Car Accidents
The value of a car accident claim is rarely just about the diagnosis. What really drives settlement value is the severity of the injury, the type of medical treatment required, and whether the victim makes a full recovery or suffers permanent impairment.
Below is a general guide to car accident compensation based on the nature of the injury and the degree of long-term disability or recovery. These ranges are drawn from Maryland jury verdicts, national settlements, and our own experience handling serious auto accident cases at Miller & Zois.
While we talk about many more types of car accident injuries on this page, the injuries listed in the table below represent roughly 90% of personal injury claims. These are the core injuries that dominate most crash-related lawsuits and settlements. If you are wondering what your case might be worth, this chart is a solid starting point.
| Injury Type | Full Recovery | Partial Recovery | Permanent Impairment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whiplash / Soft Tissue | $3,000 – $25,000 | $25,000 – $75,000 | $75,000 – $150,000 |
| Herniated Disc | $40,000 – $60,000 | $60,000 – $200,000 | $200,000 – $750,000+ |
| Broken Leg | $45,000 – $80,000 | $80,000 – $200,000 | $300,000 – $1 million+ |
| Brain Injury | $50,000 – $200,000 | $200,000 – $750,000 | $1 million – $10 million+ |
| ACL Tear (Knee) | $30,000 – $100,000 | $100,000 – $300,000 | $300,000 – $1 million+ |
| Shoulder Injury | $15,000 – $95,000 | $95,000 – $200,000 | $200,000 – $500,000+ |
A Few Takeaways:
Surgery increases value, especially when future surgeries are likely.
Cases with clear permanent disability often justify verdicts or settlements into the millions.
Soft tissue and whiplash claims remain undervalued unless backed by objective medical evidence or a strong liability posture.
Jury perception matters. A sympathetic plaintiff with visible or life-altering injuries will almost always receive more than the average.
Below is a list of types of injuries with information about average settlement value of that injury, the issues at play in determining the value of these claims, and sample verdicts and settlements in Maryland and around the country.
How Much Is My Car Accident Case Worth?
One of the first questions people ask after a crash is: how much is my case worth? First, let’s be clear. That is the right question. Civil lawsuits are about money compensation for injuries. Period.
There is no universal formula to calculate settlement amounts. The value of a car accident injury claim depends on many factors: type of injury, how long it takes to recover, whether surgery was required, lost income, and how the injury affects your daily life.
So the answer is not always straightforward. Sometimes it is an insurance adjuster using a software formula. Other times it is a jury that hears about your pain, your medical records, your lost work, and makes a decision. Either way, the specific injuries you suffered are going to be one of the biggest drivers of your claim value.
This is why we created breakdowns of different accident and injury claim amounts across many types of auto accident injury cases. From broken jaws and ruptured spleens to whiplash, herniated discs, and brain injuries, these pages walk through what cases like yours have settled for or received at trial.
You can click through our list of car accident injuries to find detailed breakdowns of compensation ranges and verdict outcomes for each. These are based on real-world claims, including those we have handled here in Maryland and elsewhere.
Settlement Amounts by Injury
- Value of Wrongful Death Claims
- Value of Ankle and Foot Injuries
- Value of Hand, Wrist, and Finger Injuries
- Value of Knee Injuries (and ACL tears)
- Value of Shoulder Injuries
- Value of Brain Injuries (car accidents)
- Value of Back Injuries
- Value of Fractured or Broken Leg
- Value of Paraplegia Injuries
- Herniated Disc Personal Injury Cases
- Value of Broken Leg Injuries
- Value of Burn Injuries
- Value of Headaches
- Value of Whiplash and Soft Tissue Injuries
- Value of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
- Value of Facial Scars
- Value of Chest Injuries
- Value of a Broken Jaw
- Value of Broken or Fractured Ribs
- Value of Foot Fracture
- Value of Claim by Type of Accident
- Value of an Arm Injury
- Value of Annular Tear Injury
- Ruptured Spleen
- Value of Ear Injury
- Value of Pinched Nerve
One of the most difficult tasks for even the most experienced personal injury lawyer is putting a settlement value on a case. This is a critically important exercise because, at the end of the day, we have to advise our clients as to whether they should settle their case or proceed further with litigation or trial. Certainly, our clients make their own decision.
There is no magical formula or calculation to compute the settlement value of your claim. The reality is that the best way to value your claim is to get a few experienced injury lawyers to evaluate the case. We do this every day at Miller & Zois. We endlessly focus on how much your case is worth and what we can do to get you as much money as possible.
But many people do not have access to attorneys or their case is at a stage where it cannot yet be valued. But they want some idea of what their claim might be worth. This article might be of help to you in better understanding how judges, juries, insurance adjusters and lawyers value these injury claims.
Many people end up on this page because they just got into an accident and they are hurt. So they get on Google trying to find the value of their case. But even when looking at statistics and seeing similar claims, you really do not know what your claim is until you have either finished treatment or reached what doctors call maximum medical improvement. MMI, as we call it, is the point where a doctor feels you are far enough long that she can project where your injuries are going.
