It’s the question I get asked the most, and honestly, it’s the hardest one to answer. The truth? There is no fixed number. Your case is worth exactly what you settle for, or what a jury or arbitrator decides. That’s it.
What I can tell you is whether an offer is reasonable — high, low, or in the ballpark — based on my experience. But this area of law is full of outliers. Cases settle for more or less than anyone expects all the time. So, let’s talk about what actually moves the needle.
What factors affect your case value?
A lot. Here are some of the big ones I look at:
What injuries did you sustain? Are they clearly tied to the crash, or will a defense expert argue they existed before? Were there gaps in your care? Delayed diagnoses? Did more than one doctor confirm the injuries, and what kind of doctor are we talking about — a chiropractor, an MD, a specialist?
Did you have any interventional care like injections or surgery? Is that kind of treatment likely in your future? What is your long-term prognosis? Are you still treating?
How much were your medical bills? Did any of your providers overbill? Did you overtreat with a chiropractor? (Yes, that’s a thing, and yes, it matters.)
Did you have wage loss? Whether you’re a W2 employee, self-employed, have a new business or established business or have gaps in your work history can make wage loss claims easier or harder to prove. If your wages are difficult to ascertain, I may need to retain an economist to do the math, and that might cost $10k, so if the intended claim isn’t worth significantly more than that, it might be worth giving up the wage loss claim if we need to file suit.
How bad do the pictures look? Was your car totaled or just bumped? What do the photos tell the story of? Pictures can be worth a thousand words, and the harsh reality is extreme damages can be hard to explain to a jury if the car barely looks scratched and that will play into offers and case value.
Did you have any prior similar injuries? Because the defense will find them, and we need to address them head-on.
Which insurance company is on the other side? Some carriers are known to make higher offers than others. It matters more than people think.
And who is your lawyer? Have they tried cases? Do they have a reputation in this industry either good or bad? Or are you at a firm that’s heavy on marketing and light on actual legal work, where a paralegal is running your file? We are in a small legal community of PI lawyers in Vancouver, WA, and most PI lawyers who have practiced here for any length of time will be known to adjusters and defense counsel and our reputations matter for case valuation as well! If you can’t get ahold of your lawyer for months on end, the adjusters won’t be able to either, and this can make for a very frustrating case for everyone involved.
A real-world example
Someone who was rear-ended, had minor bumper damage, and treated with a chiropractor for four months for soft tissue injuries is going to have a very different case value than someone who treated for a year, had an MD overseeing their care, received injections, and is likely to have ongoing flare-ups. And both of those cases are generally worth less than a surgery case involving a broken bone or a disc injury.
That’s just the reality of how these cases are valued.
When does it make sense to file a lawsuit?
Litigation costs real money. Experts are expensive. If we think your case might be worth $15,000 but bringing in your chiropractor to testify costs $8,000 — on top of a 33–40% attorney fee — it might actually net you more to take a $10,000 offer today than to push into litigation with added costs and risk.
That’s a call you make, with your attorney’s guidance. A good lawyer will tell you honestly where that tipping point is once they are familiar with your case.
Get a lawyer early. Seriously.
I can’t give you a meaningful case evaluation during a free consult if I haven’t seen your medical records, vehicle photos, and wage loss documents. I won’t spend an hour talking about an adjuster’s offer on a case I’ve never reviewed and give you a number that means anything. That wouldn’t be fair to you.
What I can tell you is this: getting a lawyer on board early almost always means more money in your pocket at the end — even after the attorney’s fee. A good attorney helps steer your case from the beginning, advocates for you with the insurance companies, and helps deal with the medical bills and health insurance issues that creep into every case. You’ll also just have better peace of mind knowing someone is in your corner.
Consults are free. Pick up the phone.