Average Car Accident Settlement Amount in Florida

Many car accident settlements are confidential and we will never know the correct average amount for a car accident case in Florida. The people who are in the best position to know the average car accident case settlement value in Florida are those at the largest insurance companies that does business in the State. For example, if you ask one of the largest insurance companies how much money they paid out in claims over an entire year for Florida car accidents, and you divide that by the number of car accident claims they received, you would have a very accurate number for the average Florida car accident case settlement value. That said, we have not seen the insurance companies publish that information anywhere that is accessible to us as of the date of writing this article.

Florida Car Accident Settlements

As a Florida personal injury law firm, I can tell you that car accident settlements vary greatly depending on the facts of the case, specifically: the size of the impact, the amount of the property damage, the severity of the injuries, and the scope of medical treatment provided to an injury victim. However, car accident settlement values also range widely depending on what law firm is representing the accident victim.  One of the largest law firms in the state of Florida published information regarding their average case settlement value in the year 2020 was $20,000.00. Now, they did not differentiate which of those cases were slip and falls and which were car accidents, but based on the fact that car accident cases make up the vast majority of injury cases in the state of Florida, we can assume that that firm’s average settlement value was in the ball park of $20,000.00 per case.

I worked at another large personal injury law firm in the state of Florida before starting my own firm. It was considered normal if your average case settlement value was $36,000.00. I averaged higher than that throughout my time there, and I have certainly averaged much higher than that while being on my own. As previously mentioned, many settlements are confidential, so lawyers cannot legally publish all of the precise settlement amounts for every single case and provide an exact average. That being said, there are some firms that say $20,000.00 is their average, and other firms that say $36,000.00 is their average. Waring Law averages closer to $50,000.00 per auto accident case.

How is a Car Accident Claim Valued in Florida?

As a civil litigation attorney, I am often asked about what the settlement value of a case is. This is because civil cases are different from criminal cases. Civil cases are when somebody brings a claim or lawsuit against a wrongdoer. Criminal cases are when the State pursues charges against someone who broke a law.

Civil lawyers are not criminal prosecutors, and vice-versa. If you have been involved in a car accident, a civil personal injury attorney can pursue a claim on your behalf. The goal of the claim is to maximize the amount of money that you will receive as a result of your car accident. The money that you receive can be used to pay back your medical bills. It can also be used to pay for future medical bills. It will also help to compensate you for your pain and suffering.

Typically there are two ways to accomplish this result:

1. You can settle the claim with the at-fault party or their insurance company; or,
2. You can take the case to trial and have a jury determine the value of your case.

I am going to speak in depth about both of these topics in the blog post.

The Difference Between Settling a Claim and Going to Court

I hear a lot of people say “let’s go to court” or “I am going to take this to trial.” There are certain times that this is what needs to happen. But there are also other times where it could benefit everyone involved to settle the case. This can happen at any point prior to the trial. It actually can even happen after trial as well.

Filing a Claim

After a car accident your personal injury attorney will file a claim. The claim is against the at fault party. The insurance company for the at fault party will most likely handle the claim. There will also be a claim filed with your insurance company. This assumes that both parties have insurance.

“Filing a claim” is a general term that means you are pursuing a claim against the at-fault party. Your personal injury attorney and the at-fault party’s insurance company will work together on the claim.  For example, when I sign up a new car accident claim, I identify any and all insurance that is available. I place all insurance companies on notice of my involvement.

You have heard it a million times on the TV Ads – every case is different. I hate cliche statements, but this one is true. Every single case is different. This is because there are different factors that go into every case (more on that below).

A “typical” claim can last between about three months to a year. A lot of factors go into how long it takes to finalize the claim, including:

1. Your medical treatment;
2. The insurance companies involved;
3. The extent of the injuries;
4. What the limits of insurance are;
5. The willingness of the insurance companies to settle the case;

After you and your attorney have an idea of the extent of your injuries, your attorney will send a letter to the insurance company. This is a demand letter.

Sometimes the insurance company will decide they want to settle the claim.  They will work with your attorney to agree on an amount. Once the parties agree on an amount, in exchange for a release you receive the money.

Going to Court

When your attorney and the insurance company cannot agree on an amount, it might be in your best interest to file a lawsuit. This means that papers will be filed in the county where the accident happened and a lawsuit will be initiated.

