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Q: What's My Case Worth?

In trying to determine what a case’s value is, the best place to start is at the end of a case. If a case is fully litigated and tried, the jury will return a verdict to compensate the plaintiff. A plaintiff is entitled to be compensated for all damages caused by a defendant’s negligence. The goal of the legal system is to put the plaintiff in the position he or she was before the accident. Of course, the legal system cannot actual cure the person for his or her injuries. The only method to “make the plaintiff whole” is to compensate him or her with money, and so at the end of a case, the jury will award the plaintiff a sum of money.

Different juries are made up of different people who see things different ways. Jurors have their own points of view, their own biases, and their own experiences they bring to the table when they decide on a sum to award. To put it simply, the same case could be tried the same way with the same evidence to two different juries, and those juries could render two completely different verdicts.

In valuing cases, the goal is predict what a jury is likely to award in a particular case. Lawyers and insurance companies look at a variety of factors and look at what juries have awarded in similar cases in an effort to predict what a jury would likely award in a particular case. There are numerous factors to consider, including (a) the categories of damages (see below); (b) the venue (some venues have a reputation for giving higher or lower verdicts); (c) the credibility of the plaintiff and the defendant, and any other witness; (d) the quality of the plaintiff or defendant’s lawyer; and (e) whether liability is clear or is uncontested.

A lawyer should be able to articulate to his client what the possible outcomes of a trial could be with a reasonable degree of confidence. If the lawyers, the insurance companies, and the clients reach the same or similar conclusions as to the case’s value after weighing all of the factors, then the case is likely to settle. If they do not, then the only way to resolve the disagreement is to proceed to trial.

The biggest factor to consider when valuing a case is the categories of damages claimed by the injured person. At the end of a case, the judge instructs the jury on the law of the case. A damages instruction that lists the various categories of damages will be included in these instructions. The following is a list of the categories of damages that are included in the typical damages jury instruction, which instructs the jury to consider the following categories when arriving at a verdict:

     (1) any bodily injuries the plaintiff sustained and their effect on his or her health according to their degree and probable duration;

     (2) any physical pain and mental anguish the plaintiff suffered in the past and any that he or she may be reasonably expected to suffer in the future;

     (3) any disfigurement or deformity and any associated humiliation or embarrassment;

     (4) any inconvenience caused in the past and any that probably will be caused in the future;

     (5) any medical expenses incurred in the past, and any that may be reasonably expected to occur in the future;

     (6) any earnings the plaintiff lost because he or she was unable to work at his calling;

     (7) any loss of earnings and lessening of earning capacity, or either, that the plaintiff may reasonably be expected to sustain in the future; and

     (8) any property damage the plaintiff sustained.

For each of these categories, the key issues are whether (or the extent to which) the damage was caused by the accident, and what the value of that damage is.

This is easier to do for some types of damages than others. For example, category (5) holds that a plaintiff should be awarded an amount to cover his medical expenses. If the plaintiff visited the emergency room soon after the accident and underwent some diagnostic tests, the parties can usually agree that this was caused by the accident, and the plaintiff is entitled to be awarded the amount of the bills.

For other types of damages, this can be much more difficult. For example, category (2) holds that a plaintiff should be awarded an amount to compensate for any physical pain and mental anguish suffered in the past or any which will reasonably be expected in the future. This can be difficult to predict. Different people process pain in different ways, and jurors have their own notions of how much pain a particular injury should cause. For example, different jurors may disagree on an appropriate award to a person who suffers a knee injury and cannot walk for more than a few steps without having to grab onto something because of the pain.

The role of the plaintiff’s lawyer in presenting the plaintiff’s case is to present evidence which fully explains how each of the damages and injuries have affected the plaintiff. Conversely, the defendant’s lawyer’s role is to pick apart the plaintiff’s damages claims and argue to the jury that the plaintiff’s claims are exaggerated or overstated, or that some damages were simply not caused by the accident.

The best way for a plaintiff’s lawyer to present the case on damages is through meticulous preparation and honest presentation of the evidence at trial which personalizes how the injuries have affected the plaintiff. The best plaintiff’s lawyers are able to zealously advocate for their client at trial without it seeming like they are advocating. Rather, they seem to tell the case “as it is,” and present the facts and arguments in such a way that the only logical conclusion for the jury to reach is to fully agree with the plaintiff’s position. This is the true value of a plaintiff’s lawyer – to utilize his expertise and experience in thoroughly preparing the case in the months or years before trial, and to present the case in a clear and convincing manner at trial that leaves the jury with only one conclusion to reach – that the plaintiff was damaged to the extent claimed.

In some cases, a plaintiff may be able to seek punitive damages. Punitive damages may be awarded where the defendant’s conduct is so egregious that it evinces a conscious disregard for the rights of others. The goal of compensatory damages (discussed above) is to put the plaintiff in the position he was prior to the accident. The purpose of punitive damages, however, is to punish the defendant and to serve as a deterrent to others. Punitive damages are rarely awarded, and are most commonly found in drunk driving cases. The settlement value of a case where punitive damages could be awarded is obviously higher than the settlement value of a case where they cannot be awarded.