Car accident back injuries can range from whiplash (cervical sprain/strain) to herniated discs and operations. How much your back injury claim is worth will depend on the severity of your injury and whether you had any prior injuries to your back before the car wreck.
Whiplash (Cervical Strain/Sprain) Settlements
When people say “whiplash” what they really mean is a cervical sprain or strain. Your neck is the cervical region of your spine. Back and neck strains are almost 35% of all accident injury claims. The numbers to the right should tell you that your average soft tissue only case is not a considerable amount. Another study has shown that Georgia is almost 50% lower on average then the rest of the country when it comes to what a neck strain case is worth.
$6,500
Median Verdict and Settlement for Whiplash Injuries in Fulton County.
$5,900
Median Verdict and Settlement for Whiplash Injuries in the rest of Georgia.
Soft tissue cases usually only entail either physical therapy or chiropractic treatment. You should not be doing both because insurance companies will not pay the medical bills for both. They consider it duplicative treatment. In addition to the physical therapy or chiropractic treatment, some whiplash claims will also involve an ER visit and 1-2 consults with either a primary care physician or orthopedic doctor. Insurance companies will consider this appropriate treatment and usually reimburse these expenses as part of your settlement.
These types of cases are what we do day in and day out. We know how to get the maximum value out of these cases by thoroughly documenting the evidence and medical treatment in such a way as to get the adjuster’s best offer.
Herniated Disc Settlements
Surgical back injury cases are obviously worth a lot more then a whiplash case. The averages to the right are very low in our opinion. A back surgery case almost always settles for 6 figures when there is enough insurance. You have to keep in mind that the majority of Georgia drivers only carry $25,000 in liability insurance. Unless you or the injury claimants in the data survey carry UM insurance, there won’t be enough insurance to fully compensate for the back injuries. Whenever we are faced with injuries like these, are top priority to our clients is to investigate all sources of insurance. You’d be surprised at the various ways a Georgia injury lawyer can stack (add together) insurance policies from different people or businesses to give you more money to draw from.
$125,000
Median Verdict and Settlement for Cervical Disc Surgery in Fulton County.
$115,000
Median Verdict and Settlement for Cervical Disc Surgery in the rest of Georgia.
*REMEMBER: These statistics are greatly effected by the amount of available insurance.
Back Injury Surgery Claim Value Factors
In addition to the normal personal injury case value factors, car accident back injury claims involving surgery also turn on the following:
- Whether there were multiple discs involved. We treat and argue each disc as a separate back injury
- How you healed after back injury surgery
- How well you did in physical therapy – PT notes usually contain a treasure trove of how you are doing after a car accident back injury
- How long you were out of work
- Whether your back injury fully resolved after surgery such that you have full range of motion
- Whether you had any prior or subsequent injuries to that same area of your back
