How Much Is a Bulging Disc Injury Worth?

When the presence of disc material goes beyond normal margins in your body by at least 50% of the disc's size, this can be diagnosed as a bulging disc. The topmost layer of cartilage of your disc is impacted in this situation. What makes this unique from a herniated disc is that a herniated disc is defined as disc material displacement beyond the limits of the disc space that does not extend more than 50% around the disc size. If your disc is a bulge rather than herniated, it is often not considered as serious. Regardless, you'll want to have a knowledgeable attorney who can help prepare your bulging disc case to ensure you are compensated fairly for your injury.

Before you can ask, “How much is a bulging disc injury worth?,” you need to think about how the other side will likely present their defense. The defense attorney for the insurance company or the other party involved will claim that a bulging disc is not a serious injury and is actually a very soft signal of a real injury. 

Some defense lawyers will claim that every person has some disc bulging, associated with gravity. This is generally true, however, a bulging disc from a vehicle accident is much more serious than the natural changes that happen from gravity. The defense lawyers might also hire medical experts to support their legal claims. They will argue that a disc bulge is not post-traumatic but is a degenerative circumstance and, in this way, they are arguing that a motor vehicle crash cannot ever cause a bulging disc. However, hiring your own medical experts can help to refute this. If you have a disc bulge and have no symptoms, then the injury is no injury at all. When a car accident, however, causes a dormant injury to become a real one and this causes suffering and pain, then you are eligible to recover compensation. 

Many different factors will influence a settlement value or a possible litigated case outcome in your bulging disc case. You need to be prepared to present compelling evidence about your medical history prior to the accident, as well as how your life has changed after the accident. In many cases, personal injury lawsuits get resolved in settlement, which are any informal or formal negotiations with the other side outside of court. You might even be able to achieve a settlement number before even going to court, but it is more frequently the case that you will need to file a lawsuit first. 

Bulging and protruding disc cases typically recover a lot less when compared with herniated discs. The average jury award across the United States, for example, for bulging discs is just over $140,000, which is compared with over $360,000 for a herniated or a ruptured disc. In some cases the plaintiff's lawyers might not understand the science of bulging discs and may not have the appropriate experts to illustrate how this has affected the plaintiff's life. You will want to do some research on your own as well as to consult with your personal injury lawyer about sample bulging disc settlement options. 

There are no calculators or tried and true formulas that can tell you exactly what you will be able to achieve. Your lawyer can help pull together a compelling argument about your bulging disc case as well as any other injuries that you have sustained in a vehicle accident.

Immediately following an accident, you might attempt to resolve things with the insurance company directly, but it might be the case that you are unable to recover full and fair compensation on your own until you have spoken with an experienced and knowledgeable personal injury lawyer. This is because there are so many facets that go into determining your next best steps and the true value of your injuries. Your lawyer will make a demand letter that shows the economic and non-economic damages associated with your case, and you can expect that the other side will push back. 

Having clear records about your treatment and the changes in your day to day life because of the bulging disc are some of the most compelling aspects of your legal claims. It is very important to get thorough medical analysis completed for your injuries immediately after your wreck because a bulging disk can get much worse if it goes untreated. 

Furthermore, if the situation goes untreated and you waited a long time to get medical attention, the other party involved will argue that you didn't sustain an injury at all or that your injury was caused by something else besides the car accident. 

In most cases bulging discs are not a serious cause for concern, but they can cause you daily continual pain. A severe case of a bulging disc could even require disc surgery. Your pain can range from mild to severe, and you will need to work with a lawyer who is prepared to present compelling evidence about this in your lawsuit. 

Typically, proving the existence of your bulging disc is not difficult in and of itself, but it can be very hard to illustrate that this was directly caused by the accident. You will want to talk to your lawyer about what you can do to increase your chances of the court or the insurance company understanding the details that you have presented around your bulging disc injury.  

When you first get injured in something like a car accident, you might contact your insurance company first to try to get the damages and compensation you deserve. In more minor cases, this might be where the case ends. However, many victims with bulging discs will have other injuries as well that require more extensive treatment, and overall this calls for more care and involvement in lawsuits. 

If you believe that the insurance company is not giving you the compensation or responses that you deserve, you can contact a personal injury lawyer to talk through filing a legal claim. While not every case might require this additional step, there’s too much on the line when you’ve been seriously hurt to ignore your options. You can contact the experts at Morgan & Morgan to get a free, no-obligation case evaluation for more information before making a decision.

If you proceed to file a legal claim, the insurance company will respond. As the case moves closer to going to court, you might be able to settle the claim, too. Sometimes the insurance company or the other party involved does not want to go through the hassle of litigation or is concerned about having to pay out a very high amount if you’re successful in court. Once you’ve shown that you’re serious by hiring a knowledgeable lawyer, you might find that these other parties are more open to working with you as you try to figure out how much your bulging disc injury is worth. 

Your lawyer might come to the table with settlement offers, but it is more often the case that the other side will come to the table first. This gives you a decent sense of where they are at with their perception of your injuries. If the number they present first is quite far off from what you hope to recover, you and your lawyer might just continue with the legal case as is. If you can find some compromise or get closer to the same number, you might be able to close out this case without going to court or taking the case through the full court procedure.

You can see how your personal injury lawyer is a vital component of this entire process, from helping you gather all the evidence to helping you decide whether or not to accept a settlement offer. Make sure you talk through your options with an experienced bulging disc injury lawyer to get clarity on your options.