There is no average settlement amount for a herniated disc or pinched nerve. Instead, several factors change how much you should receive, like injury severity, length of your medical treatment, and impact on your quality of life.
Knowing how much your injury affected you can help you fight for compensation that aligns with your experience rather than an “average” amount. A Boca Raton personal injury lawyer can help you distinguish good settlement offers from unfair ones and compile evidence to negotiate for a more personalized amount.
How Settlements Are Determined for Accident Injuries
Insurance adjusters can approach injury claims with preconceived notions of what is “normal” for your type of injury. However, they should also consider the following when determining a settlement amount for a disc injury or pinched nerve:
How Severe Is Your Injury?
As Mayo Clinic points out, your experience with a herniated disc could differ greatly from someone else’s. Some accident victims experience no symptoms, while others require muscle relaxers, prescription painkillers, cortisone injections, or surgery.
Even pinched nerves, which generally present with symptoms like pain, tingling, or numbness, can vary based on what nerve is experiencing pressure. Some people recover with rest while others need more care.
As a result, a milder experience with these injuries will not require as much medical care, resulting in fewer or lower bills and requiring less compensation in a settlement.
How Long Will Your Injury Last?
If you require more time to respond to treatment and miss out on work and important parts of your life, your case could merit compensation to cover these costs.
What Are the Unique Consequences of Your Case?
Your accident settlement should also consider the other ramifications of your injuries, like loss of:
- Income and productivity
- Enjoyment of life
- Activities or hobbies
- Independence
- Peace of mind
Additionally, the actual pain and suffering these injuries cause should be considered in your case. Disc and nerve injuries are notorious for causing severe pain, sometimes to a debilitating extent. Just going through that is a compensable loss in a personal injury claim.
Evidence Used to Seek Fair Compensation for Slipped Disc and Pinched Nerve Injuries
Since insurers are often conservative in their initial offers, negotiating for appropriate compensation requires having accurate records to back up your argument.
A personal injury attorney can help you with gathering the following evidence for your case. Having as much documentation as possible is helpful, but it’s also not on you to do all the work. You can task your legal team with obtaining records, organizing documents, and recognizing compensable losses.
Medical Bills and Employment Info
To match compensation to your medical expenses, you might need evidence like:
- Doctor’s office visits
- Hospital stays
- Labs and imaging
- Diagnostic tests
- Specialist assessments
- Physical therapy
- Surgeries
- Prescriptions and injections
- Medical equipment
To demonstrate the setbacks to your career, you can chart the change in your income over time, showing pay stubs or proof of income before the accident compared to where you are now. Your medical evidence can also tie into your employment evidence, with doctor’s and therapist’s notes highlighting how far along you are in recovery and how your injuries will affect your future work ability.
Official Reports
If you suffered your disc or nerve injury in a motor vehicle accident, you may have called the police afterward. While often used to figure out who and what caused the accident, police reports can also offer insights into what you suffered.
For example, a car accident lawyer can use a crash report to underline the speed at which you were hit, relate the angle of the collision to your injuries, and point to the officer’s impression of the damage as proof of your ordeal. They can also determine who is the at-fault driver, which is necessary if you want to demand compensation from the liable party.
Witness Testimony
Reinforcing the documentation of your case is testimony from those familiar with your case. This can include information from:
- You
- Friends and family
- Coworkers
- Employers
- Doctors
- Mental health professionals
- Physical therapists
- Other expert witnesses
For example, our legal team might consult nerve or spine experts who can speak to the level of herniation or nerve damage you’ve suffered. Your employer can attest to the decline in your ability to work. Mental health professionals can provide testimony on the mental pain and suffering you’ve encountered. Your doctors and therapists can round out the case by highlighting the severity of your injury.
Related Costs and Losses
Did you suffer your herniated disc in a truck accident that totaled your car? The cost of using a rental, rideshares, or public transportation is a result of the accident, so it should be included in your demand for compensation. Has your pinched nerve made it impossible for you to do some household tasks, forcing you to hire someone to clean your house or take care of your yard? Your settlement should reflect that, too.
These types of related expenses or losses are often overlooked in settlement offers and negotiations, but a personal injury attorney can spot them and add them to the list as you seek a reasonable settlement.
Who Pays for a Disc Injury or Injured Nerve Settlement?
This can depend on the accident, but the most common avenues are an insurance injury claim or a personal injury lawsuit. With an insurance claim, our lawyers negotiate with an adjuster, while with a lawsuit, we negotiate with the negligent party who caused your accident and their attorneys. Because negotiations allow all parties to have their say, many cases settle out of court; this avoids leaving the decision up to a jury.
At-fault parties who may owe you compensation include:
- An at-fault driver
- A commercial truck driver or trucking company
- A property owner who did not maintain a safe premises
- Negligent medical professionals
An Injury Lawyer Can Help You Seek a Fair Settlement for Your Herniated Disc or Pinched Nerve
In addition to providing detailed and specific evidence of your injuries, the lawyers from our firm can pursue your compensation by:
- Exploring the possibility of multiple liable parties, as this can allow you to recover damages from more than one claim or suit.
- Holding insurers accountable for honoring policy terms to make sure you aren’t a victim of bad faith insurance practices.
- Verifying that the wording of any settlement offers doesn’t contain any catches or that the terms are appropriate.
- Preventing you from making any mistakes that could reduce what you receive, such as by saying too much and getting unfairly blamed for the accident.
Get a Free Herniated Disc or Nerve Injury Case Review From Our Legal Team
The accident attorneys at Ged Lawyers know how to handle herniated disc and pinched nerve cases, whether caused by auto accidents, boating accidents, slip and falls, or other forms of negligence. You deserve financial compensation if you didn’t cause your own injuries.
Contact us today to get a free case review from our team, during which we’ll talk all about your injury settlement options and provide legal advice. We’ll provide fierce legal representation throughout your case as we seek the fair settlement you deserve. Getting in touch with us is risk-free, as our team charges no upfront costs.
