What Impacts How Much Compensation Can You Expect For Your Claim?
When you are starting a personal injury claim the goal here is to secure as much compensation as possible. The reason for this of course is to make sure that you are able to fully cover any costs which you have been forced to pay out as a result of your injury. Additionally you should expect to receive compensation for the pain and suffering which you have gone through and for any future costs which you are likely to incur.
When you work with great legal firms such as personal injury attorneys Philips Law Group, you will be given a rough idea as to what kind of compensation amount they are aiming for. Compensation amounts vary greatly from case to case, and this is exactly what impacts how much a particular case is worth.
Location of the Injury Sustained
There is a pretty rudimentary matrix which is used when it comes to valuing personal injury claims and the first aspect which will be considered is the location of the injury on your body. The legal system will generally place different values on various parts of the body, which is pretty much based on how essential they are. For example a head injury and a hand injury which are the same severity, will see an higher value if the injury sustained is to the head.
Severity of the Injury
A real difference maker when it comes to calculating compensation is the severity of the injury which has been sustained. If someone is injured and has a mild injury to the head and a very severe injury to the hand, in this example the hand injury will be considered as more valuable than the head injury. Usually the legal team will use the support of a doctor or surgeon who will ascertain the nature of the injury and then detail to the court what severity they would consider it as being. Injuries are categorized as minor, severe, severe (life altering) and severe (life threatening). In reality the severity of the injury sustained and the impact which it has had on the victim’s life is the crux of compensation and how most values are determined.
Additional Factors
There are additional factors which have to be looked at here, beyond the physical injuries which the victim has. For example we are not able to see what kind of pain and suffering the individual has been through, nor how this injury has impacted their life from an emotional and mental point of view. It is critical that we assess this and include any extra damage into the compensation value. A person with minor injuries in a car accident may never wish to get behind the wheel of a car again for example, so that always has to be factored in.
These are the main impacts which help the legal teams and the courts to determine how much compensation will be awarded in a personal injury claim.