Make no mistake about it – filing a lawsuit is a big deal. Your case will become a public record. This means that anyone can pull up certain facts about your case. Your costs will go up. For example, filing a lawsuit in Orlando, Florida, costs $400. Also, you will need to get service of process on each defendant, which is an extra fee.

There are plenty of cases where the only legitimate choice is to file a lawsuit. However, not every case needs to go to court.

Once the lawsuit is filed, your attorney will engage in litigation. This means that they will go to court and conduct discovery. Discovery is the fancy legal term that means answering questions and providing documents.

I could write a book on litigation, so I will save that for another time. However, let’s talk about what the goals are when it comes to litigation.

First, the goal is to increase the settlement offer. Litigation is expensive for defendants. The insurance company will have to pay for an attorney to represent the defendant. Additionally, the defendant typically does not want to get sued either.

Another goal of filing a lawsuit is to obtain information that you were not able during the claims process. This occurs when you are not able to get an insurance policy from a defendant or some other information. Filing a lawsuit will give you subpoena power to obtain documents.

Finally, a lawsuit is required to get to a jury trial. Personal injury attorneys can take a case to trial if that is what needs to happen. Taking a case to a jury trial is the final step in the claims process. Much like a criminal defendant pleads his case to a jury, a personal injury victim can plead their case to a jury. The jury will deliberate and come back with what they believe the value of the case is.

One of the downsides to filing a lawsuit is the length of time it takes. A typical lawsuit can last upwards of a year, with many lawsuits lasting longer. After the jury trial, there can also be an appeal which could take another year to complete. To make matters worse, the case could be overturned on appeal and have to be retried, meaning you are going back to trial.

Of course, there is always the possibility that an injured victim loses at trial as well. The insurance companies and defendants will do everything in their power to 1) win the case outright and 2) minimize the amount of the jury verdict.

With a basic understanding of the difference between a claim and a lawsuit, let’s talk about how cases are valued.

What are the different factors used to determine the value of a car accident case?

In evaluating the value of your car accident case, the following factors may be used by your attorney and the insurance company:

Objective Amounts:

• Past Medical Treatment
• Future Medical Treatment
• Past Lost Wages
• Future Lost Wages
• Future Loss of Earning Capacity
• Other Economic Losses

Subjective Amounts:

• Severity of Injuries
• Loss of Consortium
• Pain and Suffering
• Severity of the Collision
• The Defendant’s Driving History
• Scaring
• Whether there is a Permanent Injury

Let’s take a look at the objective amounts first. These are the amounts that we can nail down to the dollars and cents. There might be some speculation (such as for future care), but there will be some straight-forward math behind the following numbers.

Objective Measures of Case Value

• Past Medical Treatment

Past medical treatment means the bills that you have already incurred related to your car accident. For example, an ER visit after a car accident would be a past medical bills. Other bills would include chiropractic bills, CT scans, MRI’s, x-rays, and orthopedic or surgeon bills, physical therapy, any dental work that you had done, and any other medical bill that you have incurred because of the car accident.

Sometimes the insurance companies will argue that a bill was not related to a car accident. This commonly happens when there is a pre-existing injury aggravated by the accident. This is one of the reasons why it is important to work with a personal injury attorney after an accident.

• Future Medical Treatment

Future medical treatment is treatment that you are likely to require in the future. This can include future surgeries or future therapies. Your future medical treatment is based on a physician’s opinion as to what is required for your future treatment. It is also possible to have experts who can give an opinion regarding what future treatment you may require.

• Past Lost Wages

Past lost wages are wages that you could not earn in the past because of your injuries. The best example would be if you missed works because of your automobile accident. Other examples would be if you have to take two weeks off to get surgery, or had to cut your hours in half because your back pain prevented you from working a full shift. If you were fired or lost your job because you could not fulfill your job duties, you can claim past and future lost wages.

• Future Lost Wages

Future Lost Wages is income that you would have earned in the future. The best example of this is someone who can no longer work as a plumber, and they made $3,000.00 a month doing so. If you lost your job or can no longer work as a plumber who made $3,000.00 a month, then you would have a future lost wage claim of $3,000.00 per month.

• Future Loss of Earning Capacity

Future loss of earning capacity is similar to future loss wages. It means that you do not have the same earning capacity as you did prior to your car accident. For example, if you were a truck driver making $60,000.00 per year prior to your accident, but can only drive for half the amount of time after your accident, you have a $30,000.00 per year loss of earning capacity claim.

