What's the "Average" Personal Injury Settlement?

The value of a personal injury settlement is understandably a key concern for anyone making this kind of claim. In this article we'll explain why "average" settlement numbers—even when they're available—aren't necessarily reliable or even all that helpful in trying to predict what a particular personal injury claim is worth. We'll also dive into some of the primary considerations that go into valuing a personal injury settlement.

How Are Personal Injury Settlements Reached?

A personal injury settlement happens when the person who was injured:

• accepts an agreed-upon amount of money from the person who caused the injury (or from the company who insures that person), and
• signs a "release" giving up their right to take any further legal action over the injury and the incident that caused it.

Both sides start out by determining on their own what they think the case is worth. Typically, personal injury attorneys and insurance adjusters rely on their practical experience. From there, an injury settlement often occurs after a certain amount of negotiation, and the final number is meant to compensate the injured person for things like their accident-related medical treatment, any income they lost because of their injuries, and other losses.

Most personal injury cases end with a settlement, not a jury verdict, and many settle before a lawsuit is even filed. Learn about the advantages of settling a personal injury case.

There's No "Average" Personal Injury Settlement

There's really no reliable or broadly applicable data that might provide an "average" dollar amount in a personal injury settlement. And even if this kind of information was available, when you consider that there about as many different types of personal injury cases as there are types of accidents, and that each accident scenario is unique, any "average" won't help much. Bottom line: The value of your injury case—and the amount you can reasonably expect to receive in settlement—will depend on the particular details of your accident, your injuries, and what you've experienced.

To get a rough idea of what a settlement figure might be for an injury claim, try using AllLaw's Personal Injury Calculator to piece together the main factors and arrive at a starting point for settlement negotiations.

The Difference Between "Median" and "Average" Personal Injury Settlements

With a little bit of research, and maybe a paid subscription or two, you might be able to locate online resources and publications that give the median outcome for certain types of personal injury cases. Some of these publications or websites might even refer to a number as an "average." But keep in mind that the median is simply the middle range of all the cases combined, and there can be a very wide swing in the numbers you're not seeing.

A few huge settlements or verdicts can make the median settlement or verdict number much higher than what a typical plaintiff might actually get. And remember that any data you're seeing is derived only from a sample set of cases. Once again, it's the individual factors of each case that matter most.

Can Looking At Trial Verdicts Help Predict an Injury Settlement?

Researching jury verdicts and court awards in cases similar to yours can give you a pretty limited idea of possible outcomes in the very rare event that your personal injury case goes all the way to trial. But since almost all cases settle before trial— and because settlement is favored by both sides as a way of avoiding the unpredictability of trials and jury verdicts— this kind of data won't have a lot of applicability in terms of the range of settlement outcomes you might expect.

Key Factors Affecting Personal Injury Settlement Value

The Defendant's Assets. If the person who caused your accident simply doesn’t have the means to pay a settlement through their own funds, and there's no insurance policy in place that might cover the accident, then a high settlement isn’t possible, regardless of the facts of the case.

It's important to consider just how much a defendant is worth, and/or the policy limits of any applicable insurance, when deciding to accept or reject a settlement offer. Learn more about collecting a settlement or judgment in a personal injury case.

The Plaintiff's Losses ("Damages"). The claimant's damages in a personal injury case include all medical expenses, lost income and other concrete financial losses caused by the defendant, as well as compensation for the plaintiff’s mental and physical pain and suffering. If a defendant has acted intentionally or with gross negligence, punitive damages may also be available.

Depending on the facts of the case, concrete damages like medical expenses might be low, but the plaintiff’s potential recovery for pain and suffering might be quite high. Both sides will likely have a similar idea of what the range of concrete damages could be at trial. Learn more about the settlement formula in a personal injury case.

Liability. The final factor is just how strong the injured person’s case is against the defendant, i.e. whether the defendant is liable.

Although potential damages might be high, there may be little or no evidence that the defendant's wrongdoing actually caused the plaintiff’s harm. Unless the case is fairly clear-cut one way or the other when it comes to who was at fault, neither side will be entirely confident that they can win the case at trial. As depositions are taken and evidence is gathered, a clearer picture may emerge of what the likely outcome will be in terms of a liability finding.

Rather than focus on averages and data that's mostly unrelated to your own circumstances, it may make sense to concentrate on getting a fair outcome for your own unique personal injury case. Your best first step might be discussing your situation with an experienced personal injury attorney.