What is my case worth?

Why the number is not available yet

The single largest input to what a case is worth is what happens to your body over the next several months. Whether you recover fully, whether you need a procedure, whether the pain becomes something you live with — none of that is known in week two.

A lawyer who quotes you a figure on the first call is either guessing or selling. Boyd will tell you what the case looks like and what would move it up or down. He will not hand you a number he cannot stand behind.

What actually drives the value

• Medical treatment. What was done, what it cost, and what is still needed. This is the spine of the case.
• Lost income. Time off work, and whether the injury changes what you can earn going forward.
• How the injury changed your life. Sleep, lifting your kid, the hobby you stopped. Harder to quantify and often the largest part of a serious case.
• Liability. How clear it is that the other side was at fault, and how much blame they can shift onto you.
• The evidence. A well-documented case is worth more than an identical case documented badly.

The ceiling most people never hear about

Here is the part that surprises clients more than anything else on this page.

A case is not worth what the harm is worth. It is worth what can actually be collected. If the person who hurt you carries a minimum policy and owns nothing, a case with severe injuries can still hit a hard ceiling at the policy limit.

This is why one of the first things Boyd does is find every layer of insurance that might apply — the at-fault driver's policy, an employer's policy if they were working, an umbrella policy, and your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Finding a second layer of coverage changes a case more than almost any argument does.

Why online calculators do not work

You will find sites that multiply your medical bills by some number. Ignore them. That formula ignores the injury, the liability picture, the venue, the available coverage, and how you present as a witness — which is to say, it ignores everything that determines the outcome.

What gets subtracted before you see it

The settlement figure is not what reaches you. Out of it come the attorney fee, the case costs the firm advanced, and any medical liens or health insurance reimbursement claims.

Negotiating those liens down is real work and it directly increases what you take home. Boyd will show you the arithmetic in writing before anything is disbursed.

The one thing you control right now

Keep treating, and keep the records. Gaps in treatment are the single most common way a legitimate case loses value, because the argument writes itself: if it hurt, you would have gone.