Why Settlement Amounts Vary in Texas Personal Injury Cases

Key Factors That Affect Texas Personal Injury Settlements

A settlement aims to make up for the harm someone has suffered. But determining how much is fair takes careful evaluation of facts and evidence. Below are some of the most significant factors that influence how personal injury settlements are valued in Texas.

Severity of Injuries

One of the biggest and more obvious influences on settlement value is how serious the injuries are. A sprained ankle and a spinal cord injury will not be treated the same.

More severe injuries usually mean higher medical bills, longer recovery times, and lasting health issues. People with permanent disabilities or chronic pain often need ongoing medical care, therapy, or help with daily activities. This future care adds substantial costs that become part of a settlement calculation.

Even when two people have similar injuries, their individual medical needs can differ. A back injury might heal well for one person but leave another with lasting nerve pain or limited mobility. These differences often drive the wide range of settlement outcomes.

Impact on Work and Income

An injury’s effect on someone’s ability to work can significantly influence settlement discussions. When injuries prevent a person from returning to their job, the financial losses can be steep.

Settlement amounts often account for:

• Time missed from work due to medical appointments, surgeries, or recovery
• Lost wages during recovery
• Reduced ability to earn income in the future if someone cannot return to their former job

For example, an injured construction worker who can no longer lift heavy materials might lose more future income than an office worker with the same physical injury but a different job role. Texas law recognizes that each person’s situation is unique, so settlements reflect these personal economic realities.

Medical Expenses and Future Care

Medical bills are often among the largest costs in a personal injury case. Settlements typically include money for:

• Emergency room visits
• Hospital stays
• Surgeries
• Physical therapy
• Medications
• Medical devices like braces or wheelchairs

But it’s not just past bills that matter. Doctors sometimes predict future care needs that could last for months, years, or even a lifetime. A settlement must account for these future expenses so that injured people aren’t left struggling to afford necessary treatment down the road.

Estimating these costs often involves reports from doctors, life-care planners, or other specialists who can explain what kind of care will be needed and how much it might cost.

Non-Economic Damages: Pain and Suffering

Beyond medical bills and lost wages, Texas law allows injured people to seek compensation for non-economic damages. These are losses that are more personal and less easily measured. These include:

• Physical pain
• Emotional distress
• Anxiety or depression
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Permanent disfigurement or scarring

These losses don’t come with receipts or invoices. Instead, lawyers, insurance companies, and sometimes juries must weigh how the injury has affected someone’s daily life.

Two people with the same injury might experience pain differently or cope with emotional impacts in different ways. This is another reason settlement amounts vary so widely from one case to another.

Comparative Fault Rules in Texas

Texas follows a modified comparative fault system. This means that if a person is partially at fault for the accident that caused their injuries, their compensation might be reduced.

Here’s how it works:

• If you’re less than 51% at fault, you can still recover damages, but the amount is reduced by your percentage of fault.
• If you’re 51% or more at fault, you’re barred from recovering any damages.

For example, if someone is found 20% responsible for an accident, any settlement or jury award would be reduced by that same percentage. This rule can significantly affect the value of a case, especially when fault is disputed.

Insurance Policy Limits

Insurance plays a major role in how much money might ultimately be available in a personal injury case. Even when someone’s injuries and losses are severe, the at-fault party’s insurance coverage often sets practical boundaries for any settlement. Here we’ll look at how insurance limits may affect motor vehicle accident cases, which are the most common type of personal injury case in Texas. 

Minimum Liability Coverage for Texas Drivers

In Texas, state law requires drivers to carry liability insurance with at least these minimum limits, sometimes called “30/60/25” coverage:

• $30,000 for bodily injury per person
• $60,000 total for bodily injury per accident (no matter how many people are injured)
• $25,000 for property damage per accident

These are the lowest limits allowed under Texas law. If someone causes a crash and carries only these minimums, the maximum their insurance would pay for all injuries in a single accident is $60,000, no matter how many people were hurt.

Commercial Vehicles and Trucking Companies

Commercial vehicles, such as 18-wheelers or delivery trucks, usually carry much higher insurance limits. Federal regulations require minimum liability coverage of:

• $750,000 for trucks over 10,000 pounds transporting non-hazardous freight across state lines
• $1,000,000 or more for trucks carrying certain hazardous materials
• Even higher amounts for specific cargo or passenger carriers

However, many trucking companies voluntarily carry higher policies, sometimes in the multi-million-dollar range, because large trucks can cause significant damage in a crash. These higher limits are one reason settlements in trucking cases can be much larger than in standard car accident claims.

Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Texas drivers can also purchase Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, which protects them if the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough to cover their damages. Texas insurers are required to offer UM/UIM coverage, though drivers can reject it in writing.

Typical UM/UIM limits often match a driver’s liability limits ($30,000/$60,000 minimums, for instance), but higher amounts are available. This coverage can be invaluable in serious accidents where the at-fault driver carries only minimum insurance.

Policy Limits as a Ceiling

Even if a person’s medical bills and other losses are higher than the available insurance coverage, the policy limits can place a hard cap on what the insurance company will pay. A personal injury lawyer often investigates whether:

• Other policies exist (such as employer coverage and umbrella policies).
• There’s evidence that the at-fault party has personal assets worth pursuing beyond insurance.

However, collecting above policy limits can be challenging, especially if the at-fault party lacks significant assets.

Trial vs. Settlement Considerations

Many personal injury cases settle out of court. Settlements can offer a faster resolution and reduce the stress and uncertainty of going to trial. However, the possibility of a trial often shapes settlement negotiations.

Insurance companies sometimes offer lower settlements, hoping that injured people will accept a quick payout rather than risk a lengthy legal process. In other cases, the threat of trial can motivate insurers to offer a higher settlement, especially if the evidence strongly supports the injured person’s claims.

The decision to settle or proceed to trial depends on several factors, including:

• How strong the evidence is
• The willingness of witnesses to testify
• The injured person’s comfort with testifying in court
• The unpredictability of a jury verdict

A case may settle for tens of thousands of dollars or reach into hundreds of thousands or even more depending on these strategic considerations.