My clients they often ask me, “what’s my case worth?” to which I respond, “it depends”. The short answer is your case is equal to the sum of:
a) Past Medical Bills (+)
b) Future Medical Bills (+)
c) Past Lost Wages (+)
d) Future Loss of Earning Capacity (+)
e) Past Pain & Suffering, Emotional Distress, and Loss of Enjoyment of Life (+)
f) Future Pain & Suffering, Emotional Distress, and Loss of Enjoyment of Life.
However, it is important to understand how to calculate and when these damages are available.
a) Past medical bills
Florida law permits the recovery of “[t]he reasonable value or expense of hospitalization and medical and nursing care and treatment necessarily or reasonably obtained by (claimant) in the past [or to be so obtained in the future].” Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Civil) 6.2b. The defendant will often challenge the reasonableness of the client’s medical bills, claiming the treating physicians overcharged for the services rendered. The jury must decide the reasonable value for those services.
Additionally, after the verdict is entered the amount awarded for past medical bills may be reduced by the amount paid or payable from the client’s personal injury protection (PIP) and the amounts written off by the doctors due to contracts with the client’s personal health insurance. These contractual write-offs occur when the client’s medical providers agree to accept a lesser amount from the client’s personal health insurance. For example, if the doctor charges $10,000 but pursuant to an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield agrees to accept $6,000 for that procedure, there is a $4,000 write-off which would be subtracted from the award of past medical bills.
EXAMPLE:
Total Medical Bills: $100,000.00
Total PIP Payments: $ 10,000.00
Total write-offs: $ 30,000.00
Net Past Medical Bills: $ 60,000.00
The reason a client is not entitled to recover the full amount of his/her medical bills is to prevent a double recovery. The Plaintiff cannot recover from a defendant for amounts he/she has already recovered from another source or for amounts which have been written off.
b) Future medical bills
The client can recover only those future medical expenses “reasonably certain” to be incurred. Testimony regarding the client’s future medical care generally comes from the client’s treating physicians. Recovery of future medical expenses cannot be grounded on mere “possibility” that certain treatment “might” be obtained in future. Florida courts have held generally that, where there is sufficient evidence from which a jury could infer a need for future medical treatment with reasonable certainty, an award of future medical expenses is proper. Because of the speculative nature of future medical bills a client is more likely to recover past medical bills that have occurred then future medical bills which may occur.
c) Past Lost Wages
This element of damage is fairly easy to calculate when the client is paid on an hourly basis. However, compensation is harder to prove when the client works on commission or tips. One way to prove lost wages is to show what the client earned in past years as compared to the client’s earning during the year of the injury.
d) Future Loss of Earning Capacity
An award for loss of future earning capacity is measured by the plaintiff’s diminished ability to earn money in the future. The jury is not to be concerned with actual future loss of earnings, but with the loss of the power to earn. The jury must usually consider numerous factors to determine a client’s ability to earn in the future. These factors include the client’s age, physical limitations, education, experience, and the current job market.
e) Past and Future Pain & Suffering, Emotional Distress, and Loss of the Enjoyment of Life
In automobile accident cases wherein the defendant driver maintained the required no-fault coverage, the client is required to meet the threshold of a permanent injury before he/she is entitled to seek damages for pain & suffering. Florida Statute 627.737(2)(b) sets forth a threshold requirement of “permanent injury” before pain and suffering damages can be awarded in auto accident cases. The legislature did not define permanent injury in the statute. Florida courts have found that subjective complaints corroborated by expert medical testimony would support a finding of permanent injury. The expert’s testimony is often based on the American Medical Association (AMA) Guidelines to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairments. There is no set formula for the determination of the amount of pain & suffering damages. The rule for measuring damages for pain and suffering, past, present and future, is that there is no standard by which to measure it except the enlightened conscience of impartial jurors. Braddock v. Seaboard Air Line R. Co., 80 So.2d 662 (Fla. 1955)
There are many factors to consider in order to determine the value of a client’s case. Any attempt to accurate valuate a claim can only be done after the client completed treatment and the treating physician is able to provide an opinion regarding the cost of future medical care and treatment.
