One of the first questions to which the answer is eagerly sought after an accident is, How much compensation can I get? The answer, as is the case with settlement timeline, never comes in a straightforward number. No one has an average check that is given out in case of a car accident or a slip and fall. The compensation is extremely individual and depends on the exacts of your incident and the effects it has had on your life.
This guide will disaggregate the concept of compensation valuation in the United States and the United Kingdom and consequently, it will offer realistic structures and examples to guide you on what is potentially possible.
The First Principle: What Do You Get Paid to Do?
Damages or compensation are aimed at putting you back in your pre-accident position as far as money will allow. It is of two major categories:
Special Damages (Economic Losses): they are measurable monetary losses by means of receipts and bills.
Medical cost (current and future)
The military loss of wages and future earning power.
Rehabilitation, adaptive equipment and cost of care.
Expenses on traveling to medical appointments.
Damage of property (e.g., repairs of cars)
General Damages (Non-Economic Losses): These covers the non-financial loss to human beings.
Pain and suffering
Loss of amenity (impossibility to have hobbies, family life)
Psychological distress, emotional misery.
Impairment of consortium (effect on relationships)
The Critical Dissimilarity: USA vs UK System.
USA: Juries (or judges) are much discretional on the amount awarded under pain and suffering. In most personal injury cases, the official limit does not exist but certain states place restrictions on medical malpractices or punitive damages. There are awards that can differ radically across states.
UK: The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) Guide the compensation of injuries. These are not regulations but just give bracket ranges of hundreds of various injuries, according to thousands of past court cases. This brings in greater predictability. The JCG is employed by solicitors and insurers in their negotiation.
Factors That Determine The Amount of your compensation.
And these pieces are the bricks which make your last settlement:
Liability: Admitted fault is redoubtable.
Severity & Prognosis: Healing a leg a perfect break would be less than a broken leg resulting in permanent limp and arthritis. One of the key factors is the encountered problems in the future.
Financial Losses: Your special damages is your concrete foundation of your claim.
Effects on Your Life: the fact that an injury prevents a marathoner to run is not considered in the same way as the same injury to a non-athlete.
The Defendant: A person can be insured in a limited way whereas a company or a government agency can be more endowed.
Examples and Pay scales in the real world.
The following are hypothetical situations where there is an approximation of the compensation structures. These are exemplary, and not promises.
Problem 1: Soft Tissue Injuries and Whiplash (6-9 months to recovery) moderate.
Situation (UK and USA): Rear-end accident. You have neck and backache, headaches. You miss 2 months of work and attend 3 months of physiotherapy.
Calculation:
Special Damages: Medical expenses (4,000 / PS3,000) and lost wages (8,000 / PS6,000) = 12, 000 / PS9, 000.
General Damages (Pain & Sufferings):
UK Guide: JCG recommends PS1,750 to PS4,150 in case of less serious injuries to the neck with complete recovery.
USA Range: More variable. May be a 1.5x up to 5x the special damages. Potentially $15,000 to $40,000.
Potential Total Settlement:
UK: PS9,000 (specials) + – PS3,000 (generals) = PS12000- PS15000.
USA: $12,000 (specials) + $25,000 (generals) = $35,000 – $50,000.
Case 2: Severe Fracture of Leg with Problem Still Experienced.
Case: The hit and run case. Tibia fracture with complexity, surgery, metal plates and one year rehabilitation. You have some unremitting slight limp and feel pain in cold weather. Missed 8 months of work.
Calculation:
Damages Special damages: Large medical expenses (85,000 / PS65,000) + Large lost wages (40,000 / PS30,000) + Future treatment expenses = 125,000+ / 100,000+.
General Damages:
UK Guide: JCG moderate directly fracture of leg with permanent symptoms PS19200 to PS32750.
USA Range: It may be significant because of permanent impairment. Often a high multiplier.
Potential Total Settlement:
UK: PS100,000 (specials) + PS25,000 (generals) = PS125,000 – PS150 000 +.
USA: $125,000 (specials) + $200,000+ (generals) = $325,000 – $500,000+.
Example 3: Severe Life-Altering Injury (e.g. Traumatic Brain Injury, Spinal Damage)
Scenario: Workplace/road traffic accident which results in permanent disability, which necessitates lifelong care, and removes the power to work.
Calculation: In this case, financial needs are future oriented.
Special Damages: Enormous. covers lifetime medical care, modified housing, lost lifetime earnings, professional costs of care. This may be millions of the two currencies.
General Damages:
UK Guide: PS350,000+ of the injury itself can be achieved with the use of UK Guide: JCG top brackets when dealing with severe brain or spinal injury.
USA: In the case of quadriplegia or severe brain damages, jury awards on pain and suffering are up to 10 million plus, but it can be lowered on appeal.
Possible overall settlement: Multi-millions of both the USA and of the UK. This work is complicated, and it is necessary to have expert representation.
Critical Caveats and Last Minute Advice.
Your Compensation is Yours: The settlement in the UK is usually paid in direct proportion to you. In the USA, your attorney is paid a contingency fee (usually 33-40%), and medical liens (what your health insurer wants to be paid) are to be recovered out of the recovery.
Caution: There are no Good Calculators: Internet calculators are well known to be inaccurate. They are unable to consider the subtlety of your case.
The initial bid of an insurance company, particularly at the beginning, is nearly always a lowball. It is a point of initiation of negotiation.
The One and the Only Important Step: Find a good personal injury solicitor (UK) or attorney (USA). They will:
Rightly appreciate your assertion with medical testimony and, in the UK, with JCG.
Fight to cover all your future losses and that is where the real value is.
Negotiate against low bids and strategies.