One other thing worth mentioning in the context of case value is disability ratings. What is a disability rating? It is a doctor’s estimate of the severity of your injury. This is derived from worker’s compensation cases. Some lawyers, mistakenly we believe, try to extend disability ratings to personal injury cases. It does not have the same applicability to civil tort cases. Personal injury lawyers better serve their clients by explaining the client’s injury in terms they can really understand. Juries want an understanding of how the injury is affected and will affect the victim for the rest of her life. Putting a number on that has the capacity to confuse and mislead a jury. Just let them understand the harm in human terms.
How Much is My Car Accident Case Worth?
The value of a car accident case is ultimately determined by a combination of economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical expenses already incurred, anticipated future medical costs, lost wages, and any reduction in future earning capacity. These are typically grounded in documentation and can be established through medical records, employment records, and expert testimony when necessary.
Non-economic damages, commonly referred to as “pain and suffering,” are more subjective and depend heavily on the nature, extent, and duration of the injuries. For example, a permanent spinal injury with ongoing pain and mobility loss will carry significantly more value than a soft tissue injury that resolves within a few months. Pain and suffering also includes emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the general human cost of having one’s life disrupted or diminished due to the accident. These elements are evaluated based on medical narratives, the impact on daily life, and, in many cases, how a jury might respond to those facts if the case proceeds to trial.
How are Accident Settlements Calculated?
Most insurance companies rely heavily on proprietary computer programs such as Colossus or similar platforms to estimate the settlement value of a personal injury claim. These programs are fed data extracted from your medical records, billing codes, diagnostic terms, and documented treatment duration. The software then generates a range of what the insurer considers to be the case’s value, typically before any lawsuit has been filed.
It is important to understand that these computer-generated values do not fully capture the nuances of a particular injury or individual. They do not account for the credibility of a plaintiff, the visual impact of scarring, or the intangible cost of losing the ability to care for a child, play sports, or live without pain. For that reason, these ranges are often conservative and should not be viewed as a ceiling on what the case might ultimately be worth if properly litigated.
How is Pain and Suffering Calculated in Maryland?
Under Maryland law, juries are instructed to assign a monetary value to what the law calls “non-economic damages.” This includes physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and other intangible harms. The standard instruction permits jurors to award compensation for pain and suffering that the plaintiff has already endured and that the plaintiff is likely to continue experiencing in the future with reasonable probability.
In wrongful death cases, the same principle applies to the loss suffered by surviving family members. Maryland juries are not given a formula. They are given discretion, guided by the facts, to determine what constitutes fair compensation for human suffering. However, Maryland does impose a statutory cap on non-economic damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases. That cap changes annually and differs depending on whether the claim involves a single injury or multiple beneficiaries in a death case.
How Much Money Can You Sue for Pain and Suffering?
In Maryland, when a plaintiff files a personal injury lawsuit seeking more than $75,000, the complaint does not include a specific dollar demand. Instead, the plaintiff states that the damages exceed $75,000, which allows the case to proceed in circuit court and makes it clear that the claim is not subject to the lower limit applied in Maryland’s District Court.
While the amount a person can sue for in pain and suffering is not capped in terms of the plaintiff’s demand, the actual recovery is constrained by the state’s non-economic damages cap, which applies to both jury verdicts and settlements where applicable. Knowing the cap and understanding how juries have valued similar injuries in the past can help set realistic expectations for settlement or trial.
Can I Ask My Lawyer How Much My Claim is Worth?
Yes, you can and should ask your lawyer for an informed assessment of your claim’s potential value. But take whatever guess that is made with a grain of sale. Any answer in the early stages of the case will necessarily be a range (and a guess), not a precise figure. Evaluating the full value of a car accident claim requires access to your medical records, evidence of wage loss, and a detailed understanding of how the injuries have impacted your life.
A seasoned personal injury lawyer will typically wait to assess case value until the full scope of your injuries is known and documented. In some cases, that may mean waiting until you have reached maximum medical improvement or until your treating physician can reliably forecast your future care needs. Without this information, any valuation would be speculative and premature.
Can You Get Punitive Damages in a Car Accident Case in Maryland?
In Maryland, punitive damages are not available in ordinary negligence cases, including most car accident claims. Even if the other driver was intoxicated or grossly reckless, punitive damages will not be awarded unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with actual malice. In the car accident context, this typically means an intentional act designed to cause harm.
For example, if a driver deliberately rammed another vehicle out of anger or retaliation, a punitive damages claim might be viable. But in the vast majority of personal injury cases arising from motor vehicle collisions, including those involving drunk driving, Maryland law limits recovery to compensatory damages only—meaning the plaintiff is entitled to recover for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering, but not punitive awards.
The reality is you do not want to claim an intentional tort because the defendant would lose insurance coverage, which does not generally cover intentional acts.
Get a Lawyer to Fight for You
Our attorneys handle personal injury, accident, and malpractice cases in Maryland and around the country. We handle serious injury and wrongful death claims. If you or someone you love has been hurt or killed as the result of the negligence of someone else, call us today at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.