The average settlement for a California lawsuit filed over back and neck injuries sustained in a car accident varies from a few thousand dollars to well over a million. The wide range is because all accidents and injuries are unique.
Small discrepancies in your case make it different from other, similar ones. There is no average settlement amount.
Below I discuss what you need to know about settlements for neck and back injuries following a car crash in California. Also listen to our informative podcast here:
Three Big Factors in Car Accident Settlements
The settlement amount for a California personal injury claim after a car crash is driven by three major variables:
- the severity of your injuries,
- your shared fault, and
- insurance coverage.
Each of these can have a drastic impact on the value of your claim.
1) Severity of Your Back and Neck Injuries
The severity of your neck and back injuries is the main factor in a California personal injury claim.
The more severe your car accident injuries, the higher your:
- medical expenses,
- physical pain and suffering,
- mental anguish,
- emotional distress,
- loss of life’s enjoyments,
- lost wages from the recovery, and
- reduced earning capacity from the permanent disabilities caused by the injury.
You are entitled to financial compensation for all of these losses. The worse these types of injuries, the larger your back and neck injury settlement should be.
2) Your Shared Fault
In many motor vehicle accidents, both drivers involved share responsibility for it happening. In a subsequent personal injury claim, these situations invoke California’s shared fault law.
California’s shared fault law relies on the “pure comparative negligence” model, which means your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. Therefore if you are 50% at fault for the crash, you would collect 50% of your damages.1
Personal injury settlements aim to estimate how a jury would act. Therefore, evidence that you were partially to blame for the accident can significantly reduce a settlement offer and the payout that you would receive.
3) Insurance Company Coverage
The amount of available insurance coverage can also impact the settlement amount. If the at-fault driver carries auto insurance with a policy limit that would not even cover your medical bills, you are likely to go under-compensated.
I can help you pursue alternative sources of compensation in these cases. Many times this alternative source is your own underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage.
Estimate Your Neck and Back Injury Settlement Amount
You can estimate the value of your California personal injury claim using the multiplier method. Under this method:
- Add up all of your economic damages. These are the financial losses that you have suffered from the crash that are easy to put in a dollar amount. This includes things like your medical treatment, lost wages, and property damage.
- Then use that number to estimate your non-economic damages. Your non-economic damages are those that are difficult to state in a dollar amount, like the physical pain that you have suffered. The multiplier method estimates these by multiplying your economic damages by a number between one and five. That number reflects how much the crash has affected your quality of life.
- Add that estimation of your non-economic damages to your economic damages. This final number is an indication of what a fair settlement offer would be. However, that final number could still be reduced by your shared fault or by a lack of insurance coverage.
While extremely rare, the potential for punitive damages can increase the amount and make for a larger settlement.
Common Neck and Back Injuries in an Auto Accident
There are numerous different neck and back injuries that you can suffer in a car crash. Some are relatively minor. Others are life-altering and potentially even fatal.
Some of the most severe or common injuries are:
- whiplash injuries, especially after a rear-end collision,
- other soft tissue injuries, like lumbar sprains or other sprained ligaments,
- lumbar fractures,
- thoracic spine fractures,
- cervical spine injuries,
- nerve damage,
- chronic pain,
- severe neck pain,
- strained muscles or tendons,
- spinal stenosis,
- sciatica,
- facet joint fractures or dislocations,
- herniated discs, and
- other spinal cord injuries.
In some cases, serious injuries to the neck can also cause brain injuries.
The medical care that you will need will depend on the nature and severity of the injuries. Severe injuries often need surgery and extensive physical therapy in order to make a full recovery.
You should keep your medical records handy. They will be useful in a subsequent personal injury case. They are often the most important pieces of evidence for proving the amount of compensation that you deserve.
Signs of Neck or Back Injuries or Whiplash
These neck or back injuries are not always apparent after a crash. In many cases, their symptoms are delayed. You may think that you were unscathed only to begin suffering devastating symptoms days or even weeks later.
Some symptoms to watch for are:
- muscle soreness in the neck or back, often in the lower back,
- weakness, particularly an inability to lift things that you used to be able to lift with ease,
- stiffness in your neck, back, or shoulders,
- sudden sharp neck, shoulder, or back pain,
- loss of range of motion in your neck, legs, or arms,
- headaches,
- bruising, or
- tingling or numbness in your arms, hands, or fingers.
These delayed symptoms are one reason why it is always important for accident victims to seek medical attention after a car crash, even if you do not think that you were hurt.
Additional Reading
For more information, refer to our related articles:
- Hit by a DUI Driver? – How to sue for money damages.
- Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit in California – A legal guide
- Trucking Accident Lawsuit – How to bring a claim for damages.
- Lawsuits for SUV Rollover Accidents – Your options after an accident.
- E-bike Accident Lawsuit – How to bring a claim.
- Pedestrian Hit By Car in California – How to bring a lawsuit.
