There is no formula for calculating the amount of compensation you can collect. A variety of factors are considered, whether by your lawyer and the insurance company in negotiations or by a jury in court, in determining fair and just compensation. These factors include severity of the accident, how severe the injuries are, how the injuries affect the victim’s ability to work and day-to-day life, and extent of hospital treatment, just to name a few. Aggravating factors such as drunk driving can both speed up settlement and affect the settlement amount.
Fair compensation certainly includes more than just reimbursement for your costs of medical treatment. Under Texas law, a personal injury victim may collect compensation for—
• Costs of medical treatment already incurred,
• Medical expenses yet to be incurred,
• Lost wages,
• Loss of earning capacity,
• Physical pain,
• Mental or emotional suffering,
• Physical impairment,
• Property damage, and
• Other miscellaneous losses.
In some instances, the injured person’s family could be entitled to compensation, depending on how severe the injuries are and their dependence on the injured person.
You are entitled to compensation for medical bills even if those bills already have been paid by a health insurance plan. The same is true for lost earnings, even if you take sick days or receive worker’s compensation benefits. This, however, is not considered a windfall or double recovery.
First, under a principle known as “subrogation” your health insurance plan (based on the plan documents) and your employer’s workers’ compensation carrier (under Texas law) may be entitled to receive payment from your recovery for what they pay out. Therefore, in order to be adequately compensated you must receive maximum payment from auto insurance in the event your health insurer or workers’ comp carrier makes a subrogation claim against your recovery.
Second, if the at-fault driver’s insurance company limits your injury compensation just because you have paid for health coverage, or paid increased auto insurance premiums for “PIP” coverage (Personal Injury Protection), or have attained sick days or paid vacation, the adverse insurer is taking complete advantage of the fact that you are a responsible person and diligent worker. If you use up your sick days because of injuries as a result of the auto accident, those days will not be usable for other types of health problems. If you sacrifice to get extra coverage, the at-fault driver’s insurer should not get the advantage of you.
In the end, we believe that you obtain a larger amount of compensation through good legal representation than you would by going it alone. In fact, we believe that when it is all said and done you keep more dollars with a personal injury attorney, even after attorney fees and expenses are deducted, than you normally could get on your own without a lawyer. Until you retain a trial lawyer, the insurance company is unlikely to offer fair compensation because the insurer knows that you won’t be ready to take your case to court.