I'm going to talk today about the top five things that will increase or increases the value of your personal injury case.
Number five is liability. The first thing that you have to do to prove in a personal injury action is who's at fault. In Florida you can have what's called comparative negligence, meaning that there's a percentage of fault that you can have and still maintain a case but the more that you are not at fault or the other person is a hundred percent liable that increases the value of your case.
Number two is having great photos. Everybody's got a cell phone with a camera in their pocket. If you're involved in an accident and it's safe to do so, take photos of the accident scene. Not only take photos of the outside of your vehicle but take photos of the inside of your vehicle. If you have broken glass, the airbag has deployed, or cracks in your windshield those are indications of a pretty severe-looking car accident and damage. These photos are very helpful not only in negotiation with this insurance company, but it's also very helpful if you go to trial and you can show a jury how severe this impact was.
Number three, the type of insurance you have or the type of insurance the other person has. Unfortunately, in Florida many people drive on the road without proper insurance or any insurance at all, and if someone has hit you and they have no insurance good luck on collecting from them. So if you don't have uninsured motorist coverage get it now. Having uninsured motorist coverage helps the value of your case because the if the other party is underinsured or uninsured your insurance company will step into the shoes of what insurance they should have. So the more insurance coverage that you have on your uninsured motorist coverage, the better position you will be if you're ever in an accident.
Number four lost wages. If you have lost time from work and you might lose time in the future from work that is a big indication of how an accident value can go up. The extreme example I like to give is if you're a major league baseball player and then you no longer can throw a baseball, you're going to have future lost wages that are going to be very high. But we don't have to use those types of examples. For instance, if you use your hands for a living just in a normal job and you're no longer able to work in that capacity, then your future lost earnings and capacity for future lost earnings can significantly drive up your case. But let's just say that it's not something that you've lost forever but only for a period of time. If you are out of work for a year or so your salary is a basis for damages. So if you are making sixty thousand dollars a year and you lost a year of work, your case has a minimum of the sixty thousand dollar value and that doesn't include pain and suffering or any other medical bills. So lost wages is a way to determine the high value in a personal injury case.
The number one and the biggest thing that should be considered in valuing personal injury cases is what the actual injury is. If you have just a soft tissue sprain or strain of your neck and back and you have minimal treatment, that is not going to be the type of case that's going to have a high value unless you have surgery to repair those injuries. But if you have a severe injury, for instance, a traumatic brain injury or you have an injury of a broken bone that requires surgery or a cast for a long period of time that's going to increase the value of your case.
Now if you want to know more about the value of your case then read my book "What the Heck Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?". It's available from our website or you can call us and we'll send you a copy.
