The average concussion settlement for a car accident is $33,423. Although total amounts can vary enormously (both high and low) depending on the situations involved, average conclusion settlements following a car accident typically ranged from $16,711 to $50,134 for the US in 2019.

Trauma to the head of a driver or passenger causing concussion can be a life changing event. Pain, disability, lost wages, loss of future employment and of course, huge medical bills can result. The settlement amount you may not be easy to forecast as there are dozens of different factors to consider including (but not limited to):

• Liability
• Severity
• Treatment
• Diagnosis
• Prognosis
• Availablility of Insurance
• Bills Incurred
• Bills paid

What Is A Concussion?

A concussion is a medical trauma resulting in an alteration to mental status – in some cases, this can lead to what is known as “TBI” a Traumatic Brain Injury, a far more serious health threat. A concussion is measured in three ways according to their severity.

• Mild: With symptoms usually lasting no longer than 15 minutes, it can be identified by the inability to think clearly, temporary confusion and no loss of consciousness.
• Moderate: The injured person has amnesia (no memory) of the vent and there is not a loss of consciousness.
• Severe: The brain is damaged with physical, cognitive and behavioral problems, there is also a loss of consciousness and in the most extreme cases, a coma.

Luckily, the majority of concussions are mild – however, a severe concussion is capable of causing life-altering problems. For example, symptoms can be initially misdiagnosed or delayed and immediate medical testing and attention are necessary for the diagnosis of the injury to be accurate.

What Causes Concussion?

A concussion can result from any truck or car collision and especially in a crash involving an 18 wheeler vehicle. The passenger or driver often strikes their head on the door, headrest, steering wheel, dashboard, roof or rear view mirror. It is also a common occurrence in a wreck with a motorcycle or when a cyclist or a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle.

What Are The Symptoms Of Concussion?

• Headaches
• Confusion or concentration problems
• Impaired memory, mood, and judgment
• Dizziness and/or nausea

Delayed Symptoms Can Include:

• Increase irritability or aggressiveness
• Sensitivity to light and/or noise
• Inability to concentrate
• Depression

How Do You Prove The Concussion Case?

Understand an individual has a time frame of just two years from the date of the actual accident to file a lawsuit for personal injury – so you need to get with an attorney as soon as possible. Having suffered a concussion you should not attempt to settle it yourself as it is very likely the insurance company of the other driver will undervalue your claims for damages and under pay as a result. You will then have to file a lawsuit with an injury lawyer, who will have to start the process over again. When you hire an injury lawyer from the outset they will commence building a file to give you the best chance of getting the maximum settlement for your case by doing the following:

• Assemble a file that shows the legal damages for future, past, and ongoing medical treatments, pain suffered lost income from being unable to work and future income that will be lost as a result of the injury.
• Gather the documents that show the evidence of how the concussion occurred.
• Speak to the police officer to try and get their notes from the scene as well as ordering the official police report of the events.
• Take photos of lacerations and abrasions to our client’s face and head as well as the damage done to their vehicle.
• Study the hospital and ambulance records as well as the reports of the treating doctors.
• Collaborate with the doctor’s of our client to provide evidence the client did not already suffer from headaches. Sadly, the insurance company of the other driver is sometimes known to use this as an argument even when there is no evidence to back up their assertion.

What Are Legal Damages?

When claimants receive money for a concussion settlement it can be categorized in two ways.

Special Damages:

• Present, past and projected healthcare costs and medical expenses.
• Wages lost from being unable to work.
• Property damages that cover truck or car repair costs, storage, towing, car rental as well as the loss of personal items.

General Damages:

• Shick and mental anguish.
• Physical or mental suffering and pain.
• Disfigurement and scarring.
• Loss of consortium.
• Emotional distress.

When determining the total of special damages it is essential there is a record of lost wages and medical costs. After the amounts for special damages and general damages have been determined, they are then totaled up. A personal injury lawyer that adjusts the total by making a determination of the negligence for each driver, if it is required as well as analyzing other factors. They also ensure an outcome that is fair by comparing their calculation of their settlement to settlements received in the past from similar cases.

What Is The Average Settlement Value?

Every person’s case is different so you cannot go by what you have heard on the internet or even from friends and family about settlement results and neither are there any formulas used, so be aware of websites that use online calculators to make an assessment of how much your case may be worth – these are merely marketing tools for attorneys promising these “big” results.

Although the average settlement is $33,423, it is important to understand that damage amounts can also go beyond the outer reaches of the average range that goes from $16,711 to $50,134 for the US in 2019. There are certainly plenty of cases out there where the damages are less than $11,000 – conversely, in verdicts involving vehicles like 18 wheelers, emergency treatment, severe crashes, MRI’s or other tests that confirm a brain injury that is traumatic – other major body injuries, expert testimony from other doctors or neurologists and enormous medical bills have resulted in payments made in excess of $1,000,000. To understand why their average payments, average ranges as well as ranges outside the averages, the below two examples will show just how many variables can come into play:

• Wreck #1: An 18 wheeler rear-ends a small car at 70mph. The car was totaled. The driver of the truck was inexperienced, and illegally texting at the time of the crash. The injured person was in a coma for weeks, suffered from multiple broken bones and other injuries. Their medical bills were $500,000. He has no health insurance, no third party insurance payer (like Medicaid) and they had a high paying job they can no longer perform. There is a $1,000,000 insurance policy and a further umbrella policy with $25,000,000 with major commercial insurers.
• Wreck #2: A car rear-ends another car on a residential road at 30 mph. The injured person says they are fine and is able to drive his car home with no damage. he has a few headaches a week later and visits his family doctor. They take some medication and the headache goes away for a few days and their total medical bills are $200 and he lost no wages. The driver who was at-fault has a sub-standard per person liability limit of just $30,000.

Speak With Our Car Accident Lawyers In Mesa, Arizona Today

The amount of your settlement you receive, to a large extent, depends on getting the right legal help. Our personal injury attorneys will ensure you have the finest comprehensive representation. If you need legal help with car accident settlement,  speak with our knowledgable car accident lawyers in Mesa today.