Factors that Affect Personal Injury Settlements

The amount of settlement that you receive after an accident predominantly depends on factors surrounding your case. Based on these factors, your personal injury lawyer can manage your expectations and negotiate skillfully and efficiently, to help you get rightfully compensated.

someone who is disabled due to a personal injury accident

Although each case is different and must be evaluated individually, the factors that most frequently affect personal injury settlements are:

The Severity of Your Injuries

The more severe injuries you incur, the more significant settlement you may receive. Also, hard injuries like spine damage, limb amputation, joint injuries, or broken bones usually raise the personal injury settlement value compared to soft-tissue injuries such as bruising and sprains.

Similarly, if you experience permanent disability or injuries like disfigurement, brain trauma, permanent loss of use of a part of the body, then you may be awarded a larger settlement.

Disruption

Another factor that can impact your personal injury settlement is how the injuries disrupt your life quality. For instance, some injuries may make it extremely difficult for you to carry out routine activities like standing, sitting, or walking. Similarly, some accidents may make it impossible for you to travel, work, or play sports. Thus, when injuries from an accident drastically affect the victim’s daily life and routine work, they may result in a larger personal injury claim.

Medical Cost and Recovery Time

Along with the medical care cost, the type of medical care you receive for the injuries incurred can predict how much compensation will be given. The victim may receive a high settlement value if the treatment involves multiple reconstructive surgeries, doctors, and hospitals instead of chiropractors and physician assistants.

Likewise, the recovery time also matters. A more extended recovery period entails significant follow-up appointments and medical treatment prescriptions; thus, they may have higher settlement values. The injury that requires a long time to heal can convince the insurance adjuster that the prolonged treatment was proof of their injuries’ seriousness.

Liability

So far, the factors discussed above are related to the impact of the alleged injuries. However, what’s also important to address is whether the defendant is even liable for the damages. The certainty with which your personal injury lawyer can prove liability can significantly impact your personal injury settlement value. Thus, settlements can hit a higher range in situations where the other side/defendant is clearly at fault.

However, more value may also be added if you have a seasoned personal injury lawyer for case representation. Such a lawyer can argue liability questions more effectively. A seasoned personal injury lawyer can investigate the case in detail and interview credible witnesses, thereby compiling appropriate evidence much needed to establish a strong liability case against the defendant.

Mental and Emotional Trauma

The pain that results from motor vehicle accidents, in most cases, often goes beyond physical injuries. Indeed, in the aftermath of a vehicle accident, the mental and emotional trauma in the form of depression and anxiety can be equally debilitating. It is safe to say that everyone experiences some degree of emotional distress after a motor vehicle accident.

The manifestation of emotional distress is often varied and long such as sleep loss, fear of driving, anxiety, agoraphobia, and depression. These are some distressing and real emotional conditions that an individual can experience after a severe car accident.

However, emotional and mental distress is a subjective type of damage. Thus claims for emotional distress can often be met by skepticism. Therefore, you will need to provide clear evidence of persistent and significant emotional distress for it to contribute to your personal injury settlement value. For this, you will have to gather proof of emotional damage. Thus, seek input from licensed and reputed mental health professionals. They should testify to an accident’s long-lasting psychological effects on the victim and comprehensively document how emotional trauma impacts their lives.

It’s essential to understand that your settlement’s value may come from the amount of pain and suffering, loss of normal body functioning, and mental anguish that you can’t live a regular life anymore. But unlike economic damages like lost income and medical bills, there is no simple way for calculating non-economic damages.

person  using walking crutches after their injury caused by a car accident

Establish Negligence of Defendant

Another factor that can impact your injury settlement is proving the defendant’s negligence in your situation. A prima facie case of negligence consists of four elements:

  • Duty (the obligation to protect another against unreasonable risk of injury)
  • Breach (the failure to meet that obligation)
  • Causation (a close causal connection between the action and the injury)
  • Damages (the loss suffered)

You must establish all these elements of negligence with substantial evidence. You must successfully prove actual harm and complete the requirements of liability for negligence.