• Other Economic Losses

Other economic losses is anything else that has a fixed dollar amount tied to it. This would include having to make a modification to your home that was required because of the car accident (such as a wheelchair ramp). Other losses would include equipment or objects that were damaged in your car during the accident.

Subjective Measures of Case Value

Switching gears, there are also elements of your claim that are subjective in nature. These are things that will add value to your claim, but it is hard (if not impossible) to place an exact dollar value on these elements:

• Severity of Injuries

The severity of the injuries will certainly play a role in the value of the claim. An injury requiring a cervical fusion will have more value to it than a jammed finger or a minor cut.  This is why it is  imperative that you obtain medical treatment after your car accident to document your injuries.

• Loss of Consortium

Loss of consortium is the loss of companionship. This means that if your car accident causes your spouse to lose companionship around the home (including intimate and physical companionship), this can be compensated for. Other types of this element include loss of services around the home.

• Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering damages are a large element of a personal injury claim. If you have been involved in a car accident that had a large impact on your life, you may be entitled to obtain pain and suffering damages because of the car accident. Generally speaking, the larger the injury, the more valuable the pain and suffering component will be.

Proving pain and suffering damages can be quite tricky. It can be helpful to have “before and after” witnesses who can testify as to the changes that someone underwent after a car accident. This is also something that a spouse may be able to testify to.

As discussed a little further down, Florida requires that you suffer a permanent injury after a car accident to claim pain and suffering. This, again, is one of the reasons why it is so important to obtain medical treatment after a car accident. Having a well-documented medical file will help to maximize the value of your case. This is because the injuries you sustained after the accident will hopefully be well documented in your medical file.

• Severity of the Collision

The severity of the collision can play a role in the value of the case. Taken by itself, the severity of the collision does not say anything about the injuries sustained. For example, we’ve all heard about the roll-over accident where the guy walks away with a scratch. But that is not always what happens. Sometimes there is a large injury after a big accident.

However, when you take the severity of the accident and couple it with the injury, that can be used to show the jury the effect the accident had on you. On the opposite side, if there was not a large impact, it is possible that the defendants will introduce photos of the accident to show how “minor” the accident was.

• The Defendant’s Driving History

An at-fault driver’s driving history can play a roll in the value of the case. For example, a driver with a long history of reckless driving could potentially be liable for punitive damages. Additionally, if the driver has a history of texting and driving, this might be used to show the reckless nature of the defendant. Although taken by itself this might not have value, when combined with the severity of injuries, it can help to increase the value of the case.

• Scarring

Scarring as a result of an automobile accident can add value to a case. Of course it is impossible to state that a specific scar is worth a specific amount of money, however it is something that can be shown to the jury to increase the overall value of the case.

A scar can be the result of a burn or a scratch from the actual car accident, or from a surgery or some other medical treatment that you had to get because of the car accident.

• Whether there is a Permanent Injury

Permanent injuries allow an accident victim to recover for pain and suffering damages. Florida has a certain threshold that must be met in order for somebody to claim pain and suffering damages.

How Much is A Typical Car Accident Settlement in FL?

There is no “typical car accident settlement.” This is because the facts surrounding each case are different. A large injury case might settle for the policy limits of $10,000.00 even though the injuries are worth far more. On the opposite hand, a small injury case may only settle for $5,000.00 even though there is a million dollars in coverage. This is why it is so difficult to “ballpark” the value of cases.

However, prior to becoming a personal injury attorney, I was an insurance defense attorney. This meant that I represented the insurance companies and the people who caused accidents when they were sued. Having this experience helps me understand the different values that cases have.

As an insurance defense attorney, I evaluated cases and provided settlement ranges for the insurance companies to consider. An insurance defense attorney is typically not in charge of offering the settlement money for a case. Insurance attorneys only report the value of the claims back to the insurance agents, and they are the ones who determine what the value of the case is.

We already discussed factors related to your injury above. However, here are some additional factors that are considered when valuing a case:

The Amount of Insurance Available for the At Fault Driver

It is important to know the amount of insurance that the at-fault driver has. This is because most people do not have the ability to pay a judgment or settlement out of their own pocket. Because of this, we look to any available insurance coverage. This is why it is important to speak with an attorney as soon as possible so that they may identify any and all insurance that is available.

