Actual case (Not mine): $677,000 or so in pain and suffering for a 61 year old male engineer, who was hit by an SUV that drove onto the sidewalk. It happened in Plantation (Broward County), Florida in 2010.
He sued the driver and owner and his own underinsured motorist (UIM) insurance company, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
He suffered a torn rotator (shoulder), on his dominant arm. He also suffered a compound fracture of the right leg’s tibia and fibula. He had 3 surgeries in the hospital, and had a rod and hardware put in his log. He did not have shoulder surgery.
It took him about 3-4 months to recover and he had 6 weeks of physical therapy. He said that he has pain, weaknesses and numbness in his leg.
He said that he sometimes limps, but he does not need a cane. He said that his limitation doesn’t allow him to play with his grandkids, and work is more difficult. He was left with a lot of scarring on one of his legs. He said that he did not have plans for future surgery, but he would need an arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder.
My thoughts: The total settlement was for $950,000. The medical bills were $98,000. To estimate how much of the settlement was for pain and suffering of the lower leg (tibia and fibula) injury, I used the general settlement formula (P & S stands for “Pain and Suffering”):
Settlement = Out-of-pocket medical bills + Medical bills for future shoulder surgery + Lost wages + Pain and suffering (P & S)
Plugging in the numbers:
$950,000 = $98,000 + Medical Bills for shoulder surgery + 0 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries + P & S Shoulder Tear + P & S of leg scars + P & S of future shoulder surgery)
The starting point for pain and suffering settlement value of a shoulder (rotator cuff) tear without surgery is between $40,000 and $75,000. Because the settlement summary that I read for this case really did not seem to indicate that he was left with a big impairment after the shoulder tear, I will take the low end ($40,000) of the settlement range for a shoulder tear.
Let’s assume that the future cost of a shoulder surgery is $50,000. I am going to put $25,000 (50% of the cost of the surgery) into the settlement formula because it says that he may need the shoulder surgery and does not say that he will need it.
The starting point for settlement for pain and suffering of the future shoulder surgery is between $100,000 and $175,000. Let’s take the approximate mid-point ($140,000) of that range because we don’t know how well the shoulder surgery will go.
I am going to put $70,000 (50% of the starting point for P & S for a shoulder surgery) into the settlement formula because it says that he may need the shoulder surgery and does not say that he will need it.
Let’s assign $20,000 for scarring because the scarring was described as extensive, but on the other hand he is an older man and the scars are on his leg as opposed to his face. Back to the settlement formula:
$950,000 = $98,000 + $25,000 + 0 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries + P & S Shoulder Tear + P & S of leg scars + P & S future shoulder surgery)
$950,000 = $148,000 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries + $40,000 + $15,000 + $70,000)
$950,000 = $148,000 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries) + 125,000
$950,000 = $148,000 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries) + 125,000
$950,000 = $273,000 + (P & S Broken Lower Leg Surgeries)
$677,000 = Pain and Suffering of 3 Leg Surgeries
As I mentioned above, the man that was hit by a car in this case received 3 surgeries on his lower leg (tibia and fibula). The formula shows that he received roughly $677,000 for pain and suffering for these leg surgeries, so if you divide $677,000 by three he received about $225,000 or so for each leg (tibia and fibula) surgery.
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