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PI settlement calculation

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autoeng

Junior Member
In Kentucky. In July I was hit by another motorist and I am getting ready to settle with the insurance company for the personal injury. My heel was broken but remained in position requiring no surgery, my metacarpel was broken and I suffered numbness in a facial nerve. The numbness lasted 6 seeks, the hand is 99% healed but the foot is still healing. In a wheelchair for 2 weeks, no weight bearing for 1½ months then a crutch and a cane for 6 weeks and now a limp and pain but doctor (ortho surgeon) thinks I will make a full recovery given time although I might suffer from arthritus. Full recovery could take a year.

A good friend of mine is a lawyer and offered me some advice as to settling in an effort not to have to hire him and save me his 30% take.

His advice was that PI's are typically the amount of your medical bills X 5 plus lost wages. He told me to get all of my medical bills together and work up that figure and present it to the insurance company as my offer for settlement. If they settle great, if not I could then hire him to go after the same figure but he'll take 30% of the settlement.

My question is, for those with experience, is 5 times bills typical for the type of injuries I sustained?
 


stephenk

Senior Member
how much are your medical bills to date? how much future medical treatment have you been told you may need and the cost for that treatment?
 

autoeng

Junior Member
$3,000 to date. No future costs UNLESS I have to have surgery far off in the future (10 years) as ortho surgeon warns me I MIGHT have to because my ankle MIGHT fuse. It's not for sure but doctor thinks that there is good possibilty that it could be needed. I am aggressive in my physical therapy in attempt to avoid future problems.
 

autoeng

Junior Member
Yes the ins co made me an offer of 1X my medical $3K and 1X my lost wages $2,500. Total offer $7,500.
 

esq2B

Junior Member
Keep negotiating

Keep negotiating. It seems like you have verifiable hard injuries and usually you should at least get 3 x your actual damages.
 

autoeng

Junior Member
I agree that it is time to hire a lawyer but I worry that my lawyer friend isn't going for enough as I don't know what that should be. Above this they say 3X, my lawyer friend says 5X. That is what I am trying to gauge with this post. Anything further?
 

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