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How to Calculate a Personal Injury Settlement
In a personal injury settlement, you will usually be eligible to receive compensation for two distinct categories of damages: economic and non-economic.
As we will review below, understanding the differences between these two forms of damages will be essential in receiving the compensation you desire.
Because the idea of finding an accurate online personal injury calculator is largely nonsense, we will break down what you should include in a personal injury settlement, enabling you to make a reasonable calculation.
What Should Be Included in Your Claim
In your personal injury claim, you should document both losses and injuries, whether they happened in the past, are happening in the present, or are expected to happen in the future.
Examples of losses that may apply to your personal injury case include medical expenses, lost wages or earning potential, pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of personal property, and loss of consortium.
Victims of personal injuries will typically base their claim on their provable losses, which is where economic and non-economic damages come into play.
Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages
Economic damages are those that account for losses you can easily quantify in monetary terms, such as doctor bills, lost income, and damaged personal property.
Non-economic damages, on the other hand, include any that are harder to put into dollars and cents, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and inconvenience.
Because economic damages are meant to provide you with no more and no more less than you’ve paid out of pocket, non-economic damages are typically where your settlement value will increase considerably.
Although that sounds appealing, you will likely have to put in substantial effort to recover the compensation you need and deserve.
In other words, there is no magic formula for calculating the amount of non-economic damages you should request, although there a few rules of thumb for doing so, such as the multiplier and daily rate methods.
Fortunately, a qualified attorney can calculate the amount of compensation you should request for your non-economic damages, after carefully considering all of the variables affecting your case.
Contact Spencer Calahan Injury Lawyers
Calculating a personal injury settlement amount can be tricky, particularly when you’re bombarded with conflicting advice and opinions. To speak with a lawyer who is focused on making your life easier, contact a Louisiana personal injury lawyer at Spencer Calahan Injury Lawyers today. Call us at 225-387-2323 or fill out the form below to get in touch.