The Amount of Insurance Available under your policy

In addition to the at-fault driver’s insurance policy, your insurance policy may provide additional insurance coverage. I have already written about personal injury protection (PIP) insurance HERE. This provides up to $10,000.00 in insurance coverage for medical bills and lost wages.

In addition to your PIP coverage, any applicable underinsured motorist coverage can help to pay for part (or all) of your settlement claim.

Accidents With Corporate and Commercial Vehicles

Corporations and commercial vehicles have different rules that apply to them regarding their insurance coverage. For example, Florida requires commercial vehicles to have higher levels of insurance. Specifically, commercial vehicles are required to have limits of $300,000.00, $750,000.00, $1 million or $5 million depending on the weight and use of the vehicle.

Further, Florida has adopted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration standards regarding the appropriate level of insurance for commercial vehicles.

Fla. Stat. 320.01(25) defines “commercial motor vehicle” as “any vehicle which is not owned or operated by a governmental entity, which uses special fuel or motor fuel on the public highways, and which has a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more, or has three or more axles regardless of weight, or is used in combination when the weight of such combination exceeds 26,001 pounds gross vehicle weight.”  Fla. Stat. 320.01(25).

Fla. Stat. 207.002(1) defines “commercial motor vehicle” as “any vehicle not owned or operated by a governmental entity which uses diesel fuel or motor fuel on the public highways; and which has a gross vehicle weight in excess of 26,000 pounds, or has three or more axles regardless of weight, or is used in combination when the weight of such combination exceeds 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight.”  Fla. Stat. 207.002(1).

Fla. Stat. 627.7415 states that commercial motor vehicles as defined in Fla. Stat. 207.002 or Fla. Stat. 320.01 operated on the roads of Florida “shall be insured with the following minimum levels of combined bodily liability insurance and property damage liability insurance…” and goes on to say that “(4) All commercial motor vehicles subject to regulations of the United States Department of Transportation, 49 C.F.R. part 387, subpart A,…shall be insured in an amount equivalent to the minimum levels of financial responsibility as set forth in such regulations.”  Fla. Stat. 627.7415(4).

49 C.F.R. part 387 Subpart A of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act (hereinafter referred to as the “FMCSA”) prescribes the minimum levels of financial responsibility required to be maintained by motor carriers of property operating motor vehicles in interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce. Motor carrier means a for-hire motor carrier or a private motor carrier. 49 C.F.R. 387.5.  49 C.F.R. part 387.1 Subpart A “applies to for-hire motor carriers operating motor vehicles transporting property in interstate or foreign commerce”…. and it “applies to motor carrier operating motor vehicles transporting hazardous materials, hazardous substances, or hazardous wastes in interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce.  49 C.F.R. part 387.3. For-hire carriage means the business of transporting, for compensation, the goods or property of another. 49 C.F.R. 387.5.

The following limits of liability are required under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act:

What Is An Average Settlement Value for a Car Accident Case?

If you have been in an accident, and you are curious about hiring a Deerfield Beach car accident lawyer, and you want to speak with an attorney about their average case values, don’t hesitate to ask them. The best question I receive from my clients is “what is your average settlement value for this type of case?” I think that is a very valid and smart question.

An average is exactly that, an average. It does not guarantee or mean that you are going to receive that amount or even plus or minus $5,000.00 or $10,000.00 of that amount. Some people receive $150,000.00, $250,000.00, or even $400,000.00 while others receive $7,500.00 or $12,000.00.  It all depends on the factors that make up the case, including the identity of the insurance carrier, the willingness of the client to put in the time it takes to settle the case fairly or litigate the case when an offer is not fair.

Contact a Deerfield Beach Car Accident Attorney

I started Waring Law to provide transparency so that people can get what they deserve after an accident. The entire point for my law firm’s existence is to educate clients and for clients to ask these questions so that they can make the best decisions for themselves. We believe that it is their case, and their future, and only they can make the best decisions for themselves. However, people make better decisions when they are fully informed, so it is our job to make sure that they are educated in addition to doing the heavy lifting on the actual cases.

If you’ve been in a car accident, and you want to explore what your case might be worth, please give Waring Law a call today at 954-388-0646 for your free consultation.