{"id":19264,"date":"2015-09-02T11:30:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T18:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pdxinjurylaw.com\/?p=18791"},"modified":"2015-09-02T11:30:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T18:30:59","slug":"what-is-my-personal-injury-case-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pdxinjurylaw.com\/es\/what-is-my-personal-injury-case-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"paying<\/p>\n

What is a broken arm worth? How about a bulging vertebral disc that causes nerve pain down the arm for six months until surgery fixes it? What if the surgery doesn\u2019t work?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is no concrete science on how to determine how much an injury case is worth since each case is as different as each person injured.<\/p>\n

About 95% of cases settle before going to court, but good lawyers have a good idea of how much a jury will award for a particular injury, based on their experience. We look at other \u201csimilar\u201d cases in the past, see what juries awarded in those, and make our best estimate based on every detail we know about the situation, the medical records, any laws that apply, the personalities and histories of the people involved, the evidence regarding whose fault the accident was, the policy limits, and so forth. If you decide to pursue your case yourself, you will need to do the same.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that at trial the value of a case is decided by twelve human beings with all the flaws and prejudices that human beings have, so there is a whole lot more to be taken into account than just the injury. How much the jury likes you will matter a whole lot. How much they like your witnesses will matter. And like it or not, how much they like the person who hit you will matter too. The judge has a tremendous amount of discretion, and the judge\u2019s rulings can affect a trial. How good your doctors are at informing a jury matters a lot. What the police report says matters.<\/p>\n

In fact, so very many things matter that it\u2019s really not possible to figure out what a case is worth until an extensive investigation has been done. But of course, there are guidelines. Here\u2019s one: your case is probably worth less than you think, but more than the insurance adjuster is willing to pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We may not know immediately\u00a0what your specific case is worth, but we can educate you about the different kinds of \u201cdamages.\u201d Damages is a vague term that helps us encompass all possible types of compensatory money an injury victim might receive from a claim.<\/p>\n

In Oregon, there are two basic kinds of damages you can recover for a personal injury case: (1) \u201ceconomic damages\u201d and (2) \u201cnoneconomic damages.\u201d These used to be called \u201cspecial damages\u201d and \u201cgeneral damages\u201d and you will sometimes still hear lawyers and adjusters use these words. But the correct terms are \u201ceconomic\u201d and \u201cnoneconomic\u201d damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic damages\u201d<\/strong> is the compensation you can get for any money you have lost due to the collision. Examples include:<\/p>\n