The back holds a person’s body, posture, and mobility. So, any deficiency concerning the back will produce a domino effect on the way a person lives. It is a good thing since there are ways to avoid back injuries in a car accident. That’s why a back injury can still happen at some point in life.
Also, back injuries from rear-end accidents are one of the most common personal injury cases. The pain can range from spinal cord paralysis, strains, sprains, and others. Thus, the settlement value for this case must be well-deliberated to ensure that the victim can be provided with enough settlement for injury treatment, bills, and even surgery, if necessary. Still, there are essential pointers that must be considered in a back injury case and settlement.
Compensable Settlement Losses-Based Claim Settlement Value of a Back Injury Case
Typically, the average back injury settlement amount or compensation are considerate to the point that it can also cover the non-economic and economic losses or simply the damages to the victim. Given that, here’s a closer look at these damages and the financial recovery forms to apply for average settlement for an accident injury.
Non-Economic Damages
Also called general back injury damages, non-economic damages covers only the average settlement for non-monetary losses and the effects of the back injuries on a person. Mostly, the average settlement for losses is not captured by any dollar figure, but below are its compositions:
Punitive Damages
In a Des Moines personal injury lawsuit, there are rare circumstances wherein damage is awarded to the victim or the plaintiff. However, it is required to have presented evidence to ensure that the inaction or action of the defendant is the cause of the car accident and not negligence. Also, these awards for average settlement are given to back injury cases after a successful civil trial with both a jury and lawyer. They are the professionals responsible for making proper, legal, and appropriate damages regarding a case, such as a back injury settlement amount.
Another thing, the conduct of the defendant or plaintiff needs to be considered outrageous payment for additional justified damages for back injury settlement amounts and collision neck injury cases. This is to help compensate for the back injury settlement amount brought to a victim and the punishment for acting without accordance with traffic laws like average neck injuries and collisions.
Pain and Suffering
To feel pain and suffering after getting involved in a car accident or auto accident isn’t avoidable. There would be lots of pain, especially back injury pain if the impact was strong. Also, there are possible damages to the back injury case. There can be neck and back injuries and spine breaks that will affect the body's mobility and endurance. If the victims have no other funds, they will have a financial burden. The back injury settlement amount will be their only help. It can also include medical bills, treatment expenses, rear lost wages, and many more related to the back injury settlement amount.
Consortium Loss
Furthermore, there is a possibility of consortium loss. Whenever back injuries are considered fatal and serious to the point that they can lead to body paralysis, the effect will be extended to family members. Children, parents, spouses, and other relatives or colleagues will be affected by the pain brought by witnessing their loved ones suffer from back injuries. It can also affect their finances since medical bills, physical therapy fees, and other surgery needs by their loved ones aren’t cheap. And so, the back pain settlement amount can be a huge help for them to resolve their neck and back injuries.
There will be a deprivation of their normal relationships and way of living. With these, a consortium loss award can be given to the back injury victims. In some places, victims of back injuries are given an average settlement amount for these damages. They are awarded the full amount, as long as it is needed and proven to be true. Elsewhere, the family members affected by an accident must separately file for loss of consortium compensation.
Emotional Distress
Emotional distress is also evidence for increasing the potential average settlement amount for back injury victims. It is usually assessed and considered as a part of pain and suffering. With that, the back injury settlement amount is given to victims of back injuries caused by a car accident without any exception.
Economic Damages
If there are non-economic damages, then there are also economic ones from an insurance company. These kinds of damages vary, but they all share one common thing: it affects the status quo and economic figures of victims of back injuries and a car accident or rear-ended motor vehicle accident injury from an insurance company. Here are the different kinds:
Diminished Earnings and Lost Income
First on the list is the diminished earnings and loss of income that isn't covered for the injury cases by an insurance company.
As back injuries can affect the mobility of a person’s body and cause chronic pain, the victim should ask for conservative treatment or fusion surgery because of the soft tissue injuries, damaged herniated discs and increased medical expenses. There will then be effects on their employment or other work-related sources of income from that insurance company.
Also, since there will be a need for several neck treatments, physical therapy for neck injuries, medical expenses, and even future medical surgery, a large amount of money is needed to prolong their life.
