What is the right amount of settlement if you got hit by a car that caused severe injuries?

That settlement amount may not be fair to you, depending on what all of your injuries are, and the long-term impact of your injuries over your lifetime.

It is not feasible to do a long-distance evaluation. You should ask for a free consultation with an experienced lawyer.

In Florida you can find out the policy limits available by writing the company and citing them Florida Statutes 627.4137. The company has 30 days to provide you with an affidavit as to the policy limits-don't just take the adjuster's word for it. Make demand for the full policy limits with a 20 day deadline in writing. If they fail to pay the limits a competent attorney should be able to get a jury verdict for more than the policy limits and the company could be held liable for the excess beyond the policy limits. If the limits are very high they will not pay them ,but you should get more than they have offered.

You should demand double their offer.

Case values vary widely from case to case and place to place. Experienced personal injury lawyers are familiar with those values. Seriously consider consulting one.

Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. Take the money and run. If you did not have surgery or anything like that, you will not be able to persuade a jury that you got hurt very badly. Of course, you can gamble. People do NOT win trials; they lose trials. In your case, will you lose the trial or will the defense lose the trial?

They have paid 45 in bills and they have offered another 45 do you realize you have a duty to stay out of the way of auto traffic and that if the jury thinks you might be partly at fault you may get nothing you have to prove negligence of the driver (can you do that?) and you have to prove you were not careless in any way (were you looking where you were going?) if you were looking why did the accident happen?

It may depend on how much insurance coverage there is. It does sound as if your damages exceed their offer, but I do not know how much insurance coverage is available. Evaluating personal injury damage claims is a complex task. Ultimately, a settlement is made based on what the insurance company believes a jury will award. Since you are apparently trying to settle this without an attorney, they are probably discounting what a jury might award because there is not much threat of your taking the case to trial. Below are some things to consider in evaluating a personal injury claim. I am often asked by individuals who have been injured in an accident to give an opinion as to what would be a fair settlement in their case. Often, they give me a brief description of their injury, such as, I suffered two broken ribs, or I am now suffering back pain?, or I hurt my leg and had to have surgery? and give no further details. I cannot possibly give an opinion as to the value of their case without more information. I find myself repeating over and over some of the information set out below. The information below is an attempt to shed some light on what an accident injury victim should consider in determining a fair settlement. However, presenting damages to an insurance adjuster, and ultimately to a jury, is an advanced and complicated task. It not adequate to simply say I'm hurt?, describe your injury, and then hold out your hand and ask for money. I have practiced law since 1985, and still attend seminars and read books on the subject of presenting personal injury damage claims to juries. The information below will not be enough to make you a personal injury attorney, but hopefully will enlighten you regarding some factors that should be considered on evaluating your claim. Maximum Medical Improvment First, one needs to understand the concept of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). MMI is the point at which the condition of an injured person is stabilized. No further recovery or improvement is expected even with additional medical intervention. Basically, a condition is at maximum medical improvement if it is not believed that the condition will change or progress. In laymen?s terms, this is often referred to a ?being released by the doctor?. This term is most often used in the context of a worker?s compensation claim. An inquired employee usually receives temporary benefits until reaching maximum medical improvement. However, it also has significance in general personal injury cases. Insurers for at fault drivers, manufacturers of unsafe products, owners and operators of unsafe premises, and doctors guilty of malpractice do not normally make incremental payments as medical bills and lost wages are incurred. Rather, these insurers normally settle claims with one payments, which represents the final settlement. For this reason, the accident victim must have evidence of all past and future damages to present to the adjuster. This means it is premature to begin evaluating your claim before you reach MMI because you do not yet know how much your medical bills will be, nor do you know how severe the injury will ultimately be - which is the main factor in damages for pain and suffering ? until after you have reached MMI. After you have reached MMI, four basic factors that should be considered in evaluating your case are 1) special damages, also known as tangible damages, 2) severity of the injury, 3) duration of the injury, and 4) insurance coverage. Special Damages Special damages which are also sometimes called tangible damages include the cost of medical treatment (medical bills) and lost wages. Special damages are somewhat objective and easily ascertainable. You simply add up your medical bills and determine what wages you would have earned had you not been out of work due to your injury. The insurance adjuster or opposing attorney may quibble over some of your numbers, claiming that you have

Based on what? If you can't answer in detail, even if only to yourself, what is wrong with the dollar amount, then you need to acknowledge you lack the information and experience to maximize your recovery amount. Most folks realize this way earlier and engage counsel way earlier. That said, it is not too late to gather your records (hopefully you have faithfully kept copies of everything) and sit down with qualified experienced counsel. Yes, counsel will be compensated, but it is so incredibly rare for someone to have a better all said and done recovery without counsel than they have with counsel that is is poor planning to not rely on an experienced attorney to aid you. All you really accomplish by not using counsel is leaving dollars that ought to be yours in the account of the insurance company. They are hoping that is what you will do. But why would you be more inclined to help them than permitting counsel to help you? Best wishes for a full recovery, both health and financial.

Insurers usually use a "factor" of 3 or 4 or 5 and multiply the "specials" (ie: known verifiable economic losses, such as medical bills, wage loss, etc.). So under a "factor" settlement you would get $45k x 3 or 4 or 5. Their current offer is a factor of 1. You should be able to do better, but do recall that an insurer writes a policy that has a specific liability "limit" and they never (except in bad faith states, of which Michigan is not one) have to pay more than their insureds "limit". So if there was a $50k limit in your case, the $45k offer would not be unreasonable as they are only asking for a 5% discount to get you the money now without a fight.