Fair compensation, in an Orlando auto accident case, is in the eyes of the beholder. I don’t know whether that makes any sense, but it’s for the individual.
Everybody’s hurt differently. All cases don’t settle for the same amount.
You’ve got a heavy machine operator making $1,500 a week that has back surgery and he can never go back to work and he’s 40 years old. You’ve got 40 to 65, that’s 25 years of wage loss.
Compensation for him is going to be a little different than somebody that sprains their neck and back, has an office job and returns to work the next day but just kind of works with some bumps and bruises.
The main thing on compensation is it’s driven by or the main widgets on the building blocks are your lost wages and your medical bills. When you reach Maximum Medical Improvement and the doctor says, “You’re done,” you really are looking for “my bills were $5,000, my PIP paid $4,000, I owe $1,000” or “I’ve been out of work for two months and I’m back to the work. There is a number that is there.”
That’s kind of ground zero on the fair compensation.
You want to be brought even. I don’t owe any medical bills; I’ve got all my lost wages. Then we talk about pain and suffering which is, I hurt, I sting, I burn, I itch, it’s hurting up here, loss of enjoyment in life, I’ve got three teenager boys, I like to play basketball, fish with them.
Whatever it is that you can’t do, we start talking about it. Well, I’ve got shoulder surgery and I can’t cast, that’s more real than a soccer playing dad with shoulder pain but he can still run.
It’s a case-by-case deal and the client has got to be the one to explain that and then come to terms with “is this a fair value.”
Finally, we can go to jury verdict reports. As we know, every jury that comes back is over there for what it’s worth.
I can go online, figure out, and insurance companies don’t like this. We can go look at what the value is and say “Gosh darn it, the jury last month came back with a back surgery for X dollars and you’re offering me half of that. That’s not fair.”
That’s fair compensation in my mind.
