Lower back pain is a symptom that commonly emerges after many types of personal injuries. Regardless of how many precautions you take or how careful you are, someone else’s negligence could result in a back injury that causes lingering pain over a long period of time.
The skilled New York personal injury lawyers at Richmond Vona have vast experience handling cases involving lower back pain and know how to help you maximize your potential settlement. If you’re dealing with lower back pain after an accident, contact us online or call 716-500-5678 today for a free consultation
Factors That Influence the Value of a Lower Back Pain Settlement
Every case is unique. There’s no fixed formula for determining the value of personal injury claims, including lower back pain cases. Instead, potential settlement amounts are determined by several factors, such as the strength of available evidence. Some of these factors include:
Severity and Nature of the Injury
The main factor influencing all damages resulting from an accident is how bad your injuries are. Higher medical bills, more time missed at work, long-term impacts on your mobility, and severe disruptions to your quality of life can all raise the value of a lower back pain settlement.
Comparative Negligence
New York has a pure comparative negligence standard that allows accident victims to recover compensation even if they were partially responsible for their own injuries. However, any liability you share for the accident will proportionately reduce the value of your lower back pain settlement.
Evidence and Documentation
You can’t recover compensation for damages you can’t prove. If evidence clearly shows the other party’s liability and the harms you’ve suffered from your injuries, you may reach a fair settlement relatively quickly. However, poorly documented damages could lead to a drawn-out legal fight with underwhelming results.
Insurance Policy Limits
Compensation in some types of personal injury cases is capped by the liable party’s insurance coverage limits. This is particularly impactful in auto injury cases, thanks to New York’s no-fault insurance laws.
Age and Health
Some damages are valued higher when they could more drastically decrease the victim’s quality of life over a longer period of time. As such, a younger and healthier individual can sometimes receive more compensation in a back pain settlement than an older person with pre-existing health conditions who suffered the same injuries.
Legal Representation
Insurers often attempt to lowball injury victims and pressure them into accepting early settlement offers. Having a skilled legal advocate on your side can help you resist underhanded insurance company tactics and win a lower back pain settlement that fairly reflects the damages you’ve suffered.
Damages One Can Recover From Lower Back Pain After a Personal Injury
Damages suffered after a personal injury are typically categorized as either economic or non-economic.
Economic Damages
Monetary losses and other financial impacts from an injury are considered economic damages. These typically have a specific price tag. Examples include:
- Medical bills and future health care costs
- Lost income
- Property damage
- Other out-of-pocket expenses, such as transportation, assistive devices, and household help necessitated by your injuries
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are for intangible harms with a subjective monetary value, which means they are typically more difficult to calculate. Examples of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
Courts don’t require a single formula; insurers and lawyers often use reference frameworks to value non-economic losses. Damages for pain and suffering in a lower back injury settlement are calculated in one of two ways. The “multiplier method” involves multiplying your total economic damages by a number between 1.5 and five, determined by the severity of your experiences. The “per diem method” assigns a certain monetary value for each day you experienced pain and suffering.
Types of Accidents That Can Cause Lower Back Pain Injuries
Nearly every type of personal injury accident could result in lower back pain, though the severity may depend heavily on the circumstances. Some accidents that can cause lower back injuries include:
Should You File a Lawsuit to Cover Your Medical Bills and Medical Needs?
If available insurance limits don’t fully cover your expenses, you might need to file a lawsuit to pursue further compensation from the party liable for your lower back pain injury. Legal action can also help you pursue damages for pain, suffering, and emotional distress that are often undervalued or denied by insurers.
An experienced New York personal injury lawyer can help you gather evidence, build a strong case, and negotiate strategically with insurers to give you the best chance of maximizing your back pain injury settlement. Our trusted team will keep you updated throughout the process, allowing you to focus on recovering and spending time with your loved ones while we handle the complicated legal work.
What Evidence Is Needed for a Lower Back Injury Claim?
To prove a personal injury claim for lower back pain, you must show that the other party owed you a duty of care and breached it through negligence, resulting in compensable damages.
Key evidence for personal injury cases includes medical records, doctors’ notes, photos of your injuries or of the scene, witness statements, and more. Your attorney can help you identify and gather relevant evidence to build a successful case.
What Is the Time Limit to File a Claim After a Lower Back Injury in NY?
New York’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is typically three years after the date of the accident. This might seem like a lot of time, but it’s important to get started on a legal claim as soon as possible after an injury. Even minor lower back pain can worsen over time, and missing the filing deadline could end your chances of recovering compensation.
Contact Richmond Vona to File a Claim After a Lower Back Injury
If you’re dealing with lingering lower back pain after an injury accident, Richmond Vona can help. With more than two decades of combined experience in personal injury law, our attorneys have recovered over $200 million for clients like you. And with the R/V Guarantee, you won’t pay us anything unless you win your case.
Contact us online or call 716-500-5678 today for a free consultation.
