What Is The Average Settlement For A Personal Injury Claim?
Posted in Personal Injury on February 28, 2020
If you or a loved one had been injured due to someone else’s careless or negligent actions, you may wonder whether you can secure compensation for your injury expenses and damages. In general, victims in personal injury cases are able to recover compensation. However, the amount a person is able to recover depends on a variety of factors. Understanding the average settlement for a personal injury claim can be complicated.
Every personal injury case is different
No two personal injury cases are the same, and the amount of compensation a person receives will vary depending on several factors. When you try to research how much the average settlement is for a personal injury claim, you will likely encounter answers to this question. Different websites will give ranges have anywhere from a few thousand dollars to a million dollars.
The fact is that these cases need to be examined on a case-by-case basis. All of the following can affect how much an injured victim will receive in a settlement:
- the severity of the injuries
- whether or not a victim can work while they recover
- the amount of physical and emotional pain and suffering
- whether the victim was at fault for any part of the incident
- insurance policy limitations
Nobody can tell you with absolute certainty how much a personal injury case will be worth without first conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.
Are the caps on Tennessee personal injury cases?
Tennessee is a state that places certain limitations (or caps) on personal injury lawsuit damages. For economic damages, such as medical expenses and lost income, there are no limitations in place on how much compensation a person can receive. However, Tennessee does place limitations on the amount of compensation a personal injury victim can receive for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. In Tennessee, a person can generally only receive $750,000 in compensation for non-economic damages.
However, this amount is raised to $1 million for cases that involve:
- Amputation
- Severe burns
- Wrongful death of the parent of a minor child
- Paralysis due to spinal cord injury
Tennessee personal injury statute of limitations
Compared to other states, Tennessee has a relatively shorter timeline in place for victims of personal injuries to file lawsuits against the at-fault party. Here, there is a one-year statute of limitations in place. Victims of personal injury in Tennessee have one year from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Because of this short time frame, it is vital that you seek assistance from a skilled personal injury lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee to help ensure you receive maximum compensation for your case.
Lower payments for shared fault
Under Tennessee’s modified comparative negligence fault laws, a personal injury victim will only be able to recover compensation if it is determined they were less than 50% responsible for the incident that caused the injury. If it is determined that an injured victim was partially responsible for the incident that caused their injury, then the total amount of compensation will be reduced based on their percentage of fault. For example, if a person is awarded $10,000 in damages for their injuries, but they are found to be 10% at fault for the incident, then they would receive only $9,000 in compensation.