What is “Full” Settlement Value in an Injury Case?

If you are making a personal injury claim, it is important to know the term “full value” – for settlement purposes – for a couple of reasons:

• It is a big step to determining the settlement value of your case.
• The claims adjuster uses it to decide how much to pay you.

“Full value” is also known as:

• Face Value
• Total Case Value Before Reductions

The term “full value” is a term used by claims adjusters, defense and Plaintiff attorneys when describing the total value of a personal injury case without regard to the more than 87 Factors that affect the settlement value of an injury case.

Prospective clients, current clients and other attorneys often ask me the following question: “How much is my case worth?”

In order to know how much a personal injury case in Florida may be worth, you need to know the full value of pain and suffering of each particular injury being claimed, as well as the amount of out-of-pocket medical bills and lost wages.

Once you know the full value of the damages, you can then apply any factors that discount the value of your case.

1. Understanding the term “Full Value.”

An example can help you understand the term “Full Value” as it relates to a personal injury case.

Example 1

Let’s assume that you are claiming a herniated disc from a car accident in Florida. Assume that you ran into the back of the other driver’s car because you were not paying attention. Assume that you are 40 years old. Assume your out-of-pocket medical bills are $5,000.

In Florida, the “full value” of pain and suffering for a herniated disc that I use as a starting point for settlement purposes is $25,000 to $50,000. I know this range because I exclusively practice personal injury and have done so for about 10 years. I wrote an article that gives you average starting points for settlement values of pain and suffering in Florida injury cases and cruise ship cases.

While there are no guarantees as to what will happen should a case go to trial, insurance companies use settlement ranges to resolve cases.  Here are some abbreviations that I use when calculating the full value of an injury case.

“P & S” is Pain and Suffering.

“OOP” is Past and Future Medical Bills.

Now we look at the formula to determine the full value.

Full Value of Damages = (Medical Bills + Lost Wages + “P & S”)

Let’s look at the “full value” of this case:

“P & S” is the abbreviation for Pain and Suffering.

“OOP” is the abbreviation for Medical Bills You Owe.

Full Value of Damages = (Medical Bills + Lost Wages + “P & S”)

Full Value = ($5,000 + 0 + $25,000)

Full Value = $30,000

In this example you are at completely at fault, but the “full value” of your personal injury case is still $30,000. This remains true even if the liability claims adjuster may deny or minimize the existence, cause or severity of your herniated disc. How is the “full value” still $30,000 if the other driver did nothing wrong?  It is because the “full value” of a personal injury case does not get discounted by factors that eliminate or reduce the value of the case.

2. “Full value” is different from the Estimated “Settlement Value” of a case.

Now, your case could have a high “full value” but it still may still not be worth a penny.  This is true in Example #1 above.  This is because estimating the “full value” is the first step when calculating the settlement value in a personal injury case.

Now let’s use the formula below to take a look at how the “full value” of an injury case affects the settlement value. I will use the same abbreviations from Example 1 above. The formula to determine settlement value is:

Settlement Value = (Medical Bills + Lost Wages + “P & S”) x (% Chance of Defense Verdict) (100% – Your % of Comparative Fault)

Let’s plug the figures from Example #1 into this settlement formula:

Settlement Value = ($5,000 + 0 + $25,000) x (100% – 100%)

Settlement Value = ($30,000) x (0)

Settlement Value = 0

So, in example #1, even though the “full value” of your case is $30,000 your case is worthless because you were 100% at fault.

3.  Why Settlement Value Doesn’t Always Equals Full Value.

Claimant refers to someone who is injured in an accident. A claimant may think that his or her attorney is doing a bad job because they are being offered $10,000 when they had shoulder surgery, yet there friend had shoulder surgery from a car accident and her case settled for $147,000. Although the full value of their cases may both be $147,000 or more, the settlement value of the claimant who received $10,000 may have been lower because of factors that reduce the value of her case.

Example 2

Now let’s take example #1 but change a few things. Let’s assume that the front of the other driver’s car hit the back of your car and the other driver admits fault. You are 18 years old. The property damage to your car was huge. Your out-of-pocket medical bills are $5,000. The “full value” of your damages is also 30,000, just as in example #1. This is because “full value” doesn’t take into account things that help or hurt your case. But in example #2, the settlement value is $30,000. Let’s see why:

Settlement Value = (Medical Bills + Lost Wages + “P & S”) x (100% – Your % of Comparative Fault)

Let’s plug the figures from Example #2 into this settlement formula:

Settlement Value = ($5,000 + 0 + $25,000) x (100% – 0%)

Settlement Value = ($30,000) x (100%)

Settlement Value = $30,000

Now that you understand the term “full value,” you will have a better understanding of your case value and the other articles on this blog will make more sense.

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in  March 2013 and has been completely revamped and updated.