“What is my personal injury case worth?” This is the overall question most people contemplate after an accident or injury.  The thing is, no two cases are the same and unfortunately your case’s value can only be determined after looking at many factors.  Furthermore, many of these factors may not be readily apparent at the very beginning of your personal injury case. For example, if you are in a car accident and suffer whiplash, the effects of that injury on your neck and head may not develop until weeks or months after the initial accident.  Therefore, if an attorney tells you during your initial consultation exactly how much your injury case is worth, this is really a great generalization and should not be heavily relied upon.  With that being said, an experienced personal injury lawyer may still be able to give you a general range of the value of your likely settlement early on, or let you know settlement amounts in similar cases.  In order to determine this general range, a lawyer will need to meet with you and figure out all the different parts of your case and compare that information with other similar cases to come to a well-reasoned valuation.

Determining Your Case Value

There are generally 5 areas from which your case can gain value.  These include

• The amount of your medial bills;
• The amount of your expected future medical bills;
• The amount of your lost income;
• The amount of your expected future lost income and/or lost potential income;
• A valuation of your past and future pain and suffering. This ‘pain and suffering’ includes the actual pain you have suffered as well as how that pain has affected your quality of life and your ability to enjoy doing the same things as before your accident.

Importance of an Accurate Case Value

There are many reasons why accident victims need to have the value of their case accurately determined.  The main reason being that you may only collect compensation for an injury once.  This means that you cannot seek recovery again in the future for injuries or losses that may develop over time but that stem from that initial accident.

If you are injured in an accident, an experienced Conway, South Carolina personal injury attorney at Rankin & Rankin can help you determine what your case is worth. Even though no two cases are the same, we can compare the facts, liability and injuries in your case as well as refer to our settlement research of similar cases to help determine the value of your case.  At Rankin & Rankin, we work diligently helping you to obtain full and fair compensation as you work to rebuild and move on with your life.  With that, we will explain your legal options, which will include settlement, mediation, arbitration or a jury trial.  We encourage all victims and families in South Carolina to schedule a free case evaluation with us at (843) 248-2405 to personally discuss your case. Read more about our Personal Injury Claims here.