What Is the Average Settlement for a Rear-End Collision With Injuries?

Car Accidents happen every day, and unfortunately, they leave victims with short-term and long-term consequences in the form of injuries and expenses. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, getting medical attention should be your top priority, so that you can have a good perspective on the injuries you have sustained and a potential treatment plan. While you may not experience medical symptoms at the site of the accident, getting medical attention and a proper diagnosis can put you on the right course for a treatment plan. You may not even realize the severity of your injuries until hours or days after the accident. This is very common with soft tissue damage, such as whiplash, which can be masked until the days following the wreck but can significantly impede your ability to move on with your life. 

Immediately after your treatment, however, you should consider your legal options and determine the average settlement for a rear-end collision with injuries with a trusted legal advisor. Because there are so many unique issues at play with the average settlement for a rear-end collision with injuries, it is imperative to retain an experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after you have been hurt. A lawyer can help guide you through the entire legal process and will sit down with you to understand the basics of your accident. 

It is possible that you may not be able to determine the average settlement for a rear-end collision with injuries right out of the gate because your remaining medical diagnosis is yet to be seen. You may reach a point that your doctor defined as maximum medical improvement, which means that your condition is unlikely to improve any further beyond this point. This does not mean that you are necessarily fully healed. You may continue to experience pain or mobility issues, even after reaching maximum medical improvement. As a result of this, you might need ongoing treatment, medications, surgeries, or modifications to your work or life schedule because of these injuries. All of these will be factored into the equation for the average settlement for a rear-end collision with injuries.

Factors That Influence Settlement Amounts

There is no one sure number for an average settlement for rear-end collision with injuries because there are so many unique factors that can influence the outcome of your case. In general, the most important factors include your medical diagnosis and prognosis, which means what your likely recovery period will be and the impact on your life. If your doctor informs you that you will have scars, burns, or other long-term disabilities, this can greatly increase the amount of the average settlement for a rear-end collision with injuries. Through these medical records, you can tell your version of how the accident happened and how it has influenced your life will be instrumental in helping to fight for maximum compensation. 

Facial Injury Issues

There are many different ways that the face can be injured in a rear-end collision. An airbag can open and bruise the face, or pieces of the windshield can fly into the face. Breaks, deformities, burns, scars, and eye damage are all unfortunately too common when it comes to accident issues. These can lead to large medical bills and expenses, ongoing pain and suffering, reduced self-esteem, and more. The settlements can run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to upwards of seven figures depending on the severity of the injuries, the long-term impact, and the other damage done.

Neck and Shoulder Injuries

Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained in rear-end accidents. When the body is suddenly thrust forward and then backward, this can cause radiating neck and shoulder pain. Whiplash injuries on average do not pay as high as other types of serious medical conditions. They typically will settle or payout between $10,000 to $20,000. However, there are some circumstances in which this can be much higher, particularly when a whiplash injury is linked to other problems.

Shoulder Injuries

Shoulder injuries outside of whiplash can also lead to serious medical expenses. The most significant shoulder injuries have settlement payouts in a range of between $150,000 to $300,000 or more because of the surgeries and extensive treatments that might be required. It is important to get medical attention and a diagnosis as soon as possible. Keep your own notes about all of your treatments and the day-to-day impacts. It can be very difficult to illustrate to others how much you have been hurt by a shoulder injury, but the more that you can illustrate this in court with the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer, the greater your chances of recovering maximum compensation.

Understanding Back Injury Settlement Issues

For lower back injury settlements associated with strains and sprains, the mildest of back injuries, the typical settlements are between $10,000 and $50,000. However, settlement amounts will be much higher for more extensive damage such as paralysis and disabilities. If you have to use medical devices now to move throughout your life and have had to give up your job or other activities you did prior to the accident, all of this can be used to determine an average settlement amount.

Do I Have to Take an Insurance Company Settlement?

Insurance company settlements may be presented to you at any point during the personal injury lawsuit process. The settlement is there for you to review and respond, but you are not obligated to accept a settlement offer presented by the insurance company. In some cases, the insurance company will try to lowball a settlement offer, making it difficult for you to see how you can pay off your current medical bills and move on with your life. Having the right lawyer in your corner is critical because an attorney will be able to tell you more about whether a settlement offer that has been presented is fair enough to compensate you for your injuries or not. The support of a lawyer is instrumental throughout the entire rear-end collision lawsuit process.

Why Do I Need a Lawyer?

Especially when you’re dealing with soft tissue or other hard-to-see injuries, it’s very important that you have a lawyer who has taken cases like this to court before. It’s possible that the other side will argue that your injuries are not that serious or that the pain is minor. This can be frustrating to hear, especially when you’re the one dealing with all the serious changes to your life. A lawyer is vital during these times so that your story gets told in a clear and compelling way in court. Bringing in the right experts and showcasing your evidence about how the injury has changed your life can make a world of difference in your case. This is why it’s crucial to retain an attorney who knows the lay of the land and can help you figure out what’s in your best interests to get what you deserve. 

The sooner you hire a lawyer, the sooner they can start working on gathering all the information for your case. This helps to protect your rights to file a claim under the statute of limitations because you cannot exceed a certain timeline for filing. 

Do not let the other party define what happens to you in this case. You deserve to have a lawyer supporting you from the beginning. 

What Mistakes Should I Avoid With Settlements?

The insurance company can come to you with a settlement offer at any time, but you do not have to accept it. Perhaps the biggest mistake that people make in the early stages of their case is to accept a settlement offer for an injury without real clarity about the long-term impacts of that injury.

If you sign a settlement agreement, you waive your rights to file any future claims. If you later discover that you didn’t get enough money in your initial suit and settlement, that is something you have to live with if you signed your settlement. To make sure you have the right information to sign a settlement agreement, hire a personal injury lawyer first to walk you through each aspect of your case. Your lawyer will help calculate all your previous and possible future costs so that if a settlement offer is presented, you can decide if you want to push back for another offer. 

If you think you have grounds to file a suit and your injury has kept you from living the life that you’re accustomed to, you need to talk to an attorney who can review your case in full. Contact Morgan & Morgan to get started. Schedule a free, no-obligation case evaluation online with our contact form. You might be able to file a case quickly to help you recover the compensation you need.