The average settlement for a lawsuit filed over back and neck injuries sustained in a car accident varies from a few thousand dollars to well over a million. The wide range is because all accidents and injuries are unique. Small discrepancies in your case make it different from other, similar ones. There is no average settlement amount.
Three big factors in car accident settlements
The settlement amount for a personal injury claim after a car crash is driven by three major variables:
- the severity of your injuries,
- your shared fault, and
- insurance coverage.
Each of these can have a drastic impact on the value of your claim.
Severity of your back and neck injuries
The severity of your neck and back injuries is the main factor in a personal injury claim.
The more severe your car accident injuries, the higher your:
- medical expenses,
- physical pain and suffering,
- mental anguish,
- emotional distress,
- loss of life’s enjoyments,
- lost wages from the recovery, and
- reduced earning capacity from the permanent disabilities caused by the injury.
You are entitled to financial compensation for all of these losses. The worse these types of injuries, the larger your back and neck injury settlement should be.
Your shared fault
In many motor vehicle accidents, both drivers involved share responsibility for it happening. In a subsequent personal injury claim, these situations invoke the state’s shared fault law.
There are 3 basic types of shared fault laws in the U.S.
Many states use pure comparative negligence. In these states, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault.[1]
Many other states use modified comparative negligence. In these states, your compensation is also reduced by your percentage of fault. However, if you were more than half at-fault then you are barred from recovering anything.[2]
Finally, a couple of states use contributory negligence. In these states, you are barred from recovering any compensation if you were responsible at all for the crash, even just one percent.[3]
In all of these types of laws, the jury would assign you are percentage of fault in its verdict. However, personal injury settlements aim to estimate how a jury would act. Therefore, evidence that you were partially to blame for the accident can significantly reduce a settlement offer and the payout that you would receive.
Insurance company coverage
The amount of available insurance coverage can also impact the settlement amount. If the at-fault driver carries auto insurance with a policy limit that would not even cover your medical bills, you are likely to go under-compensated.
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you pursue alternative sources of compensation in these cases. Many times this alternative source is your own underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage.
Estimate your neck and back injury settlement amount
You can estimate the value of your personal injury claim using the multiplier method.
Under this method, you would add up all of your economic damages. These are the financial losses that you have suffered from the crash that are easy to put in a dollar amount. This includes things like your medical treatment, lost wages, and property damage.
The multiplier method then uses that number to estimate your non-economic damages. Your non-economic damages are those that are difficult to state in a dollar amount, like the physical pain that you have suffered. The multiplier method estimates these by multiplying your economic damages by a number between 1 and 5. That number reflects how much the crash has affected your quality of life.
That estimation of your non-economic damages is then added to your economic damages. This final number is an indication of what a fair settlement offer would be.
However, that final number could still be reduced by your shared fault or by a lack of insurance coverage.
While extremely rare, the potential for punitive damages can increase the amount and make for a larger settlement.
Common neck and back injuries in an auto accident
There are numerous different neck and back injuries that you can suffer in a car crash. Some are relatively minor. Others are life-altering and potentially even fatal.
Some of the most severe or common injuries are:
- whiplash injuries, especially after a rear-end collision,
- other soft tissue injuries, like lumbar sprains or other sprained ligaments,
- lumbar fractures,
- thoracic spine fractures,
- cervical spine injuries,
- nerve damage,
- chronic pain,
- severe neck pain,
- strained muscles or tendons,
- spinal stenosis,
- sciatica,
- facet joint fractures or dislocations,
- herniated discs, and
- other spinal cord injuries.
In some cases, serious injuries to the neck can also cause brain injuries.
The medical care that you will need will depend on the nature and severity of the injuries. Severe injuries often need surgery and extensive physical therapy in order to make a full recovery.
You should keep your medical records handy. They will be useful in a subsequent personal injury case. They are often the most important pieces of evidence for proving the amount of compensation that you deserve.
Signs of neck or back injuries or whiplash
These neck or back injuries are not always apparent after a crash. In many cases, their symptoms are delayed. You may think that you were unscathed only to begin suffering devastating symptoms days or even weeks later.
Some symptoms to watch for are:
- muscle soreness in the neck or back, often in the lower back,
- weakness, particularly an inability to lift things that you used to be able to lift with ease,
- stiffness in your neck, back, or shoulders,
- sudden sharp neck, shoulder, or back pain,
- loss of range of motion in your neck, legs, or arms,
- headaches,
- bruising, or
- tingling or numbness in your arms, hands, or fingers.
These delayed symptoms are one reason why it is always important for accident victims to seek medical attention after a car crash, even if you do not think that you were hurt.
Legal Citations:
[1] Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal.3d 804 (1975) and Florida Statutes 768.81.
[2] Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001.
[3] Coutlakis v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 796 S.E.2d 556 (2017).
