What Is an Average Settlement for a Back or Neck Injury After a Kentucky Car Accident?

Severe back and neck injuries are extremely common after car accidents. The muscles, ligaments, vertebrae, and spinal discs that make up your neck and back are vulnerable to the sudden, forceful impact of a crash. These injuries often result in chronic pain, months of physical therapy, and in many cases surgery.

If a neck or back injury is causing pain and keeping you from the things you love, you may be entitled to a substantial injury settlement. However, you should know that insurance companies often fight against these cases aggressively. They regularly try to minimize symptoms or blame them on pre-existing injuries. Even worse, simple mistakes like not seeking prompt medical treatment can make it much harder for you to get a fair settlement.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how car accident settlements are calculated, legal challenges that are common in back and neck injury cases, and steps you can take to improve your chances of getting fair compensation.

What Damages Are Available From a Car Accident Settlement?

The purpose of a car accident settlement is to “balance the scales”—in other words, compensate you for the economic and non-economic damages that were unfairly taken from you by the at-fault party:

• Economic damages. You can demand compensation for the full past and future costs of your medical expenses (medications, physical therapy, surgery, etc.), lost wages, reduced future earning capacity, domestic services, and other expenses. In other words, any financial burden you have to bear as a direct result of your motor vehicle accident could be eligible for compensation.
• Non-economic damages. Not all losses can be easily measured in dollars and cents. How do you put a price tag on being unable to hold or care for your child? Or on losing your ability to drive, play sports, or spend quality time with your friends? Non-economic damages are subjective, but they can make up a substantial portion of a back or neck injury settlement.

Additionally, sometimes punitive damages are awarded after car accidents if the at-fault party acted with excessive negligence, recklessness, or malice—for example, getting behind the wheel while nearly blackout drunk. Punitive damages act as a punishment or deterrent for bad behavior, rather than compensation for specific losses.

How Much Is My Case Worth?

The value of your case depends on many factors. There’s really no such thing as an “average” settlement for car accidents involving neck and back injuries, since the circumstances can vary widely.

Here are some of the most important factors that influence settlement amounts:

• Severity of the injury. More-severe injuries usually translate to higher damage awards, both in terms of economic and non-economic damages. For example, a spinal cord injury that leaves you with a permanent disability will be worth more than sprains, strains, or other minor soft tissue injuries that only cause you to miss a few weeks or months of work.
• Availability of insurance coverage. Kentucky is a choice no-fault state, meaning that (unless you opted out) your no-fault insurance should cover lost wages and medical costs up to your policy limits. However, most people only carry a small amount of coverage, sometimes as little as $10,000. To get compensation for additional economic damages (or any non-economic damages) you’ll need to file a claim against any at-fault parties who were responsible. However, they may have fairly limited insurance coverage limits as well.
• Share of liability. Kentucky uses a pure comparative negligence standard for awarding damages in car accident cases. If you were clearly not at fault, the at-fault party (or parties) are responsible to cover 100% of your damages. But if you were partially at fault, then your damages will be reduced proportionately. For example, if you were 30% at fault, you could only recover 70% of your damages. If you were 90% at fault, you can only recover 10%.
• The skill of your attorney. Damages in a car accident case are rarely clear cut, especially if severe back and neck injuries are involved. An experienced personal injury attorney can fight for the best possible settlement, if that is what you want. If your attorney has a reputation for taking cases to trial and winning large verdicts, that can give the insurance company a greater incentive to offer a better deal.
• Other personal factors. In cases that involve long-term or permanent disability, economic damages can vary significantly based on factors such as the age and career of the crash victim. For example, a 35-year-old making $150,000 per year who becomes permanently disabled will be able to claim a substantial amount of lost wages. A 70-year-old retiree with the same injuries would not.

Your attorney will carefully evaluate all the relevant factors, investigate your car accident thoroughly, and identify all applicable sources of insurance coverage. They can then help you make wise decisions about how to proceed with your case, putting your best interests first.

Back and Neck Injury Cases Are Often Complicated

As stated above, insurance companies often take an aggressive approach when defending back and neck injury cases. There are several reasons why they do this. Some of the most notable include:

• Back and neck injuries are often worse than they first appear. Time after time, we’ve heard from clients who didn’t think their back injury was very serious. But the pain kept getting worse, and eventually they found out they needed surgery due to herniated discs, or even minor spinal cord injuries. If you’ve already given a statement to the insurance company that downplays your injuries, or you waited three weeks to visit a doctor after the car accident, the insurer will likely try to dispute the severity of your injuries.
• Pre-existing conditions are common. By some estimates, nearly 1 in 10 Americans suffer from chronic back pain. If you’ve seen a doctor or received treatment for a back or neck injury in the past, the insurance company may argue that your injuries and symptoms weren’t caused (or made worse) by the crash. They will then use that to justify not paying for some (or all) of your treatment.
• Non-economic damages are highly disputable. The insurance company will almost certainly try to downplay the impact that your back injury has had on your day-to-day life. You will need to show strong evidence of the physical, emotional, and psychological impact your accident has had on your life.

Essential Tips to Getting a Fair Back Injury Settlement

Following these guidelines can help increase your chances of getting a fair settlement:

• Don’t delay treatment. See a doctor right away after your car accident, even if symptoms don’t seem that bad. Sitting on the couch for a week often just makes a back injury worse. And if you don’t see a doctor, the insurance company will claim you must not have been hurt that badly.
• See the doctor regularly and follow through on your treatment plan. Good medical records are the bedrock of any back or neck injury case. Going to the doctor regularly means you continue to document your symptoms.
• Contact an attorney as soon as possible. Simple mistakes you make early in a case—like giving a recorded statement or not collecting the right evidence before it disappears—can make it far more difficult to get a fair settlement offer. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you protect and defend your legal rights, and ensure you get the medical attention, personal care, and peace of mind you deserve.

RELATED POST: Back Pain After a Car Accident? Here’s What to Do Next – Truman Law

Count on the Colonel

If there is one key takeaway you get from this blog post, it should be this: If you’re struggling with back pain or neck pain after a car accident, don’t wait around for things to get better on their own. They are likely to get worse. And if they do, it will be harder for you to get the fair treatment (physical and financial) you deserve.

To begin your path to recovery, contact the Karl Truman Law Office to request a free consultation today. We have been helping car accident victims in Kentucky and Indiana for more than 30 years. You can reach our office at (502) 222-2222 or by filling out a simple contact form.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.