Individuals who suffer physical injuries in car accidents, as well as those whose vehicles receive significant damage in a crash, often wonder about their legal options for pursuing compensation to cover their expenses resulting from the accident. Some of the most common questions relate to when it is wise to accept a car accident settlement vs. when they should continue negotiating, or pursue legal action if negotiations have stalled. One of the questions personal injury lawyers receive frequently in this context is, “How much is a typical car accident settlement?” The question is reasonable, but there is no easy answer. In some ways it might even be fair to say that there is no such thing as a “typical” settlement for a car accident in the broader sense – instead, there are some factors whose relative values are typical – and to some degree predictable – impacts on the likely amount of the total car accident settlement offer.
Even a very brief overview of what these factors are and how they work can often make it easier to develop an estimate of the general range that is likely to apply in a given case. To engage in a more detailed discussion that takes into account the particulars of your own situation, consider scheduling a free personalized case evaluation with a personal injury attorney at Friedman & Bresaw, PLLC. Call 603-707-4800 to schedule a consultation.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses can often be among the most significant financial consequences of a car accident. Even minor injuries can sometimes require expensive treatments whose out-of-pocket costs are crippling or simply unattainable for individuals of modest means. The financial strain that these medical bills can induce often creates a sense of urgency in car accident victims, as many who are not confident of a fair settlement find themselves delaying or forgoing badly needed medical care out of fears that the car insurance company will try to deny or underrate their claims. Unfortunately, medical expenses can also be among the most difficult monetary “damages” to accurately estimate after a car accident.
Lost Income
Individuals injured in auto accidents often have to deal not just with unexpected expenses in the form of medical bills and the costs associated with vehicle repairs, but with a steep drop in income due to missed work. In a fortunate scenario, a person may be back at their regular job within a day or two after being involved in a car accident. In other situations, however, a severely injured individual may be out of work for many days or weeks following a crash. Many car accident victims also find themselves needing to take time off from their jobs repeatedly in order to attend medical appointments while they try to recover from their injuries. Depending on the type of work they do and their agreements with their employer, these car accident victims may lose wages as a result of the time they are unable to work, whether the reason for missing time on the job is temporary disability or a patient’s schedule for seeking medical care.
Extent of Property Damage
Some of the more delicate considerations that may be involved in calculating potentially long-term medical costs or the value of lost income are not usually issues in estimating property damage after an auto damage. Instead, challenges on this front are more likely to arise when an insurance adjuster arrives at an estimate that the car accident victim considers too low to cover the actual costs of repairing or replacing their property. In this instance, individuals struggling to negotiate with a car insurance company after a crash may wish to consider working with a personal injury lawyer who has experience in handling car accident settlements. An experienced car accident attorney will typically investigate the accident and work with appropriate professionals to develop an independent estimate of total property damage on which to base a proposed alternative car accident settlement.
Liability Laws
One important factor in many car accident settlements actually has very little to do with the severity of the damage involved, although the broader circumstances of the crash may play a significant role. This factor is the legal framework that governs how liability determinations are made in the state that has jurisdiction over the accident (usually the state in which the accident occurred). While not all driver liability is predicated on negligence, the concept of negligence is a factor in an overwhelming majority of car accident cases (allegations of intentional torts, suggesting that a driver caused harm deliberately, are relatively rare, and strict liability torts do not typically apply to this type of case). During settlement negotiations, an auto insurance company, as well as any personal injury attorney representing the person pursuing a claim, will often keep one eye on state laws with respect to the legal doctrines of comparative vs. contributory negligence.
Contributory Negligence
As Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) explains, in contributory negligence states plaintiffs are barred from recovering damages if they are partly responsible for their own harms or injuries. In these jurisdictions, a plaintiff who is found to have contributed, through their own negligence, to the total damages they incurred is ineligible to recover compensation, even if they succeed in proving all of the elements typically required in a personal injury case. The contributory negligence doctrine is relatively unusual in the United States, where most jurisdictions apply some version of the comparative negligence rule instead.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence, according to LII, is a legal principle that courts apply in civil torts cases to limit the total damages that the party bringing a case based on negligence has a right to recover from the defendant. In comparative negligence states, car accident victims who take their cases to court may have their total compensation reduced in proportion to the degree by which they are found to have contributed to the severity of their own outcomes. Most states follow some version of the comparative negligence doctrine, which according to LII appears in two main forms: “pure” and “modified” comparative negligence.
Pure comparative negligence states allow plaintiffs to bring civil actions to recover damages for negligence even if the defendant holds only 1% of the legal responsibility for the damages incurred by the plaintiff; a plaintiff who is 99% responsible for his or her own situation may still be found legally entitled to recover compensation for the 1% caused by the defendant’s negligence. In “modified” comparative negligence states – a group which includes New Hampshire – the bar to recovery of compensation is set at either 50% or 51% of the shared legal responsibility for whatever incident resulted in damages. NH RSA § 507:7-d places New Hampshire within the 51% comparative negligence group; plaintiffs in most New Hampshire personal injury cases based on negligence have the right to recover damages as long as their share of responsibility for those damages is “not greater than the fault of the defendant.” However, plaintiffs in New Hampshire car accident cases may still have any award of damages adjusted in proportion to their degree of responsibility for the accident.
Impact on Car Accident Settlements
Even though a car accident settlement is reached out of court, awareness of the applicable laws governing comparative negligence is likely to affect how both sides approach settlement negotiations. In New Hampshire, for instance, this can mean that an auto insurance company may be more conservative in its settlement offers if the company’s legal team believes the person filing a claim would likely be found to bear a substantial portion of the legal responsibility for the accident, should the case go to court. On the other hand, a car accident victim who is confident that the facts of the car accident investigation would show they contributed little or nothing to the extent of their damages may have a strong incentive to aggressively pursue maximum compensation. These assessments can be difficult to make, so you may wish to consider getting a professional case evaluation if you find yourself in this type of negotiation.
Schedule a Consultation With a Lakes Region Car Accident Lawyer
If you are pursuing fair compensation for your injuries and property expenses related to a car accident, you may reasonably wonder what a typical car accident settlement looks like. The truth is that there is no truly “typical” amount for a car accident settlement; instead, there are several factors that are typically taken into consideration in both an initial settlement offer and in any negotiations that follow. Consider scheduling a consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss your legal strategy for negotiating a fair car accident settlement in New Hampshire. Call 603-707-4800 today to connect with a Lakes Region car accident lawyer at Friedman & Bresaw, PLLC.
