- 1A settlement is driven by your specific damages, fault, and available insurance coverage, not by an average found online or a headline verdict.
- 2Economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and future costs) form the documented floor of any claim, and every receipt matters.
- 3Non-economic damages like pain and suffering are priced using the multiplier method, which starts low and moves up with stronger medical records.
- 4Injury severity operates on a sliding scale: the more serious and permanent the injury, proven through imaging and specialist notes, the higher the claim's value.
- 5Medical records establish causation, and a gap in treatment is one of the easiest ways an insurance adjuster can argue a claim down.
- 6Under Texas's eggshell rule, a preexisting condition changes what has to be proven through a documented medical baseline, not whether recovery is possible at all.
- 7Future medical costs must be included in a settlement up front, because a signed release is almost always permanent and cannot be reopened later.
- 8Lost wages and lost earning capacity are two separate categories of loss, and a permanent reduction in earning ability can outweigh missed paychecks over time.
- 9Texas's 51 percent comparative-negligence rule can reduce or completely eliminate a recovery, and the at-fault driver's insurance policy sets a hard ceiling on what can be collected.
- 10Hiring an attorney changes the math of a negotiation through tools like the Stowers doctrine and disciplined records, and Texas's two-year statute of limitations makes acting promptly essential.
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