Personal Injury Settlement Estimator
Explore a hypothetical damages scenario—not a case valuation.
Past and future medical bills.
Lost income and earning capacity. Counted once, inside economic damages.
Travel, property damage, and other economic costs.
Typically 1.5–5, higher for more severe injuries.
Whether pain & suffering scales with all economic damages or medical bills only.
Comparative negligence reduces the award by this percentage.
Estimated settlement (after fault)
- Economic damages
- $58,000.00
- General damagespain & suffering
- $174,000.00
- Subtotal
- $232,000.00
Rough estimate, NOT legal advice. Real claim values depend on jurisdiction, evidence, insurance limits, and many factors a calculator cannot capture. Consult a licensed attorney before relying on any number here.
Scope: an educational damages scenario
US tort claims may include economic losses, such as medical expenses and lost income, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. The categories and recoverable amounts depend on the claim and the law of the applicable state. This calculator does not apply any state’s complete law.
Instead, it demonstrates an informal multiplier heuristic. This is a planning convention, not a
formula prescribed by a court, statute, insurer, or bar association. First it sums
economicDamages = medical + lostWages + outOfPocket. It then uses either that total or medical costs
alone as the selected base and computes generalDamages = base × multiplier. The displayed subtotal is
economicDamages + generalDamages. Finally, the tool applies a simplified proportional reduction:
afterComparative = subtotal × (1 − comparativeFaultPct).
Worked example
Suppose you enter the following in one currency, with the multiplier applied to the economic base and 10 percent comparative fault.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Medical costs | 30,000 |
| Lost wages | 18,000 |
| Out-of-pocket costs | 2,500 |
| Multiplier | 3 |
| Comparative fault | 10% |
The calculator works through it in order:
- Economic damages:
30,000 + 18,000 + 2,500 = 50,500 - General damages:
50,500 × 3 = 151,500 - Subtotal:
50,500 + 151,500 = 202,000 - After comparative fault:
202,000 × (1 − 0.10) = 181,800
The scenario result is 181,800. It is not a prediction of a settlement. If you had instead chosen
the medical base, general damages would be 30,000 × 3 = 90,000, the subtotal 140,500, and the
figure after fault 126,450. That large difference illustrates why the result should not be treated as
an objective range.
How to use it
- Enter all medical costs you expect, including future treatment, not just bills paid so far.
- Put lost income in the lost wages field only. Do not also add it to out-of-pocket, or you will double-count it.
- Choose a multiplier only to explore a hypothetical scenario. The calculator cannot determine an appropriate multiplier from the facts of a case.
- Try both the economic and medical base to see how much the assumption changes the output.
- Use comparative fault only as a mathematical scenario. A user cannot reliably determine the legal allocation of fault, and state rules may bar recovery at different thresholds.
- Use the optional per-diem rate and days-to-recovery to compare a daily-rate valuation against the multiplier. It is reported on its own and does not change the subtotal.
Limitations
This is a hypothetical arithmetic model, not legal advice, a settlement offer, or a valuation of a claim. It does not account for filing deadlines, legal responsibility, causation, admissible evidence, insurance coverage and limits, statutory caps, liens, attorney fees, taxes, litigation costs, punitive damages, collectability, or settlement strategy. Comparative- and contributory-negligence rules differ substantially among US jurisdictions. Do not use this result to accept, reject, or negotiate a claim; consult an attorney licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.
Sources and scope
- Jurisdiction
- United States overview; state law varies
- Data current to
- July 30, 2026
- Last updated
- Damages — Cornell Legal Information Institute
- Comparative negligence — Cornell Legal Information Institute
Frequently asked questions
Are lost wages added on top of the multiplier result?
No. Lost wages sit inside your economic damages alongside medical bills and out-of-pocket costs, so they are counted once. The multiplier is applied to the chosen base (either total economic damages or medical only) to produce general damages, and the final subtotal adds economic and general damages together. Lost wages are never added a second time.
What does the comparative fault percentage do to my estimate?
It reduces the whole subtotal by your share of the blame. If you are found 25 percent at fault, the calculator multiplies the subtotal by 0.75, leaving 75 percent. At 100 percent fault the recovery falls to zero. Real rules vary by state, since some bar recovery once your fault crosses 50 or 51 percent, so treat the reduction as a simplification.
Should I pick the economic base or the medical base for the multiplier?
Neither option is an official valuation method. The economic base applies the chosen multiplier to medical costs, lost wages, and out-of-pocket costs; the medical base applies it only to medical costs. Comparing them shows how sensitive this heuristic is to the selected base, not a range that an insurer or court is required to accept.
What is the per-diem method and how is it different?
Per diem is an alternative way to value pain and suffering: a daily rate multiplied by the number of days to maximum medical improvement. The calculator reports it separately and does not fold it into the subtotal. It is offered so you can compare the daily-rate approach against the multiplier approach side by side.
Is this estimate something I can rely on in a claim?
No. It is a rough planning figure, not a valuation of your case and not legal advice. Actual settlements depend on liability evidence, insurance limits, jurisdiction, and negotiation. Speak with a licensed personal-injury attorney before acting.