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After an accident, it is natural to wonder what your personal injury claim may be worth. You may know someone who suffered a similar injury, have read about a settlement online, or have seen an attorney advertisement describing a large recovery for an accident that sounds similar to yours.
Those comparisons can be misleading. There is no standard settlement amount for a particular injury in New Jersey. Two people can be involved in similar accidents, receive similar diagnoses, and even incur similar medical expenses while ultimately receiving very different settlement offers.
Douglas Standriff examines these variables in greater depth in his Lex Wire Journal analysis, Why Similar Personal Injury Cases in Paramus Can Produce Very Different Settlement Outcomes. For someone trying to understand why some personal injury settlements are higher than others in New Jersey, however, the most important principle is simple: your case should be evaluated based on its own facts and evidence, not someone else’s settlement.
A personal injury claim is evaluated based on much more than the name of the injury. Liability, medical evidence, prior health history, treatment and recovery, lost income, the effect of the injury on daily life, insurance coverage, and the strength of the available evidence can all influence the outcome.
There is no reliable chart or formula that determines what a New Jersey personal injury case is worth based solely on the type of accident or injury, which is why settlements can drastically differ case to case. Settlement value depends on how clearly liability can be established, the medical evidence connecting the injuries to the accident, the extent of the resulting losses, available insurance or other sources of recovery, and the strength of the case as a whole.
Before considering the value of an injury and what a settlement might look like in New Jersey, it is necessary to determine who was responsible for causing it. Consider two people who suffer similar injuries in separate car accidents. In the first case, video and independent witnesses clearly establish that the other driver caused the collision. In the second, the drivers disagree about what happened, and there are no independent witnesses or video. The injuries may be similar, but the strength of the liability evidence is not.
New Jersey’s comparative negligence law can also affect compensation when both parties share responsibility. An injured person may recover when partially responsible as long as their negligence is not greater than the negligence of the party or parties from whom recovery is sought. The recoverable damages are then reduced according to the injured person’s percentage of fault. For example, $100,000 in damages reduced by 20 percent comparative negligence would result in $80,000. This is why evaluating a settlement requires considering both the extent of the damages and the likelihood of establishing responsibility for them.
For a deeper explanation, see Bergen Law’s guide to how liability is proven in New Jersey personal injury cases.
A diagnosis alone does not establish the value of a personal injury claim. Two people might both be diagnosed with a lumbar disc injury after an accident, but their medical histories and recoveries may be completely different.
One person may recover after several months of treatment. Another may continue experiencing significant limitations and require additional care. One may have no history of back problems, while another has medical records documenting similar symptoms before the accident.
These distinctions can affect questions of both causation and damages and eventually the final settlement offer in your New Jersey personal injury case. Medical records can help establish when symptoms began, what doctors diagnosed, what treatment was recommended, how the patient responded, and whether additional medical care is expected.
Consistency in treatment can also matter. Significant delays in seeking care or unexplained gaps in recommended treatment may create questions about whether an injury was caused by the accident or how significantly it affected the injured person.
This does not mean someone should receive unnecessary medical treatment to increase the value of a claim. Treatment decisions should be based on appropriate medical advice. The legal significance is that the documented medical history provides evidence of what actually happened after the accident.
Another reason settlement comparisons are unreliable is that injuries do not affect everyone in the same way. Imagine two people suffer similar knee injuries. One works primarily at a desk and eventually returns to most normal activities. The other works in a physically demanding occupation that requires climbing, lifting, kneeling, or standing for long periods. The second person’s injury could have a substantially greater effect on the ability to work.
The same principle applies outside employment. An injury may interfere with caring for children, exercising, driving, sleeping, household responsibilities, hobbies, or other activities that were part of someone’s normal life before the accident.
These differences can become relevant when evaluating non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Unlike a medical bill, pain and suffering does not come with a predetermined dollar value. The severity and duration of symptoms, limitations on daily activities, recovery, and evidence of lasting impairment can all become part of the analysis.
For more information, see Bergen Law’s guide to how pain and suffering is calculated in New Jersey.
