How Much Is a Good Settlement for a Motorcycle Accident?

When you ride a motorcycle, you are vulnerable when you’re on the road. Compared to a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle, bikers are 27 times more likely to die in a wreck.

If you or a loved one suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident, you deserve answers, peace of mind, and fair compensation for your injuries. Unfortunately, the insurance companies will want to settle your case as quickly and cheaply as possible—and might try to leverage motorcycle bias in the process.

Before you agree to settle your motorcycle injury claim, you need to understand your rights, the law, and how injury lawyers and insurance companies calculate settlement values. In this blog, the motorcycle accident lawyers at Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys will explain the fundamentals—and suggest ways you can improve your chances of getting a good settlement.

Here’s some more information on motorcycle accident settlements and why you should call a personal injury lawyer for help.

What Is a Personal Injury Settlement?

When someone injures you or a loved one in a motorcycle crash, they may be liable for damages. In most cases, people resolve their claims in one of two ways:

• Jury trial: you present your evidence and legal arguments to a judge and jury, and the insurance company presents its defenses. The jury will then issue a verdict, either awarding you compensation or denying your claim.
• Settlement: rather than taking your chances at trial, you agree to accept a lump-sum payment in exchange for giving up your right to sue the insurer or the at-fault driver.

Typically, once you accept a motorcycle accident settlement, you cannot go back and demand more compensation from the other parties. For this reason, you should never settle your case unless you’re convinced that it’s a good deal.

Once you accept a motorcycle accident settlement, you cannot go back and demand more compensation from the other parties.

How Much Is a Good Payout for a Motorcycle Accident?

There is no set number that’s considered a “good” settlement after a crash—and a simple online calculator can’t accurately estimate your losses.

Why not? Because your case is unique.

When you work with an experienced motorcycle accident attorney, they will carefully calculate your damages (the economic and non-economic losses you suffered because of the accident). There are many factors that can affect your motorcycle accident claim’s settlement value:

• The number of insurance policies that cover your claim and their policy limits
• How much medical treatment you need, both now and into the future
• Whether you’ll miss time from work and the extent of your lost income
• Whether you’ll be able to live independently or will need improvements to your home and vehicle
• The extent of your property damage
• How much pain and suffering you’ve endured
• How your injuries have changed your life or limited your ability to do your daily routine
• How the crash harmed your relationship with your family or spouse
• How much you had to pay in funeral and burial expenses, if you have a wrongful death claim
• Whether the at-fault driver or their insurance company have any defenses

It’s your lawyer’s job to uncover every fact, issue, and loss that’s associated with your motorcycle wreck, identifying every insurance policy, strengthening your legal claims, and documenting your damages. They might even work with experts, like doctors, economists, life planners, and accident reconstruction engineers to pinpoint the causes of the wreck and the extent of your injuries.

If you think this sounds like a lot of work, you’re right—and a less experienced lawyer (or an unrepresented biker) can easily make mistakes that cost you money.

RELATED: Motorcyclist’s Widow Gets the Compensation She Deserves

Don’t Accept the First Settlement From the Insurance Company

If you or a loved one recently suffered injuries in a motorcycle crash, the at-fault party’s insurance company might offer you a quick settlement. Even if it seems like a “fair” number, you should be very skeptical.

Insurance adjusters’ main job is to deny claims or settle them for pennies on the dollar. It’s common for an insurance representative to call up crash survivors and encourage them to take a modest lump-sum payment. They might even discourage you from calling an attorney, implying that hiring a lawyer is a waste of money.

Here’s the hard truth. What you might think are “minor” issues might be early signs of a serious back or head injury. You might need years of therapy, multiple surgeries, and lose out on months or years of income. If you take that first settlement offer, you might find yourself struggling to pay your bills later. A quick settlement helps no one other than the insurance company.

Why Hire a Motorcycle Crash Lawyer?

If you are a motorcyclist who was hit and injured by a motorist, a personal injury lawyer will stand up for you and negotiate with the insurance company to ensure that you get a fair settlement. Your injury attorney will take into account all your damages and find each and every insurance policy that might cover your claims.

Sometimes, however, the insurance company will refuse to be reasonable, offering unfairly low settlements. They often try to blame motorcycle riders for crashes, using anti-motorcyclist bias and unfair stereotypes to their advantage. In these cases, you need a lawyer that is prepared to take your case to trial.

Our team of motorcycle injury lawyers aren’t willing to back down. We prepare every case like it’s headed to trial—and we have a history of multi-million-dollar settlements.

For example, after a big truck ran our client off the road, the company’s insurance company kept offering unreasonably low settlements. It tried to plan our client for the crash. When that didn’t work, its lawyers claimed that our client had preexisting injuries. Our legal team kept working on the crash victim’s case—and recovered a $3 million jury verdict for our client.

Learn How Much Your Motorcycle Accident Claim Is Really Worth

If you’ve been in a motorcycle crash in Alabama or Mississippi, Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys are here for you. Since 1986, we’ve helped thousands of injury victims and gotten our clients the compensation they deserve. In one case, a motorcyclist ended up in a coma after an SUV hit him. We were able to secure close to the driver’s at-fault driver’s policy limits and remove the motorcycle rider’s medical bill liens so he could keep all the money from his insurance claim. (Andy Citrin also officiated the biker’s wedding!)

We can help you too. Schedule your free case evaluation by calling 251-888-8888  or filling out our online contact form.

 

References

Facts + Statistics: Motorcycle crashes. (2021). Insurance Information Institute. Retrieved from https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-motorcycle-crashes#:~:text=In%202018%2C%204%2C985%20motorcyclists%20died,crash%20per%20vehicle%20miles%20traveled.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.