How Much is a Neck and Back Injury Settlement in Massachusetts Worth?

Various accidents, including car crashes and slip and fall accidents in Massachusetts, could lead to a host of injuries and damages. Injuries to the neck and back are especially common. These injuries usually consist of soft tissue damage or muscle tears or strains. While sometimes difficult to diagnose, back and neck injuries sustained in an accident could lead to a lifetime of pain, discomfort, suffering, and inconvenience, according to our Somerville slip and fall lawyer.

If another person or party caused your injury, you could have the right to file a claim for monetary compensation. To prevail, in either a personal injury case or an insurance settlement, you must prove several elements, including your damages. If your injury is work-related, you might instead file a Workers’ Compensation claim. Providing an estimate of the value of your neck and back injury is difficult without thoroughly investigating your case, gathering your medical records, and understanding your prognosis.

An experienced Framingham personal injury lawyer will help you understand the value of your case. Call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 and ask our Massachusetts personal injury lawyers for a free case review. Our Boston Workers’ Compensation Lawyer for Spinal Cord Injuries can help to file the case.

Average Settlements for Whiplash in Massachusetts

It is hard to say what the average settlement for whiplash is in Massachusetts injury cases. These kinds of cases can vary so greatly that calculating an accurate average settlement is not always possible. For example, some cases are minor and might end in a small settlement of only a few thousand dollars. Other cases are severe and might warrant settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. An average of these cases might not necessarily be an accurate reflection of possible settlements.

Instead, it might be better to consider an average or typical settlement for different types of cases. Minor whiplash cases likely have relatively small average settlements. A minor whiplash injury will likely recover on its own in a few days or weeks with minimal medical intervention, and damages are probably not terribly significant. A settlement of $10,000 or less is fairly normal for cases like this. Even so, minor whiplash injuries can have big impacts on people’s lives, and you should thoroughly discuss your specific situation with an attorney.

A more severe whiplash case might involve a more complicated injury with greater medical needs. Maybe you need surgery to correct the injury. Maybe you are left with chronic pain after the accident. In such a case, the more extensive medical treatment leads to greater costs for plaintiffs. On top of that, the more severe injuries tend to take a greater toll on plaintiffs and their lives, leading to greater non-economic damages. Settlements of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars are not unheard of.

Valuing Neck and Back Injuries in Massachusetts

Every neck and back injury suffered in an accident is different. Consequently, the potential settlement amount for such injuries is determined on a case-by-case basis. For practical purposes, a plaintiff with a more severe injury is more likely to receive a higher offer from an insurance company or jury award. Additionally, the more medical treatment you receive, such as months of weekly physical therapy sessions, will increase the amount of your potential settlement.

If your neck and back injury involves relatively minor soft tissue or muscle damage, an accident victim could expect to receive anywhere from $2,500 to $12,000 in compensation from the defendant’s insurance company. If the injury requires injections, physical therapy, or other medical procedures to alleviate the pain, the settlement could increase to $25,000 or more.

Some back and neck injuries are more serious than just soft tissue damage. For example, an accident victim could have suffered a broken bone, spinal cord injury, or other serious trauma. In cases where surgery is required or an accident victim’s earning capacity has been greatly diminished, the amount of potential compensation could increase significantly. However, most neck and back injuries do not reach this level.

In addition to your medical treatment and suffering, an injury’s impact on your life could influence your settlement. For instance, if you have young children and are unable to engage with them because of your neck injury, you could recover damages for the loss of enjoyment of life. Typically, an insurance company will place little emphasis on these types of damages. However, a sympathetic jury might.

How to Increase the Value of Your Neck and Back Injury in Massachusetts

It might not be a surprise that an insurance company has a different opinion on what your injuries are worth. Insurance companies employ attorneys and adjustors to limit their liability. An adjustor often asks you specific questions to elicit a response that will harm your case. When speaking with an insurer after an accident, you should stick to the facts. Avoid offering any insight into your health, injuries, or medical treatment. A simple statement such as “I feel OK” could significantly reduce your settlement offer.

