Posted: June 15, 2011
Many injury victims want to know if their is an insurance settlement calculator. I recently wrote a blog about this and had many factors in the calculation of a settlement for personal injury . But the one and only true calculator is the civil jury. Recently the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on a Warren County jury that awarded a patrolman $1.9 million dollars.
I can tell you without out even looking at the article that a large part of this award was driven by lost income and medical expense. Yes there was a large componet of pain and suffering I'm sure , as there should have been , but for some reason it's usually, but not always , as much as I expect.
This was a case about a police officer directing traffic that was hit by a car driven by a lady who fled the scene , but turned herslf in. The story goes she was found to be 90% at fault. It did not say if the other 10% was on the police officer or someone else.
The officer had recovered from a previous back injury. But now he would never be a police officer again. The article mentioned he also walked with a cane now due to his injury presumably. He had very little residual ability to earn an income and was expected to incur $20,000-$30,000 dollars a year in future medical expenses.
The article never dicussed his age. If he was 40, he had a life expectancy conservatively of 35 years and a work life expectancy of at least 25. If you multiply 35 by $25,000 in future medical expense you get $725,000. Add to that lost wages of lets guestimate $30,000 per year by 25 and you get $750,00. That's almost 1.5 million. We have not even talked about past lost wages and medical expense .
So for a life time of pain and suffering , looking into a window of hell, walking on a cane , your career destroyed, I'm guessing the jury gave possibly $300,000. Less that $10,000 a year. Ultimately not very much.
So the $1.9 million looks large . And it is. But is it really
The civil jury, the ultimate damage calculator, gave its judgement. That's the true calculator, what would a jury award . It's an art not a science. But very obviously without the help of a skilled attorney the award would have never gotten this high. I wonder what the offer was that was on the table. In any event the calculation one makes in a serious case should always go down if the injury victim tries to go it alone. That's because a real great jury trial is not the area for a lay person to venture. And if the insurance company knows there is no risk to go there, with or without a lawyer, they sure are not going to pay top dollar.
For more information about personal injury settlements and calculator download for free Wolf In Sheeps Clothing - What Your Insurance company Doesn't Want You to Know and Won't Tell You before It's Too Late
By Anthony Castelli Cincinnati personal injury trial attorney call 1-800-447-6549 for help today.
