As a practicing personal injury attorney, I field questions from clients dozens of times a day. Most of the questions are related to what is clearly the most important issue on the clients’ minds: “What is my case worth?” The value of a personal injury case depends upon (1) the strength of the liability argument, (2) the severity of the damages, and (3) the clarity of causation.

The first question involved in evaluating a case is whether the parties of the lawsuit are guilty of negligence. Negligence is the failure to act as a reasonably careful person or company would act under like circumstances. Cases where there is clear negligence, such as when the driver of a motor vehicle rear ends another driver while texting, are more valuable than cases where the negligence is questionable, such as in a slip and fall case when there is water on the floor of a grocery store and nobody knows how it got there. The more egregious the negligence, the more valuable the case. Drunk driving cases are more valuable than cases where somebody carelessly runs a red light due to not paying attention. Equally as important is any negligence of the person pursuing the case, the plaintiff. If the defendant (the person being sued) can persuasively argue that the plaintiff is guilty of negligence (called comparative negligence in Florida), the value of the case drops. Jurors like to hold people responsible for their own actions.

The second factor in evaluating a case is the severity of the damages. Damages are the losses incurred as a result of the defendant’s carelessness. Economic damages such as lost wages and medical bills are the most important and easiest to prove. Many of my clients are more interested in how much they can expect to get for their pain and suffering. The value of a person’s pain and suffering depends upon the plaintiff’s diagnosis, the frequency and severity of the suffering, decreased ability to perform activities of daily living, any permanent impairment rating assigned to the plaintiff by his or her doctor, the frequency and type of medical treatment the plaintiff receives, and any pre-existing conditions the plaintiff suffered. Objectively verifiable diagnoses such as broken bones or herniated discs are more valuable than soft tissue injuries where the doctor has to rely on the plaintiff’s subjective complaints to render a diagnosis. Cases increase in value when the plaintiff suffers frequenty and severely, and when the suffering is expected to continue for an extended period of time. I tell my clients they would much rather have a healthy body than a valuable case. Cases involving surgery or injections are more valuable than cases where the plaintiff underwent only chiropractic treatment or physical therapy. Cases with plaintiffs who suffered no pre-existing conditions are usually (but not always) more valuable than cases where the plaintiff suffered pre-existing conditions.

The last factor that affects a case’s value is the clarity of causation. If the defendant can argue that his carelessness did not cause the plaintiff’s injury, the value of the case decreases. For instance, in a motor vehicle accident, if the damage to the vehicles is minimal, the defendant will argue that the impact of the collision was not sufficient to cause serious injury. Likewise, if the plaintiff had a pre-existing condition similar to the injury allegedly caused by the accident, the defendant will argue that he is not responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries. For this reason, defendants review plaintiff’s prior medical records for any indication of a similar complaint before the injury causing incident. A plaintiff is well advised to disclose any pre-existing injuries to the lawyer and all doctors involved in the case, because any discrepancy between what the plaintiff tells the doctors and what is found in the plaintiff’s prior medical records could negatively affect the plaintiff’s credibility and decrease the value of the case.

Jimmy Fasig