How Much is My Oregon Car Crash Case Worth?

Right from the outset I will tell you that there is no such thing as a "personal injury settlement calculator" or formula to determine the value of a personal injury settlement or auto accident case. I have had potential clients insist that the "pain and suffering" is "always three times the medical expenses" or other myths. These are myths and you should be very distrustful of websites advancing these myths.  

How Personal Injury Claims Are Evaluated

Personal injury lawyers are often asked about the potential value of car accident claims. Answering questions about the value of car accident cases without all the information about the crash, injuries, and medical care, among other facts, is almost impossible and lawyers are often rightfully careful about giving any opinions on settlement value or verdict ranges before fully investigating the case.

That answer is likely not very helpful to you.  What might be helpful is understanding how a personal injury attorney evaluates the value of personal injury cases. In this article I will take you through the factors that are important to trial lawyers in determining the value of a motor vehicle accident claim.

Liability (Fault) Considerations

The first thing a personal injury lawyer is going to want to understand is all the issues surrounding liability. Basically, who caused the crash and why did it happen. As you can imagine, a car accident can happen a thousand different ways. You can have very straight forward rear-end car accident where the at-fault driver accepts fault and there are witnesses who saw the car crash. But you may also have a intersection car accident where there are no witnesses, no video, and both drivers claim the other driver ran a stop sign or stoplight.  

An experienced personal injury lawyer first has to decide whether they feel confident they can win the case.  If they are not confident they can win, they will not take the case. That might happen in the intersection example above. Obviously, in that example someone is not telling the truth. But, the injured person bringing the claim (plaintiff) has to prove the case by a standard of more likely true than not.  For that reason, proving that case is very hard.

Comparative Negligence - What Happens When Both Drivers Have Fault?

When both drivers did something negligent that caused injury, Oregon's comparative negligence law comes into play.  In Oregon, the plaintiff cannot recover if they are more that 50% at fault. At trial, the jury would first be asked if the defendant was negligent at all.  If the jury answers "yes" to that question, they would then be asked if the plaintiff (injured person bringing claim) was negligent at all. Assuming the jury answers "yes" to that question too, then they are asked to compare fault. The jury is asked to place a percentage on each driver's fault.

For instance, the defendant could be 75% at fault and the plaintiff 25% at fault.   In that case, the plaintiff could still collect the damages as determined by the jury, but the damages would then be reduced by the plaintiff's own fault - 25%.  If the jury determines that the plaintiff is more at fault than the defendant(s), the plaintiff recovers nothing.  

An experienced personal injury attorney will consider the potential fault of both drivers in determining if any verdict would be reduced or lost due to comparative negligence.  

Causation

The plaintiff also has the burden of proving causation.  That means that the plaintiff must prove that their injury was caused by the car accident.  If they already had the injury, they have to prove it was made worse by the car accident. A good personal injury lawyer will definitely consider causation before considering the value of any potential personal injury settlement or verdict.  

If fault is clear and the damages are high, the case is still worth nothing if the lawyer cannot prove causation.  Some factors that can affect causation in a motor vehicle accident case include property damage and photos, health history, witnesses and the strength of expert testimony.  

• Property Damage & Photos  -  If the damage to the vehicles looks bad, a jury is much more likely to believe someone was hurt.  If there is minimal or no damage to the vehicles, you can be assured the defense will have an accident expert ready to testify that nobody could have been hurt in the crash.  And the jury very well may believe them.  

• Health History - Just because someone is in poor health or has a pre-existing injury does not mean they cannot be hurt and recover damages in a car accident caused by someone else. Their health history can complicate causation when the jury has to decide whether the symptoms are related to the crash or their pre-existing injury. The defense will always try to relate any ongoing symptoms to the pre-existing condition and not the car accident.  
• Treatment Gaps - This issue impacts causation when there is significant time between a crash and any medical care.  If the first medical record indicating the plaintiff was complaining of the injury is six months after the car accident, there is a causation problem.  If there is immediate medical care but no mention of a knee issue until months after the car accident, there is a causation problem for any claims related to the knee.  