Know the Value of Your Claim

Our experienced Massachusetts personal injury attorneys know how to value your claim. We also have been working with insurance companies for years and understand the tactics they use to try and limit their liability. Knowing what your neck and back injury is worth is half the battle – it is impossible to evaluate an offer if you do not know what your damages are. Your financial losses include more than your current medical bills. You want to ensure any settlement is sufficient to cover your future medical expenses, lost income, as well as pain and suffering. Remember, once you accept a settlement offer, you are not allowed to file another injury claim. Contact our Wakefield slip and fall lawyer for more information.

Negotiate

The settlement process is a negotiation. You are not obliged to accept an offer from an insurance company. Insurers often offer a lower amount than they are willing to pay, hoping an accident victim who has medical bills and is missing work will want to be paid quickly. Presenting a counteroffer is acceptable. Just because you reject the first or second offer does not mean your claim will not settle. However, you should focus on your physical health while our Worcester personal injury lawyers handle the negotiation.

Be Prepared to Take Your Case to Trial

No one wants to go to court. Juries are unpredictable, plus the process is long and costly. Insurance companies are no different – they want to avoid lengthy litigation when the outcome is not guaranteed. However, filing a personal injury claim is sometimes necessary to get the compensation you deserve.

When you file a lawsuit, the insurance company knows you are serious. Furthermore, the discovery process gives our office an opportunity to gather more evidence that could help your case. In many cases, an insurer will increase its settlement offer to avoid the risk and expense of a trial. That number could also increase if the new evidence supports your claim.

How Long it Takes to Negotiate a Settlement for a Neck or Back Injury in Massachusetts

Many injured plaintiffs choose to accept settlements because it is often a faster way of getting compensation. When you accept a settlement, there is no need for a lengthy trial, and the entire legal process is often finished much faster. But how fast is it, exactly? This depends on the factors surrounding your case, and not every settlement happens quickly.

One factor that often heavily influences the time it takes to reach a settlement is the strength of your evidence. A plaintiff with strong evidence indicating the defendant’s negligence has much more leverage to work with in negotiations. When it is clear that a plaintiff has enough evidence to likely win a lawsuit or at least make a victory for the defendant difficult, defendants are often more inclined to settle. If you have less compelling evidence, we might have to negotiate longer and compromise more before a settlement is agreed upon.

We must also consider the willingness of the defendant to settle. Perhaps you would prefer to settle to avoid a trial, but maybe the defendant is being stubborn. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence against them, some defendants cannot help but dig their heels in and resist. Even if you have the strongest case possible, the defendant might simply refuse to settle until the absolute last minute. In some cases, they never settle and insist on a trial that they will likely lose.

What to Do if a Settlement for Neck or Back Injuries in Massachusetts Cannot Be Reached

While many people, both plaintiffs and defendants, prefer settlements to trials, settlements are not always possible. Maybe your evidence is strong but not quite strong enough to convince the defendant that a settlement is in their best interest. Maybe the defendant just will not settle because they refuse to accept any sort of accountability. In such cases, we must be prepared to take the case to a full trial.

Ideally, we should prepare for a trial from the very beginning, even if we plan on negotiating a settlement. It is always better to be prepared, just in case settlement talks break down. This might mean filing the lawsuit, scheduling a trial, and then trying to work out a settlement while we wait for the court date. If a settlement is reached, we can just drop the lawsuit. If not, the case is already filed, and we are ready to argue in court.

In some cases, as a trial progresses, the defendant might have a change of heart. This often happens when it becomes clear that it is unlikely the defendant will win. It is not unusual to nearly complete a trial only for the defendant to reach out and offer a settlement. If the settlement satisfies your needs, talk to your attorney about accepting. However, you are free to turn it down, and doing so might be a good idea if you are likely to win the trial.

Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyers Offering Professional and Experienced Legal Representation

Call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 and ask our Massachusetts personal injury attorneys and Malden slip and fall lawyer for a free evaluation of your case to begin.