How Can You Tell if a Settlement Offer Is Too Low?

How Can You Tell if a Settlement Offer Is Too Low?

Settlement is the most likely outcome of an injury claim. A landmark U.S. Department of Justice study found that only 3% of personal injury lawsuits reach trial. Instead, 73% of parties enter into a settlement agreement. This number does not include the many claims settled before the injured person files a lawsuit.

A settlement agreement typically includes a payment in exchange for a release of all or some legal claims. It allows all parties to avoid the time and expense of a trial, but you’ll need to make sure the settlement offer is fair given the circumstance and facts of the case.

Valuing Your Case

Your injury lawyer will help you assess the value of your case. Under Georgia law, this value includes your general and special damages.

Special Damages

Special damages are specific to your case. You have to prove the existence and value of these damages to recover them. Special damages include your financial costs and losses. They are called special damages because no one will incur exactly the same economic losses as you. These damages are also called “economic damages.”

Economic damages include:

• Past and future medical expenses for treatment, therapy, and medication
• Past wage losses due to missed work
• Future diminished earning capacity resulting from long-term disabilities
• Reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket expenses

You can prove these losses using financial records such as receipts, doctor’s bills, and pay stubs. You will calculate your special damages by simply adding up all your compensable costs and losses.

General Damages

General damages are presumed to result from every injury. For example, all injuries are presumed to produce physical pain and mental suffering. The main issue will involve putting a value on these losses.

By their nature, general losses do not come with a price tag. The guidance from the Georgia Pattern Jury Instructions only instructs jurors to use their “enlightened conscience” to award an amount that is “reasonable, fair, and just.”

You prove these losses using testimony from friends, relatives, and co-workers to explain how your injuries affected your quality of life. Examples of losses that can justify general damages include:

• Interference with normal living;
• Interference with enjoyment of life;
• Loss of capacity to labor and earn money;
• Impairment of bodily health and vigor;
• Fear of extent of injury;
• Shock of impact;
• Actual pain and suffering, past and future;
• Mental anguish, past and future; and
• The extent to which the plaintiff must limit activities.

When Is a Settlement Offer Too Low?

Once you calculate the value of your case, you will know when an offer is too low. For example, if your case is worth $30,000, you might consider an offer of $8,000 to be too low. On the other hand, an offer of $27,000 might be fair if you can avoid a trial and shorten the time for your case by ten months.

Get Help Evaluating Your Settlement Offer

Arriving at a fair value for your case may require legal experience and knowledge. Contact a personal injury attorney to learn more about the value of your case and how much you should receive in a fair settlement.