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HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL
(877) 880-4090Posted July 26, 2024 | Personal Injury Blog
If you are watching your bills pile up after a motorcycle accident, it’s only natural to wonder how much compensation you could receive. Every accident is unique, but past results show that a settlement for serious injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident caused by another party’s negligence could be around $1.6 million.
During a free case evaluation, an experienced Texas motorcycle accident attorney can listen to your story and advise you on how likely your case is to be successful. He or she may even be able to give you a ballpark figure of the compensation you could receive.
This post will review different types of motorcycle accident cases and how much they could be worth. We will also explore different factors that affect the final amount of compensation you may receive.
As expected, settlements for minor injuries are generally much lower than those for catastrophic ones. This reflects the fact that the injuries do not result in high medical bills, extensive time off of work, or significant emotional and mental distress.
On average, a motorcycle accident victim could expect to receive around $10,000 or more in compensation for minor injuries, including:
These injuries typically heal quickly and do not result in permanent disability. However, as the severity of the injuries increases, so may the potential payout.
Moderate motorcycle accident injuries may require ongoing medical treatment for a time, but you are expected to make a full recovery eventually. You may need surgery and rehabilitation or physical therapy. However, after a period away from work, you should be able to return to your previous profession.
Some examples could include:
Although these injuries are not life-threatening or disabling, they can still be very expensive. Medical bills for initial treatments and ongoing therapies can add up, as can lost earnings. You may be able to receive compensation in the ballpark of $200,000 to 500,000, depending on the losses caused by these injuries.
In legal terms, serious bodily injuries may result in a risk of death, severe disfigurement, or impaired use or loss of use of an organ, bodily member, or mental faculty. You may no longer be able to do the job you did before. When the harm is especially severe, you may no longer be able to work to provide for your family.
Personal injury cases like this in Texas have settled for well over $700,000 in recent years, even up to $4 million. Meanwhile, verdicts of over $10 million have been awarded in court.
Serious injuries can have a devastating impact on your finances. You may need extensive surgeries, rehabilitation, and medication. If you are left permanently disabled, you may require ongoing caretaker support and modifications to your home. The settlement should also compensate for lost wages and loss of future earning potential.
In addition, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and emotional trauma may all be reflected in non-economic compensation.
A motorcycle accident attorney will consider the impact the accident has had on your quality of life. For example, if you were previously an active person who enjoyed sports but now have a permanent limp, it may be possible to pursue higher compensation.
Achieving around $1.6 million in compensation for serious injuries may be possible in certain cases. When the injuries are catastrophic, the payouts could be even higher. A review of jury verdicts for serious injuries from motorcycle accidents found an average award of $5.35 million in damages.
Tragically, 599 motorcyclists were killed on Texas roads in 2023; this number counts both riders and passengers.
If the accident in question was caused by the negligence of another road user or poor road maintenance, the surviving family members may be entitled to file a wrongful death case.
Wrongful death attorneys can help families pursue damages for:
Depending on the circumstances, wrongful death settlements can achieve around $1 million or more, even around $4 million on average. Typically, younger people in good health with greater earning potential receive higher payouts than older people.
The seriousness of your injuries is often the biggest factor affecting the final value of your settlement. However, other aspects of your case could affect your final payout.
Under Texas law, you have the right to pursue a negligent party for compensation even if you were partly responsible for the accident. However, if you are more than 50 percent at fault, you cannot claim compensation.
If you are partially liable, your settlement will be reduced by the percentage of liability attributed to you. For example, if you are 20 percent liable, your settlement will be 20 percent lower than if you had not shared any fault at all.
In terms of car insurance, Texas is a “fault state.” This means that the person who causes the accident must pay damages.
The challenge is that if you claim compensation from another person’s insurance, you are restricted by those policy limits. For example, in Texas, drivers are only required to have $60,000 worth of coverage per accident. If your bills exceed this, you could be left paying the balance out of pocket.
However, a tenacious motorcycle accident attorney can investigate other potential sources of compensation. This could include suing the defendant personally if they have the means to pay or looking for other potentially liable parties.
At Fielding Law, we understand the challenges motorcycle riders often face. Insurance limits, shared liability, and even prejudice against motorcyclists can make getting a fair settlement more difficult. However, we have a history of fighting and winning for our clients, even in complex cases.
Let our track record speak for itself: We achieved a settlement of $700,000 on behalf of two clients who were injured in a motorcycle accident on a rural road. Although initially it seemed that compensation of only $200,000 was available, our tenacious investigations and negotiations resulted in an additional $500,000 payout.
Now’s the time to discover what Fielding Law motorcycle accident attorneys could do for you. Call us at (877) 880-4090 or fill out our contact form, and we will get in touch very soon.
Text edited by Mitchell Fielding, a personal injury lawyer and partner at Fielding Law. Mitchell is known for his hard work ethic, friendly personality and dedication to the law. You can find out personal injury law offices in Taylorsville, UT and Mesquite, TX.