If you have been seriously hurt, or lost a loved one, because of the negligence of a corporation or another individual, you have a fundamental right to seek justice in our courts. You should never be ashamed to do so, because you are participating in our great legal system and seeking to right a wrong, which is elemental fairness. For all its greatness, the only way judges and juries can provide justice to serious injury victims of others’ carelessness, is to award money, and award an amount of money that is based on the evidence of the harm caused. Every client needs to understand, therefore, how much his personal injury case is worth, and how his lawyer and a judge or jury tries to determine the fair value of his case.

This article will address the subject of determining the value of serious personal injury cases that do not result in death. Death cases are governed by a statute known as the Wrongful Death Act, which calls for damages (the harm suffered by the aggrieved person) to be determined a bit differently than in non-death personal injury cases. I will discuss the Wrongful Death Act, in a separate article. The job for every lawyer who accepts a personal injury case is to determine how much his client’s case is worth – the amount is always in a range because valuing cases is not an exact science – and how to obtain the maximum amount feasible for his client.

Many elements go into determining the worth of a personal injury case, some objective and some objective. The most important objective elements are: (1) the strength of the liability case; i.e., how likely it is the jury will be convinced that the other guy was at fault; (2) the amount of the medical bills; (3) the amount of future expenses required to care for the injury or disability caused by the accident; (4) lost wages and lost future earning capacity. To prove lost capacity and future medical and care expenses, I often hire a life care planner, an economist, and a vocational expert. In future articles, I will discuss what these experts do in detail. Subjective elements of damages include factors such as: (1) how credible and likeable is the plaintiff (the injured party); (2) similarly, how credible and likeable is the defendant; (3) is there an “outrage factor,” conduct by the defendant that will make a jury angry, such as a doctor who alters records to cover up his error, or a driver who leaves the injured person bleeding on the street.

As I mentioned, determining the value of a case is not an exact science. After considering all of the factors listed above, and more in some cases, I will usually research jury verdicts, and settlements on cases similar to my clients. I also canvass colleagues in the plaintiffs’ personal injury bar (and my wife, mother and friends!), and after careful involvement with my client, come up with the approximate worth of the case. This number may change as the case is developed, depending on key depositions, discovery of key documents, and development of the story. In my experience, the true value of the case becomes known after all the documents are obtained and the defendant and key witnesses are deposed.

In later articles, I’ll discuss each element in the preparation of a serious personal injury case.