What Is a Concussion Compensation Calculator?

Concussion Compensation Calculator

Some car accidents result in serious injuries, such as concussions. Injured persons may have a right to seek compensation from the responsible party. Using a concussion compensation calculator helps determine a fair settlement amount. Several factors affect the overall settlement amount. Thus, making it essential that injured parties use a compensation calculator with an experienced legal representative’s help.

Compensation calculators can offer estimates for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, and economic damages, like medical bills. A calculator may use multipliers for general damages, such as mental distress resulting from a car collision. The more severe the injury, the higher the multiplier.

How Do Concussion Compensation Calculators Work?

Compensation calculators use several fields to determine a settlement estimate:

  • Medical Expenses: Even if insurance covers medical bills resulting from the accident, victims can still recover the cost of medical expenses.
  • Estimated Future Medical Expenses: Those who require ongoing medical treatment can add those costs to their settlement.
  • Lost Earnings: If a concussion renders a person unable to work, victims can include lost wages with their settlement amount. This section includes any paid time off or vacation days used to protect one’s financial health. 
  • Future Lost Income: Depending on their severity, concussions can negatively affect an individual’s future wages. For instance, a victim may have to complete future treatment, or the person may have to switch job positions because of the effects of a concussion.
  • Property Damage: Other than a concussion, motor vehicle accidents may result in property damage, such as to the victim’s vehicle or valuables inside the vehicle. Those injured can seek compensation for these damages. 
  • Multiplier for General Damages: Pain and suffering is an example of general damages in personal injury cases. Multipliers estimate such general damages, with severe injuries increasing the multiplier. 

Several additional factors determine an overall estimate amount. Consulting with a lawyer helps concussion victims ensure that they account for all variables when using a compensation calculator.

How Do General Damages Factor Into Concussion Compensation Calculators?

General damages are the same as non-economic damages. What sets these damages apart from special damages, such as medical treatment, is that accident victims cannot easily put a price tag on general damages. Measures of anxiety, physical discomfort and stress become difficult to quantify, as people experience them differently.

Because of the difficulty of pricing psychological distress, concussion compensation calculators use multipliers. The way a multiplier works is insurance providers and lawyers take the sum of quantifiable losses and multiply it by a number between 1.5 and 5.

Multipliers increase or decrease according to the severity of general damages. Will concussion victims need future medical treatment to address their injury? If so, how much? How severe are the injuries? How much medical attention has the person received so far? Do medical professionals predict any long-lasting effects from the concussion? Can the injured party expect to make a full recovery? These are examples of questions that help determine the number of multipliers to use.

One fact to remember with multipliers is that they can differ from victim to insurance company. Those injured often desire to use more multipliers while insurance adjusters usually want to use fewer.

Do Concussion Compensation Calculators Consider a Victim’s Negligence?

Sometimes, an injured party’s negligence contributes to an accident, which affects the final settlement amount. For instance, while the at-fault party’s speeding caused the collision that led to the victim sustaining a concussion, the injured individual’s distracted driving may play a part in the accident’s severity and the resulting injuries. If the plaintiff bears fault, that decreases the overall settlement amount.

Ultimate legal damages where victims bear fault depend on the state and the negligence rules it follows. In New Mexico, Alaska, Louisiana and New York (among additional states), pure comparative negligence rules dictate that a victim’s negligence decreases the settlement amount with no limits.

Arkansas, Kansas, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina are modified comparative negligence states, which operate much like pure comparative negligence states. The major difference is that in modified comparative negligence states if a victim bears more than 50% fault for the accident outcome, that person does not receive damages.

Contributory negligence states such as Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina and the District of Columbia have some of the most severe rules regarding personal injury settlements. In those states, if concussion victims bear even 1% fault for the incident, they no longer qualify from receiving damages.

Is There an Average Concussion Compensation Settlement Amount?

While motor vehicle accidents have common injuries, such as concussion and whiplash, their average settlements are not so common. Individual car collisions have several varying factors, making it difficult to calculate an average settlement. For instance, even two victims in the same accident may suffer varying injuries and qualify for different compensation amounts. One person may suffer a minor concussion, several broken bones and long-term disabilities. The other sustains a major concussion and a few cuts. Touching back on negligence states, the injured driver may receive a smaller settlement amount than an injured passenger if the driver contributed to the accident.

How Can Lawyers Help Concussion Victims Calculate Their Settlement?

Legal representatives familiar with motor vehicle accidents and their resulting injuries can help victims figure out their total medical and property damage expenses and lost earnings. A legal professional’s education and experience help injured parties understand the scope of their damages and how to predict tactics that insurance companies often use to reduce fair settlement amounts. Another way that lawyers can help is by allowing those injured to concentrate on their recovery and health rather than have to go up against insurance companies.

Work With an Experienced Local Lawyer

Do not delay in determining a settlement amount for your concussion and any other injuries sustained during your recent auto incident. A concussion compensation calculator provides a foundation for determining your damages, but an attorney can help make sure you approach the amount from all angles and gather the right evidence to strengthen your case.

Submit a request online or call us today at (866) 345-6784 to get in touch with an experienced lawyer in your area!

About the Author

Aaron is a professional legal writer with a B.S. in English Education from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He has written, published, and edited thousands of legal articles for RequestLegalHelp, which has connected over 5 million people to legal help in the United States.

With over five years of experience writing thousands of legal articles for law firms across the U.S. and Canada, Aaron specializes in covering federal, state, and city-level legal issues ranging from auto accidents to wrongful terminations. Contact Aaron at [email protected] for article suggestions, collaborations, or inquiries.

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