Schedule for a Personal Injury Consultation

At The Law Office of Jason E. Taylor, P.C., we practice primarily in personal injury cases. Contact us for a free case consultation. Discuss your case with us, and we’ll advise you on the legal courses of action that suit your situation.

Our experienced personal injury lawyer in North Carolina will work relentlessly to protect your rights and fight to get you the fair settlement that you deserve. From case investigation to evidence collection, establishing liability, and negotiating with the insurance adjuster, we assist and represent you at every stage of the legal process while focusing on your recovery. We strive to provide you with a stress-free legal process and work in your best interest to pursue the compensation you’re entitled to. Contact us today. Let us represent you and fight for you to get justice.

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Notice of Data Security Event
Updated March 28, 2025

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor is providing notice of an event that may affect certain individuals’ information. Although we have no indication of identity theft or fraud in relation to this event, we are providing information about the event, our response, and additional measures individuals can take to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On October 28, 2024, The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor identified suspicious activity related to our email system. We quickly took steps to investigate and determined that an unknown actor may have accessed certain emails within our email system between August 7 and November 7, 2024. We then conducted a comprehensive review of the potentially affected emails and attachments to determine what information was contained therein and to whom the information related, which was completed on February 25, 2025. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify the addresses of certain affected individuals, so we are providing this notice to ensure potentially affected individuals receive information about the event.

What Information Was Involved? The information affected may include individuals’ Social Security number, driver’s license and state ID information, financial account number, and health information.

What We Are Doing. We are notifying individuals about this matter and providing guidance about free resources that are available to assist with monitoring relevant accounts, credit reports, and how to place a fraud alert or security freeze on one’s credit file. Further, as with our typical security practices, we will continue to evaluate our policies, procedures, staff training, and technical security measures to reduce the likelihood of an event like this reoccurring.

What Individuals Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also recommend you review the below “Steps Individuals Can Take To Help Protect Personal Information”.

For More Information. If individuals have questions about this matter, we have a dedicated assistance line with agents ready to answer their questions. Please contact our toll-free dedicated assistance line at 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m., excluding holidays. You may also write to us at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, Attn: Compliance, P.O. Box 2688, Hickory, NC 28603.

Sincerely,

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor

STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without consent. However, consumers should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application they make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:

1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
2. Social Security number;
3. Date of birth;
4. Addresses for the prior two to five years;
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are a victim of identity theft.

Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze or fraud alert, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/

https://www.transunion.com/credit-help
1-888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect their personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or their state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state attorney general. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For District of Columbia residents, the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; 1-202-442-9828; and oag.dc.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-576-6300 or 1-888-743-0023; and https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.

For New Mexico residents, consumers have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in their credit file has been used against them, the right to know what is in their credit file, the right to ask for their credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to consumers’ files is limited; consumers must give consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; consumers may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance based on information in their credit report; and consumers may seek damages from violators. Consumers may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active-duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage consumers to review their rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580.

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; 1-401-274-4400; and www.riag.ri.gov. Under Rhode Island law, individuals have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this event.
STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT A MINOR DEPENDENT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION

Typically, credit reporting agencies do not have a credit report in a minor’s name. To find out if a minor has a credit report or to request a manual search for a minor’s Social Security number each credit bureau has its own process. To learn more about these processes or request these services, consumers may contact the credit bureaus by phone, writing, or online:
Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/article-list/-/h/a/request-child-credit-report/
https://www.experian.com/help/minor-request.html
https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resources/child-identity-theft

1-800-685-1111 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013 P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

To request information about the existence of a credit file in a minor’s name, search for a minor’s Social Security number, place a security freeze or fraud alert on a minor’s credit report (if one exists), or request a copy of a minor’s credit report consumers may be required to provide the following information:
● A copy of their driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state identification card, etc.;
● Proof of address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement, etc.;
● A copy of the minor’s birth certificate;
● A copy of the minor’s Social Security card;
● The minor’s full name, including middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.;
● The minor’s date of birth; and
● The minor’s previous addresses for the past two years.

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