The Average Car Accident Settlement for Back and Neck Injuries

How much can you get, on average, from a car accident back and neck settlement?
One of the biggest questions that people have in relation to car accidents is about payouts for back and neck injuries.

Think about it – you collide with a fixed object or another vehicle. Your body is jolted physically – it puts tremendous and particular strain on your bones, muscles, and joints.

So it makes sense that many times, after an accident, people are going to have these injuries or at least worry about having them.

If these neck or back injuries happen, they might be minor injuries with short-term symptoms, but they’re also likely to be longer-term injuries with chronic symptoms.

Some of these injuries are also hard to diagnose and treat.

So, what do you get for these types of settlements? Many lawyers will point out that many average car accident case settlements range from $100,000-$500,000, for example, but there’s really no set standard amount. It has to do with court findings, legal presentation, and much more.

Let’s talk about what accident injury victims seek for back and neck injuries and how car accident attorneys come up with this amount.

Do You Have These? Common Symptoms of Back and Neck Injuries

You can often identify a back or neck car accident injury from your symptoms after the collision.

• Numbness or tingling – do you have different sensations in parts of your body, pins, and needles, or a lack of feeling in your limbs or neck?
• Pain – pain is fundamentally your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong. If there is a new pain after a car accident, you’re probably dealing with this sort of injury
• Vertigo and dizziness – sometimes, the injury throws off your sense of internal balance, and you experience these types of unsettling symptoms.
• New sounds – when you rotate your neck or turn a certain way, do you hear clicking or grinding sounds? This is another warning sign that you might have suffered a back or neck injury.
• Muscle weakness or spasms – sometimes, an injury traps some muscle in a certain way, leading to a feeling of weakness in a limb or some sort of muscle spasm. You might not directly link this to a car accident injury right away, which is why, in general, it’s a good idea to keep a “journal” of symptoms and document how you feel after an accident.
• Range of motion problems – if you’re wondering about lower back pain or soft tissue injuries, or other kinds of potential harm to the neck or back, direct your body into different positions. Do you feel any new sensations? These may be related to a spinal cord injury case or other type of back or neck injury.

It’s important for those who have been in a car accident to get a fair, impartial medical review quickly in seeking a neck and back injury settlement.

It helps to provide better documents for the courts, and having an impartial medical professional ensures that the person or practice doing the medical review won’t be colluding with any defendant in the case, such as insurance companies.

What Are Back and Neck Car Accident Injury Settlements Used For?

Another way to figure out what you’re likely to get in a settlement is related to figuring out what you’re using it for.

There are a number of key things that people apply for in a settlement. They may need money in order to pay:

• Medical costs
• Lost wages
• Loss of consortium or relationship with a spouse or partner
• Pain and suffering
• Other costs

When you add up all of these amounts, you come up with what’s likely to be a relevant settlement target for your case.

Valuing Pain and Suffering Amounts

You may be wondering how courts value pain-and-suffering amounts…

Sometimes, they use what’s called the ‘multiplier method‘ where lawyers come up with a relevant amount based on the big picture around the effects of an accident and apply an equation to represent the extent of pain and suffering. Part of the valuation has to do with the severity of the injury itself.

In other cases, car accident lawyers use something called ‘per diem’ costs for pain and suffering. They assign an amount per day and award that while a person is in recovery or where injury effects apply on a particular timeline.

Punitive Damages in a Back Pain or Neck Injury Settlement

In some cases, courts will also award punitive damages in a car accident case.

This is not directly related to the accident victim suffering in the same way that the above costs are.

Punitive damages are more about the court telling someone: “You did something wrong: don’t do it again.” They are intended to be a deterrent and, as such, are subject to other kinds of rules and procedures.

With that in mind, punitive damages can be large amounts of money. They may have to cover all of the legal costs of the case on both sides, which can be pretty expensive.

Injured in a Motor Vehicle Accident? Durham Law Firm Has Your Back

When you need to cover your costs as an accident victim, you need professional representation to advance your voice in local and state courts.

If you’ve suffered an injury in a motor vehicle accident, talk to the lawyers at Durham Law Firm, a top-rated personal injury law firm. We will help walk you through every step of a car accident case and assist in pursuing the best strategies to get a fair neck or back injury settlement.

Get help from dedicated attorneys who know the courts, the processes, and the landscape when it comes to personal injury law – and be confident when looking for an equitable resolution. Contact us today.