Injury loss worksheet

Why this does not estimate your case value

Because nobody can, and the ones who pretend to are either guessing or selling. Your claim depends on a diagnosis that may not be final, treatment that has not happened, how much insurance exists, your share of fault, and how a particular adjuster values a particular file. None of that is knowable from a form.

You will read online that a claim is worth the medical bills times two or three. No such rule exists in California law or in any insurer's actual model. It is folklore, and believing it leads people to turn down fair offers and accept poor ones with equal confidence.

California's rules of professional conduct also prohibit a lawyer from predicting or guaranteeing an outcome. A calculator that produces a settlement figure is doing exactly that, with a veneer of arithmetic over it.

What this total is actually for

• It is the economic part of a claim — the part you can prove with paper.
• It tells you what to go and collect. Most people under-count badly, especially mileage and paid help.
• It does not include pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life or disfigurement, all of which are compensable and none of which has a formula.
• It does not subtract the fee, the costs or the medical liens that come out of a settlement. See medical liens.