The financial consequences of an injury can also vary dramatically between people with otherwise similar medical conditions. An accident may cause someone to miss several days of work. A more serious injury could result in months away from employment, reduced hours, an inability to perform the same job, or other longer-term financial consequences.
Depending on the circumstances, damages may include documented lost income and potentially future economic losses associated with the injury. Future medical needs can matter as well. If medical evidence indicates that additional treatment will be required, evaluating only the bills already incurred may provide an incomplete picture of the claim.
This is one reason it can be difficult to accurately evaluate the settlement value of a New Jersey personal injury case immediately after an accident. The longer-term consequences of an injury may not yet be sufficiently clear.
Even when liability and damages are well supported, another practical issue can affect the outcome of why some personal injury settlements are higher than others in New Jersey: where will the compensation come from?
Insurance coverage varies considerably from one accident to another, such as a car accident, dog attack, or slip and fall. Relevant coverage may include the responsible party’s liability insurance, commercial policies, umbrella coverage, or applicable underinsured motorist coverage.
In cases involving businesses or commercial vehicles, there may also be multiple potentially responsible parties and insurance policies. This does not mean insurance coverage determines how seriously someone was injured or who was legally responsible. It means the available sources of recovery can affect the practical amount that may ultimately be obtainable.
As a result, two people with comparable injuries and equally strong liability evidence can still face different settlement possibilities because the available insurance and financial resources are different.
Insurance companies do not evaluate an injury claim based only on what the injured person says happened. They evaluate the evidence available to support it. Depending on the case, that evidence may include photographs, video, police reports, medical records, witness testimony, employment records, diagnostic testing, receipts, and other documentation.
Consistency across those sources can strengthen a claim. Significant contradictions may create issues that require explanation. The decisions made after an accident can therefore matter. Preserving evidence, obtaining appropriate medical care, accurately reporting symptoms, and being careful about statements or social media activity can help avoid unnecessary disputes over the facts.
This is not about manufacturing a stronger New Jersey personal injury claim to secure a higher settlement. It is about creating and preserving an accurate record of what occurred and how the accident affected you.
Online settlement calculators, news reports, attorney advertisements, and stories from friends rarely provide enough information to meaningfully compare the value of two personal injury cases in New Jersey. You may learn that someone received $250,000 for a back injury without knowing:
Without those facts, the settlement number provides very little information about the value of another person’s claim. A more useful question is not, “What did someone with my injury receive?” It is: “What does the evidence in my case establish about liability, my injuries, and the losses those injuries caused?”
Our New Jersey attorneys are well-versed in personal injury cases and what increases or decreases recovery in a final settlement. Here are answers to common questions you may be asking.
An average settlement figure is generally not a reliable way to value an individual claim. Personal injury cases vary based on liability, injuries, medical evidence, economic losses, insurance coverage, and many other case-specific factors.
Not necessarily. Medical expenses can be an important part of damages, but the amount of the bills alone does not determine settlement value. The nature of the injury, necessity of treatment, causation, recovery, future medical needs, and effect on the person’s life can also matter.
A serious injury can increase potential damages, but compensation still depends on issues such as liability, causation, evidence, comparative negligence, and available sources of recovery.
The cases may not actually be similar in the factors that matter legally. Differences in liability evidence, medical history, recovery, lost income, pain and suffering, insurance coverage, or other facts can produce very different outcomes.
A meaningful evaluation requires reviewing the specific facts of the accident, liability evidence, medical records, financial losses, insurance coverage, and the ways the injury has affected your life. An attorney can evaluate those factors together rather than relying on generalized settlement averages.
No two personal injury cases are exactly alike, and that is why some personal injury settlements are higher than others in New Jersey. Similar accidents and diagnoses can produce different outcomes because settlement value depends on the complete factual and evidentiary picture.
If you were injured in Paramus, Bergen County, or elsewhere in New Jersey, Bergen Law can evaluate the circumstances of your accident, the evidence supporting liability, your medical documentation, your damages, and the available sources of recovery.
Contact Bergen Law to schedule a consultation and discuss the potential value of your New Jersey personal injury claim.