Breaking Down And Calculating Large Jury Verdicts

Whenever news breaks of what seems to be a large jury verdict in an accident case, the news makes it sound like the “system is broken,” and the general public wonders why all of that money is seemingly being “given away.”

All this might lead you to wonder how large jury verdicts happen, and whether it really is the “windfall” that the media, and public perception would have you believe.

To understand how large verdicts happen, it’s best to ignore the total verdict amount and instead, focus on the math that led to that verdict–that is, the math the jury used to get to their final verdict amount.

Economic Losses- Medical

Let’s first look at medical bills. You might know from your own experience that a one time visit to the ER, with scans or diagnostics, and including an ambulance, can easily get close to $10,000. If you take someone with a catastrophic injury who perhaps needs emergency surgery (or multiple surgeries) and a few days or more overnight in the hospital, the total bill can easily reach $100,000.

And that’s just for the initial, post-accident hospital visit–that doesn’t even include follow-up surgeries, complications, medicines, or additional visits, therapies, scans or tests, from other specialists, post-hospital.

Those prescriptions, by the way, can very easily reach $200 per month–many people with serious injuries may need multiple prescriptions, for an extended time, if not for a lifetime.

If the injury is something that is going to need ongoing and regular medical care, on a yearly basis, medical costs and expenses might be between $10,000-$50,000 per year, depending on how much and the level and extent of treatment that may be needed. If, say, the victim has 20 years of life expectancy, $10,000 in medical expenses each year x 20 years = $200,000. That number of course would be even higher, with a younger victim, with additional life expectancy.

Economic Losses – Wages

Then there are the future wages. Let’s assume someone works in a particularly physically demanding or exerting job making $60,000 per year. It is expected that this person will, because of injuries, be unable to work to a normal retirement age–she will likely have to retire, say, 10 years earlier than she otherwise would. That 10 years multiplied by $60,000 comes to $600,000. That’s not even accounting for inflation.

Other Expenses

Then there are the miscellaneous, but important expenses, that people often overlook.

For example, will the victim need special schooling, if the victim is younger and has an injury that prevents him or her from attending a regular school? Will the person need in-home care, skilled or unskilled, because he or she can no longer care for herself post-accident? Will the accident victim need medical devices or modifications to their home, to help them carry on the chores of their daily lives?

With all of these expenses, you are now likely well over a million dollars–and we haven’t even calculated noneconomic damages, such as pain, suffering, loss of quality of life, loss of consortium, PTSD, or depression.

All of this should demonstrate that large verdicts in catastrophic permanent injury cases aren’t just “an award.” They’re a necessity for accident victims.

Suffered a catastrophic injury after an accident? We understand what injury victims need. Contact our Rhode Island personal injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 for help.