Medical Bills
Getting a back injury, both mild and severe, requires medical attention and medical bills as well. In this way, there will be a continuous recovery process that can reduce both the pain and suffering from back injury victims. Medical treatment for neck and back injuries vary.
It can include physical therapy, back injury surgery, MRIs, a herniated disc and lumbar disc repair, diagnostic and imaging exams, and more. If the injury is severe and is expected to be long-term, paralysis is the most common effect.
With this, the average neck injuries' medical treatment must be related to paralysis and permanent disability such as regular physical therapy sessions and costly surgery.
Moreover, the average neck medical treatment depends on how severe the neck and back injury is. If it’s too much, the medication and neck and back injury settlement amount must be enough to relieve pain and suffering, spinal cord injury, neck and back pain, herniated disc pain, and body immobility.
If it’s mild, then the medication will be lighter. The insurance companies and average settlement amount will depend on how costly the treatments are to make the back injury better and resolved.
Neck and Back Injury Claim and Its Factors
The severity of an average neck and back injury may be the main determining factor when it comes to giving value to every back injury claim or personal injury. However, there are still some more. There are other average necks and back injury settlement amount factors that can still affect the settlement value of a back injury:
Hindered Mitigation Damages
After getting into a spinal cord, neck, and back injury accident where there is an average settlement or back injury settlement amount, mitigating the caused damages to properties and people must be settled. For example, a back sprain requires the victim to wear a compression brace for at least 12 hours a day.
However, wearing a body brace isn’t ideal for these victims, which affects the neck and injuries' average recovery method. It will also make the back injury and settlement amount worse.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence means that the victim who suffered the back injury was partially to blame for the accident. This then affects the average settlement personal injury method and the value of the injuries to the neck.
Once people involved in an accident and suffer a back injury are proven to be at fault for the incident, the settlement amount will decrease to a rear value of 50%.
To provide more understanding, here are some case examples of a back injury settlement amount.
Example Cases
2019 November- Maryland Verdict
The injuries' setting was at a gas station. Here, an electrician’s van suddenly struck the vehicle of the plaintiff. He stated during the trial that the electrician’s van drove quickly without even taking the gas pump back to its own place. At worst, it collided with the driver-side door of the plaintiff’s vehicle, bringing injuries to the neck.
Given this accident, an MRI was conducted that resulted in aggravation and herniation of a disc disease at C5-6 and C3-4. The plaintiff's injuries were traumatized due to the severity of the injury that gave him post-traumatic cervical radiculopathy, need for a rear-end neck fusion surgery, back and neck average injuries, free consultation, average neck injuries settlement medical care, award, and lower back serious back injury from the insurance companies.
Moving on, despite the past two years, the plaintiff still needs to attend cervical spine pain management, lower back surgery, neck and spinal injuries, and physical therapy services to improve his body mobility.
After two more years, the plaintiff was called to undergo a neck and spinal surgery. It was unsuccessful and made him fully impaired.
The plaintiff was not able to attend work and was given a neck settlement award with over $7,000,000 from the pre-existing collision and back injury settlement.
2018 October- Maryland Verdict
In this settlement, the plaintiff was identified to be a UPS driver. While he was driving, the defendant had rear-ended him.
He experienced a great deal of pain, as well as back injuries both in his upper and middle back. Montgomery County, at last, awarded him with compensation amounting to $53,000.
2020 February- Virginia Settlement
Lastly, this accident injury case involves a passenger of a public vehicle and a parked tractor.
The victim suffered multiple back injuries after severely colliding with the truck in the car accident. She had neck fractures and back injuries that needed a great deal of medical attention and surgery.
In the end, she received $1,980,000 as the settlement amount for her neck injury.
With these effects of a car accident, the benefits of a neck and back injury settlement amount must be provided.
The good thing is that a law firm can create an attorney-client relationship to provide professional guidance for back injury settlements.
There must be a fair neck and back settlement amount for the personal injury and back injury.
The settlement amount must cater to the settlement needs for spinal cord, neck, and back injuries' expenses and other related neck and back injuries' concerns.