The most common question that any Sangamon County personal injury attorney hears first from a prospective client is, “How much is my case worth?” This is a complicated question and there is no simple way to arrive at an answer.

There is another related question that is more important: How much will the insurance company value my case to be worth? You and your lawyer can crunch the numbers and arrive at a figure you think is reasonable, but ultimately, you will be negotiating with the insurance company and they will have an expected ballpark figure in mind as well.

How does the insurer decide? This depends on how your case progresses. At the start of your case, a certain amount of money will be designated as “reserves” and set aside. This figure is meant to be a likely outside value for you claim. It may be as high as the outside limit amount of liability designated in the insurance policy in question (meaning, the policy held by the person who caused your injury).

As your case progresses and you accrue medical bills, lost wages, and other monetary damages, the insurance company will keep track of these losses and factor them into their valuation. But it is not as simple as “I was billed X amount in medical bills, so the insurer values my case at X.” They will also factor in the quality of your witnesses and the evidence against the accused, whether you had any liability for the accident, and whether you had any pre-existing injuries in the same area of the body. If you had any pre-existing injuries, the insurer will want to see records relating to it.

Contact a Sangamon County personal injury attorney

For more information on filing a personal injury claim, contact Sangamon County personal injury attorneys at McCarthy Rowden & Baker. Call 800-373-6050.