A reader of our blog contacted us with the most common question we get. What is my case worth? But the way they asked it was a bit different. They asked us the following:
What is the average workers compensation settlement in Illinois for someone who had back surgery and missed six months of work?
It’s a great question. It’s also one that’s impossible to answer without a lot more information.
To know what their case would be worth, we’d have to take into consideration the following:
- What do their medical records say?
- How much money were they making at the time of their injury?
- How old are they?
- Do they have any permanent restrictions?
- Do they have a prior history of back problems?
- Are there any potential defenses to this case that would affect negotiations?
- Do they have another job?
- Do they have any unique goals such as retiring, moving out of state, etc?
- What subjective pain complaints do you have?
The average settlement would require us to know all of the other cases where someone had back surgery and missed time from work. We can tell you what that was for people we have helped, but even then it wouldn’t be relevant to your case. That’s because every case is different.
There are more relevant factors in determining what a case is worth, but there’s one big one that was in play here. That is how are you doing now that you are back on the job? Are you able to work? In this case, the injured worker has trouble bending down and may need another surgery. So in other words, it’s way too soon to determine what their case could be worth.
We know that unless there is a good defense to the case it will likely be worth a lot, but if they can’t get back to work and suffer a wage loss or are permanently disabled, that could increase the case value by hundreds of thousands of dollars. On the other hand, if they can work, the case would still have significant value, but not as much.
My best advice is to remember that your case is unique to you. Don’t worry about what happened on someone else’s case. We as attorneys use prior settlements to ballpark what a case might be worth, but ultimately the factors I listed play the biggest role.
All that said, if you’d like to discuss what your case might be worth or anything else about your claim, please contact us any time at 312-346-5578. We have a state wide network of great lawyers and cover all of Illinois.
