What’s The Value of Your Louisiana Car Accident Claim? A Look At Average Settlement Amounts

Car accidents can upend your life. Suddenly you’re dealing with medical expenses and a host of bills and other losses. Even a minor fender bender can be financially devastating.

Louisiana law lets accident victims recover compensation when someone’s negligence is responsible for causing their injuries. But what’s the average settlement amount in a Louisiana car accident claim? There’s not an easy answer.

Every accident claim in the Pelican State is unique and this impacts settlement amounts. With that being said, accident claim settlement amounts typically range from a few thousand up to several hundred thousand dollars.

What Impacts Louisiana Accident Claim Settlement Amounts

There’s no set value on a car accident claim. You can’t call up the insurance company and expect to know your claim’s value simply by describing the type of accident. Sure, accident type can play into settlement amounts.

Your financial losses tend to be more extensive in a T-bone collision compared to a parking lot fender bender. However, this doesn’t necessarily guarantee your T-bone collision settlement is going to be higher than what you get from a minor rear-end vehicle accident.

Comparative Negligence Can Affect Accident Claim Values

Louisiana is one of about 12 or so states following comparative negligence guidelines. Sometimes this insurance rule can work in your favor. Other times, it’s the last thing you want impacting your accident claim.

Comparative negligence is a fairly simple rule to understand. The statute lets more than one individual or entity be liable for damages caused by the same accident. This is also known as a comparative fault rule, just to help with clarification.

You may see one or both terms used interchangeably, and it’s okay since they’re referring to the same state insurance law.

The insurance rule comes into play. When more than one driver is guilty of violating traffic laws. For example you’re speeding through an intersection and are hit by a driver running a red light.

You’re both guilty of negligence since neither of you are following all traffic laws. Everyone is usually assigned a percentage of fault and this can impact your settlement amount. Comparative negligence can even prevent you from filing an accident claim if your assigned fault is higher than 50%.

So if you’re assessed 25% of the fault and the other driver is assigned 75% of the blame. Then you can file a claim against the other motorist’s insurance provider. However the other driver is prohibited from filing a claim with your insurance provider.

Since their assigned percentage of fault is over 50%, they’re limited to recovering compensation solely from their insurance provider. Since you’re only shouldering 25% of the blame, you can usually move forward with your claim against the other driver.

When it’s time to settle your accident claim, your assigned percentage of fault is going to come up. Your settlement amount will be reduced by your assigned percentage fault. If you’re assessed 25% of the blame on a $100,000 accident claim.

Your settlement check will be around $75,000. While comparative negligence can make it a little easier to recover compensation, it can also impact your settlement amount.

Recoverable Damages Can Impact Accident Claim Values

Louisiana’s insurance rule isn’t the only thing impacting your accident claim’s potential value. Your damages play a huge role. These are the losses you sustain in a car accident. Your list of damages probably isn’t going to perfectly match someone else.

Remember every accident is different even when it’s the same type of collision. With that being said, some damages tend to be pretty common on Louisiana personal injury claims.

Economic Damages

If you’re not claiming economic losses, you may not have a reason to contact the insurance company. Your economic damages are your tangible losses that typically include some or all of the following:

• Medical Bills: Medical expenses are common after an auto accident. You may even require ongoing medical treatment. Treatment can include emergency room visits, surgeries, rehabilitation along with physical therapy and future medical expenses. Don’t get ahead of yourself and start the claim process until you make what’s called maximum medical improvement (MMI).
• Property Damage: Your car and other personal property that was damaged in the accident should be covered by the at-fault driver’s insurance. Car accident settlements typically include compensation for vehicle repairs or replacement, as well as any other damaged property. Along with hanging onto your repair bills and receipts, keep track of any estimates. You may need to hand the estimates over to the insurance adjuster as evidence of your property damage.
• Lost Wages: Do your injuries prevent you from working? If so you may be entitled to compensation for lost wages. This includes the wages you’ve already lost along with any future income you might miss out on due to long-term or permanent injuries.

You may even be able to claim loss of earning capacity. This is a little tricky to prove so it’s best to work with a Louisiana car accident attorney.

Non-Economic Losses

Almost all car accident claims at least list pain and suffering as non-economic losses. These are your intangible damages and can include things like mental anguish, loss of life enjoyment, emotional distress, and even loss of consortium. These are only a few examples, your personal injury attorney can go over the complete list.

Since you can’t check bills and receipts to come up with the value of your non-economic losses, you need to use one of two formulas. You can use either the multiplier or per diem method. Both are perfectly fine and aren’t going to upset the insurance adjuster. One formula uses the value of your economic damages. The other formula looks at your average daily pay rate.

Recovering the Maximum Value of Your Louisiana Car Accident Claim

There’s no average claim value to compare yours to. Every accident is unique. But figuring out what your accident claim is worth isn’t always easy. After all you can’t always rely on bills and receipts. Working with a Louisiana car accident lawyer can help make sure that you can recover your claim’s maximum value.