jacob Emrani Today
If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury, and you need a personal injury attorney in Los Angeles, call The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani at (888) 952-2952 or reach out through our contact form for a free consultation. We’re ready to fight for you.