Effects a Jury Can Have on Your Injury Settlement

If your personal injury case has had to go to court, you may be wondering if a jury can affect your injury settlement outcome. When it comes to deciding a settlement, it is important to understand how juries decide personal injury cases. There are many factors that can determine how a jury can affect your injury settlement. The calculation of an award from a jury can vary due to four main factors as follows.

When Multiple Parties are At-fault

If more than one driver is said to be responsible for a car accident, a jury is asked to determine liability. Depending on what happened in the accident, any jury award or settlement could be reduced for all parties involved if found at fault. Apportionment of liability is the legal term used when determining liability among multiple parties.

Damages

The amount a person can recover for damages incurred from an accident often are put at an upper limit or a “cap.” Depending on the local court rules for your case, a jury could return a verdict in excess of the cap.

In most cases, a jury is not made aware of the damage cap prior to deliberating. A jury delivers their award, and the judge will reduce the amount to the allowable cap under law.

Future Economic Damages

Sometimes after an accident, the victim is injured too badly to return to work. If this is the case, they can be awarded a settlement for future economic damages. The continuing loss of income or loss of future wages are paid at the time a jury award is made and not sometime in the future.

Using interest rates, actuarial tables, and other financial means, a jury must determine the value of your future damages in today’s dollars. This value changes over time due to inflation and other factors.

Collateral

Payments made by entities other than the defendant used to pay your settlement are known as collateral source payments. For example, medical insurance payments are collateral source payments. An injury settlement amount could be reduced to pay back insurance that originally paid your medical bills.

Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

If you’ve been injured in an accident, come to the trusted personal injury law firm. Parke Gordon Law Firm is here to help you recover the best settlement possible after an accident. Let us handle the insurance company, get your medical bills paid, as well as get you a great settlement. Call our law office now for a free consultation.