How To Determine What Your Personal Injury Case Is Worth

If you or somebody you care about has been injured due to the careless, negligent, or intentional actions of another individual, you are likely entitled to various types of compensation. However, determining how much your personal injury case is worth can be complicated.

There are various factors that go into determining how much compensation an injury victim should receive. Here, we want to review how personal injury cases are evaluated when it comes to determining how much compensation to pay an injury victim.

Liability is important

First and foremost, an injury victim will not be able to secure compensation if they cannot prove the liability of the other party. Proving liability is crucial, and this will be done by gathering various types of evidence related to the incident. A skilled personal injury lawyer can help you gather the evidence needed to prove the fault of the other party.

However, Colorado operates under a modified comparative negligence system, and this could affect how much compensation you receive. First, it is important to point out that any person 50% or more responsible for their injuries will be unable to recover compensation from the other party involved.

Any person less than 50% responsible for their injury can still recover compensation. However, the total amount of compensation they receive will be reduced based on their percentage of fault. This can significantly limit how much compensation an injury victim receives.

What damages were sustained?

It is crucial for an injury victim and their attorney to show how much personal loss they have sustained because of their injuries. This is referred to as the “damages” in the case. There are various types of damages, or losses, that an injury victim can incur after sustaining a personal injury in Colorado. This can include the following types of economic and non-economic damages:

• Medical expenses
• Lost income
• General out-of-pocket expenses
• Property damage expenses
• Pain and suffering damages
• Loss of quality of life damages

An attorney will work with trusted medical and financial experts in order to help properly calculate the total loss is the victim is expected to incur.

What are the insurance limits?

It is important to consider the insurance policy limits of the at-fault party. The vast majority of personal injury claims are resolved through a settlement with insurance carriers, but the insurance carrier is not going to pay more than the terms of the policy state they need to pay. This could significantly hinder an injury victim’s ability to recover compensation, particularly for more severe injuries.

It may be necessary to file a personal injury lawsuit against the alleged negligent party in order to recover additional compensation above the insurance limits. In these cases, the injury victim will be pursuing compensation that will be paid from the at-fault party’s personal assets if they are successful with their case.

How much compensation is available?

This is certainly one of the most common questions that a Denver personal injury attorney will be asked. The answer is that there is no set amount of money available for a personal injury claim. Each claim will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and negotiations will commence with the insurance carrier and the at-fault party in order to recover an appropriate amount.

If a settlement cannot be reached, and if a personal injury lawsuit is necessary, it may ultimately be up to a jury to determine liability for the incident as well as how much compensation should be paid to the plaintiff.