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If you are ever involved in a personal injury accident, you’ll hire a lawyer for advice as to how to best proceed in terms of legal action against the defendant. Your lawyer will tell you that personal injury law is complex. This is the reason why the courts or insurance company will consider and analyze many factors before deciding on your final settlement amount.
These factors can increase or decrease your final settlement amount, sometimes substantially. Also, remember that you’ll probably settle your case out of court. 95% of plaintiffs do.
Factors that affect your multiplier
Your lawyer will tell you that the courts or insurance company will use a specific formula to calculate the value of your final settlement. This is called a multiplier. This multiplier will legally decide how your personal injury accident affected you. It will also legally decide the extent and nature of your injuries and damages.
These are the pain and suffering that you experienced as a result of your personal injury accident and the actual medical injuries and bills that you incurred. The courts or insurance adjuster will determine what the best and fairest multiplier for you should be by examining the following factors. Your personal injury lawyer in North Bay will tell you this:
● Hard injuries – these include broken bones, broken joints, head injuries, vertebrae injuries, and injuries to your nerves.
● Medical expenses that you racked up in treating your injuries that resulted from your personal injury accident.
● Medical treatment from a doctor or by a medical clinic or hospital.
● Prescribed medicines you had to take to treat the injuries
● Long-term injury treatment period
● Long recovery period
● Permanent injuries like scars, loss of movement, and disabilities
● Pain and suffering
● Daily disruptions
These factors may make the multiplier lower
● Soft tissue injury
● Medical expense for diagnoses and not actual treatment
● Medical treatment from people who aren’t licensed medical professionals
● You didn’t have to take any medications for your injuries
● Your medical treatment was brief
● You recovered quickly
● You didn’t have residual or permanent injuries
● You didn’t suffer any other physical or emotional problems as a result of your injury
Factors that affect compensation
There are some factors that can help your case – get you more settlement money:
● There was only one defendant involved
● You were organized and professional during the entire settlement process
● No one believes the insured or he or she is not sympathetic
● You have many witnesses
These factors will lower your compensation
● You were partially at fault
● You were impatient, rude, and not organized
● The plaintiff got sympathy
● You didn’t have a witness and/or the only witnesses had testimony that helped the defendant
There are many factors involved in determining your final settlement. This is why you need to hire a good personal injury lawyer. It can make the difference between losing and winning your case either in or out of court.