Every injured person asks this in the first ten minutes, and any lawyer who answers with a figure on day one is guessing. Value is built, not quoted. These are the pieces that build it.
Medical treatment and prognosis
The treatment record is the spine of the claim. Emergency care, imaging, therapy, injections and surgery each move the number, and so does a physician's opinion that symptoms are permanent. Gaps in treatment do the opposite, an insurer reads a three-week gap as three weeks of feeling fine.
Lost income and lost earning capacity
Missed shifts are the obvious part. The larger figure is often earning capacity, work you can no longer do, or cannot do at the same pace. That needs documentation from your employer and, in serious cases, an expert.
Fault, and how clearly it can be proven
California reduces recovery by your share of fault. A rear-end collision with a police report and camera footage settles differently than a disputed left turn with no witnesses.
Insurance limits, the ceiling nobody mentions
A claim is only worth what can be collected. If the at-fault driver carries minimum limits, the search turns to other policies: an employer's coverage, a rideshare policy, or your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
- The at-fault driver's liability policy
- An employer's policy if the driver was working
- A rideshare policy for Uber or Lyft collisions
- Your own UM/UIM coverage
- Medical payments coverage on your own policy
Pain and suffering
There is no formula in California, despite what online calculators suggest. It is argued from the record, the injury, the length of treatment and the concrete ways daily life changed.
Talk to us
Baghramyan Law Group PC reviews Glendale and Los Angeles County collision claims at no charge, and will tell you honestly what range is realistic once the facts are known.