How much is my car wreck claim worth?

It depends on the facts of the case. Some car wreck claims are worth a great deal. I settled one car wreck claim for $6,000,000.00.Other car wreck claims are not worth anything. I have seen studies that indicate that the majority of car wreck claims involving soft tissue injuries settle for an amount between $5,000.00 and $15,000.00.

The value of a car wreck claim simply depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding the wreck and the extent and duration of the injuries. There is no one answer or rule of thumb that works in every case.

Every Tyler auto accident attorney values car wreck claims a little differently. First, let me debunk a myth. As a Tyler injury attorney I’ve many times been asked if it is true that a car wreck claim is worth three times the medical bills. The short answer is “no”. In the 37 years that I have handled injury claims in Tyler, Longview and the surrounding East Texas area I have never found that to be true. Some claims end up being settled for an amount equal to three times the medical bills but the amount is due to other factors and not a multiplier.

Let’s discuss two examples that illustrate that cases are individually evaluated. I recently tried a case to jury verdict in which a little boy was bitten by a dog. He received emergency room treatment only at a cost of a little over $4,000.00 but was left with a nasty 5 inch permanent scar on his head. The total jury verdict was a little over $150,000.00 which was more than 35 times the medical expenses.

Contrast the previous example with the case of a client who was involved in an auto accident and struck her head on the door jam. Emergency room testing showed no brain damage or bleeding and the client sustained no other injuries. Several weeks later the client began to have quite severe headaches which appeared sporadically for several months. Each time the client had a headache episode extensive medical testing was performed. Although the headaches were thought to be related to the automobile accident the testing never revealed the source or the cause of the headaches nor tied them to the automobile accident. The client’s total medical expenses were a little over $33,000.00. Because there was no objective medical connection to the automobile accident this case settled for $50,000.00 which was about 1 ½ times the reasonable medical expenses.

Each personal injury case much be individually evaluated on its’ on unique set of facts.