Most disfigurement claims in Arizona do not go to trial but are settled out of court. The amount you can receive in a settlement payout for a disfigurement claim depends entirely on the nature and severity of your injuries, and the range of settlement amounts varies considerably.
A minor disfigurement claim may settle for around $5,000, while a claim based on severe disfigurement and other severe injuries can easily run into six-figure settlements or even more than a million dollars.
In this article, we examine the considerations that go into valuing how much compensation you might receive if you have suffered a disfiguring injury.
Stone Rose Law represents clients in all kinds of disfigurement claims in Arizona. To speak with one of our attorneys regarding your disfigurement claim, call us at (480) 631-3025.
The Starting Point: What is the Nature and Severity of Your Permanent Disfigurement Injury?
Not all disfigurement injuries are the same. It follows that the more grievous your injury, the more valuable your potential settlement may be.
The types of permanent disfiguring injuries you may experience include:
- Scarring, including surgical scarring
- Amputations
- Avulsions
- Facial disfigurement
- Severe bone fractures
- Nerve and musculoskeletal damage
For example, let’s assume you are bitten on the hand by a dog. The wound requires stitches and leaves a small scar on your hand.
- Now, compare this to being in a car accident caused by a negligent driver that leaves you with deep facial lacerations from broken glass that result in permanent scars which require multiple surgeries to treat.
- Next, compare the same dog bite injury to being pushed into the path of an approaching subway train, which runs over you, and having to have both your legs amputated as a result.
Each of these kinds of disfigurement injuries is more serious than the one before it, and the potential settlement value is higher for each. It is also important to take into account whether the disfiguring injury has long-term or permanent physical effects.
How Easy or Hard is the Disfigurement Injury to Prove?
The visibility and physical effects of a disfiguring injury will have bearing on the value of your settlement. A minor scar that is not readily visible and largely cosmetic may not carry the same potential settlement value as one that involves a readily visible amputation or avulsion, or major facial scarring, or a disfiguring injury that makes it hard for you to move or work.
Is the Disfigurement Injury Accompanied by Other Kinds of Harm?
Disfigurement injuries can occur in combination with other potentially serious injuries that do not involve disfigurement. For example, the car accident example above can result in injuries like whiplash, broken bones, and internal injuries, none of which are disfiguring but each of which requires medical treatment that factors into the cost of the overall personal injury settlement.
Consider further whether your disfigurement injury and other injuries require you to miss work, lead to medical expenses, or limit your future income-earning capacity. These factors go into your settlement as economic damages, even though they may have no connection with the disfigurement.
Non-economic and Possible Punitive Damages
Finally, although they are not physical in nature, some forms of harm can also factor into your settlement compensation value for a disfiguring injury. An accident can leave you with feelings of anxiety, depression, inability to sleep, damaged personal relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, and lingering pain. All of these can be compensable in settlement as non-economic damages.
Non-economic damages can have a significant impact on the total value of your personal injury claim settlement. But they are hard to calculate in advance.
The Multiplier Method
One method of calculating non-economic damages is the “multiplier,” which takes your economic or “direct” damages settlement value (for tangible harm like medical bills, physical therapy, and lost wages) and assigns a multiplier to it. Attorneys sometimes informally use the multiplier approach in valuation, although Arizona law does not prescribe or require this method.
If, for example, your economic harm is set at $50,000, and your non-economic damages multiplier is set at 3, then your total settlement will be $200,000 ($50,000 in direct harm plus three times that amount in non-economic damages).
The Per-Diem Method
Another method uses a “per diem” calculation, which sets a daily dollar amount for your noneconomic harm and then multiplies it by the anticipated number of days it will take you to recover from your injury. This method may be appropriate for injuries that have long recovery periods or when their effect on your daily life is significant.
Punitive Damages
Under Arizona law, punitive damages may be recoverable if you can show by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s conduct involved intentional harm or reckless disregard (gross negligence) for the safety of others.
The Arizona Supreme Court has held that punitive damages apply only when the defendant’s actions were meant to cause harm, motivated by spite or ill will, or were so outrageous that the defendant knowingly created a substantial risk of significant injury.
Is the Disfigurement Injury Work-Related?
If you suffer a disfiguring injury at work, then Arizona’s workers’ compensation insurance ordinarily applies, and you do not have a personal injury claim against your employer absent intentional conduct that caused your injury. This can have a significant impact on the value of your disfigurement injury.
