Case Value Factors – Injuries, Lost Income

A Springfield personal injury attorney reviews factors that have an effect on case value.

Income Loss

Your Springfield personal injury attorney knows that insurance carriers give lost profits or lost wages significant consideration when determining your claim’s value simply because a dollar and cents value can be assigned to them. The most beneficial records include those showing you have lost a certain number of hours multiplied by your wage per hour. The best kind of documentation is a letter sent by a reputable employer that includes personnel records showing the exact amount of lost income in dollars. Your Springfield personal injury attorney will advise that a self-employed individual with incomplete or vague records who paid no or little income tax will have a difficult time documenting lost income. Individuals who have been paid “under the table” will most likely have no chance at all of recovering lost wages.

Injuries

Your Springfield personal injury attorney will advise that insurance companies assign more value to some injuries than others. Objective injuries that are well documented, such as permanent scarring, broken limbs and internal organ ruptures, have more worth to insurance carriers than emotional suffering, soft tissue musculoskeletal injuries and other types of subjective injuries. An insurance carrier will typically pay less for a strained back than a broken leg even though whiplash injuries usually take longer to heal than a broken leg. A jury will identify with an objective injury, such as a compound leg fracture, much more readily than with a neck or lower back injury that has no objective documentation. Although evaluations such as these may seem unfair, your Springfield personal injury lawyer knows they are simply a fact of life.

Obtaining Legal Counsel

If you would like to speak with an experienced and competent Springfield personal injury lawyer about your case value, please contact the law firm of McCarthy, Rowden & Baker at 800-373-6050 and request a free consultation.