Damages

After evaluating the issues surrounding fault and causation, the experienced personal injury attorney will evaluate damages. There are typically two categories of damages, economic damages and non economic damages.  Rarely, there is a third category - punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are those damages a jury can add up with a calculator.  This category includes medical bills, medical expenses for future related medical care, lost income, lost or diminished earning capacity, property damage, and other expenses that were or will be reasonably necessary due to the car accident.  

The personal injury lawyer trying to determine the potential value of a car accident case will consider the likely provable economic damages.

Non Economic Damages (Pain And Suffering)

Non economic damages are the damages that cannot just be added up with a calculator.  Instead, a jury has to use their hearts and minds to measure the appropriate amount of money to help balance out the amount of harm caused to the plaintiff. The jury is instructed by the court to consider pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, inconvenience or interference with normal and usual activities and hobbies, among other harms.  An experienced trial lawyer will present your case to the jury in the best way possible so that the jury understands the full impact of the car accident on your life and future.  

When considering the potential value of a car accident case, the personal injury lawyer will consider the impact of the injury on this particular plaintiff.  Each plaintiff is different and the same injury may impact different people differently.  

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are only available when the defendant's actions rise above negligence to a standard that is roughly recklessness.  In the car accident example drunk driving crashes or drag racing are examples where the court might allow a claim for punitive damages.  Because punitive damages are designed to punish conduct and are not designed to make up for the harm to the plaintiff, the state takes most - 70% - of punitive damages.  However, when evaluating personal injury cases, lawyers often consider punitive damages. Even in circumstances where claiming punitive damages may not be the right move, a jury is certainly impacted when they hear about exceptionally poor behavior of a defendant and may increase non-economic damages as a result.  

Other Important Factors

Collecting - A Verdict Is Worth Nothing if You Can't Collect Anything.

One of the issues that is very important to any good personal injury lawyer is whether the damages contemplated are collectable.  For instance, if a person a was hit in a car accident by a driver without insurance and without any assets, the potential high case value might not matter. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. The same crash could be with significant money if the defendant was driving a vehicle on behalf of a multi-billion dollar corporation.  

Venue - The Same Case Can Have Different Value In Different Courthouses

In Oregon, the proper venue in an auto accident case is the county where the crash occurred or the county where one of the defendants lives at the time the lawsuit is filed.  If the defendant lives out of state, the plaintiff can file the lawsuit in any county.  If the defendant is a company, the case can be filed in the county where the car accident happened or any county where the company does regular and sustained business.

Venue can be an important factor in determining the potential value of a case. If the car accident happened in a rural county but the defendant lives in Multnomah County, the competent plaintiff's lawyer will likely choose to file the case in Multnomah County.  Verdicts in Multnomah County are generally higher.  There are many theories for why this is true ranging from demographics, to the high cost of living in Multnomah County making larger verdicts not seem so large.  In any event, the truth is that the same case maybe worth more if it is in a more desirable venue.  Plaintiff's trial lawyers know this and consider this when evaluating personal injury cases.  Insurance companies know this too and that is why car accident settlements are generally higher in some venues compared to others.

Status of Defendant  - Are You Suing A Company or a Person?

One important factor to be considered when evaluating a personal injury lawsuit for potential value is the status of the defendant.  My firm keeps data on every verdict in Oregon which you can explore on my verdict research page. One conclusion is easy to make from the data; verdicts are higher when the defendant is a corporation than when the defendant is an individual.  It is important to know that the jury does not get to hear about auto insurance policies or how much insurance the drivers have. You can imagine how a jury might look at a nice defendant who caused a car accident but meant no harm and wonder if a full verdict might be more than they could afford to pay.  That concern is not there when the defendant is a corporation.  

Conclusion

The best way to understand your case and Oregon auto accident case values generally is to look at past cases and get a free consultation with a lawyer who has experience trying personal injury cases.  You can start by looking at my settlements and verdicts then look through my verdict research page where you can sort every personal injury verdict in Oregon since 2014 by county, case type including motor vehicle accidents, injury type, year and verdict amount.  Having read this article and looked at the data in those pages, you will will have a much better understanding than people looking at silly personal injury calculator websites or other clickbait.  

When you are ready call my office at 503-546-8812 and ask for a free consultation.