For example, in a case involving facial disfigurement or lost teeth, Arizona’s workers’ compensation system provides up to 18 months of compensation at 55% of your average monthly wage (AMW), up to an annually adjusted statutory maximum. Note that you cannot sue your employer in Arizona for damages even if you believe that the employer’s negligence caused your harm, though there are cases where you could sue a third party whose negligence led to your injury at work.
What is the Source of Funding for the Settlement?
No matter how large the agreed settlement amount may be, if the at-fault party cannot pay it then you may receive considerably less and even nothing.
For example, if you are injured in an accident on the premises of a large business, and you suffer disfiguring chemical burns on your body, chances are good that this business will have business liability insurance that can pay for the settlement amount.
Compare this to getting into an auto accident with an uninsured, unemployed motorist who is living in his car, and you do not have uninsured motorist coverage. How much do you think you can collect in settlement, no matter how liable that person is or how severe your disfigurement and other injuries are?
Does the Defendant Have any Defenses Against Your Claim?
Given how expensive a disfigurement injury claim settlement agreement can be, you can count on insurance company negotiators and defense attorneys to look for any way possible to avoid liability entirely or to reduce the potential value of your claim. One of the most common tactics these people will use is the legal doctrine of comparative fault.
Comparative fault generally means that the injured plaintiff in a personal injury claim can be partly to blame for causing the accident that led to the plaintiff’s harm. For example, if a multi-car accident was the direct cause of your injuries, the defendant may try to show that you did something behind the wheel that contributed to the accident, like speeding or distracted driving.
Arizona is a “pure” comparative fault state. What this means is that your settlement or trial verdict recovery amount can be reduced by your assigned share of the blame for the injury-causing event. So, if the value of your settlement is $100,000, but you are found to be 20% at fault, then your recovery will be reduced by 20% to $80,000.
Unlike some other states that use different comparative fault systems, in a pure comparative fault system like Arizona’s, your claim cannot be thrown out even if the defendant can prove that you were 50% or more at fault for the accident. Technically speaking, you can be 99% at fault for a disfiguring accident and still be able to collect the remaining 1% of the value of your settlement payout or judgment award.
Examples of Disfigurement Settlement Sums
The above considerations are not exhaustive, but they should give a good indication of why it is difficult to estimate what an “average” disfiguring injury claim may settle for.
According to some estimates, a settlement for a leg amputation may be several hundred thousand, or a settlement involving major disfigurement and permanent disabilities can range between $100,000 and $1 million. Still, there are too many variables to take into account for us to say here what you might expect for your disfigurement injury claim without doing a thorough analysis of the facts of your specific case.
With that being said, here are a couple of examples of known Arizona disfigurement injury trial verdict awards.
- A dog attack in Pima County that resulted in severe bite wounds resulted in a jury award of $250,000.
- An individual was burned by a defective candle, resulting in severe burns to both hands, including third-degree burns to his right hand. His surgical treatment required significant medical treatment and left him permanently disfigured with diminished earning capacity and reduced ability to enjoy life activities. This injury resulted in a $1 million verdict.
Have You Suffered a Disfiguring Injury in Arizona?
One of the key considerations in reaching a settlement value for a disfigurement injury that we have not mentioned above is the quality of your representation in settlement negotiations. This is where having experienced legal representation matters. And this is what you will have if you retain Stone Rose Law to represent you.
A Stone Rose personal injury attorney will help to maximize the potential value of your disfiguring injury claim in the following ways:
- Thoroughly investigating the facts of the injury-causing accident or incident. Nothing beats compelling evidence like medical records and documentation. They prove your disfiguring injury, establish fault, and support claims for economic damages and needed care.
- Preparing your legal claim for trial. Settlement negotiations depend in part on how each side perceives the strength of the other side’s possible legal arguments at trial if negotiations fail. A Stone Rose personal injury lawyer will make sure your personal injury claims are filed in court in a timely manner so you are not barred by any applicable Arizona statute of limitations, which is ordinarily two years from the date of the injury, though some personal injury claims have a shorter statute of limitations.
- Negotiating for maximum compensation. A Stone Rose personal injury attorney will address all the applicable avenues you may have to receive compensation for your disfigurement injury claim. These include not only your economic damages but also your non-economic claims for physical pain, emotional distress, permanent impairment, and permanent scarring. We will consult with medical professionals to provide expert testimony that supports your claims and their value.
- Representing you in a civil lawsuit for personal injury. Although most disfigurement claims settle out of court, not all of them do. If negotiations do not lead to you receiving the full extent of financial recovery you need, then Stone Rose legal counsel will seek compensation for you in court.
To speak with an experienced Arizona personal injury law attorney in a free consultation, call us at (480) 631-3025. Or you can use our online contact form.
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