Valuing Knee Injuries in Accident Cases

This page will look at the average compensation payout for a serious knee injury in an auto accident case. Our purpose is to help people figure out how much money should I settle for a knee injury in a car or truck accident.

Serious knee injuries include knee fractures and ligament tears (ACL, MCL, and PCL). Knee sprains, contusions, and other minor injuries to the knee are not included in this analysis. The knees are the third most commonly injured part of the body in auto accidents.

The average settlement value of knee injury accident cases is between $70,000 and $150,000. Knee fractures are at the high end of this value range, while PCL injuries are at the lower end.

Jury awards in knee injury cases are much higher. The average jury verdict is approximately $360,000 and the median verdict for a knee injury is $110,000. 8% percent of knee injury verdicts are over $1 million which underscores that a small number of cases lift the average settlement value of knee injury cases.

Factors that Impact the Value of Knee Injury Cases:

There are a handful of factors that tend to really drive average compensation payouts in knee injury accident cases. The first factor is the severity of the plaintiff’s knee injury. Knee fractures and dislocations are generally more severe than ligament injuries. Ligament tears also have various degrees of severity. The more serious the injury to the knee the higher settlement payout it will have. The biggest driving force for settlement value in a knee injury case is a permanent injury. As we talk about in the 5th factor, the ability to tell a jury that the victim will suffer from this injury for the rest of her life is a huge settlement amount driver.

The second factor is the plaintiff’s medical history with respect to their knees. If the plaintiff has any preexisting knee injuries or degenerative knee problems it can lower the value of their case. Insurance companies are quick to pounce on the idea that your knee injury is not from the accident but from preexisting issues. The third factor (age of the plaintiff) is closely related to the second factor. Bad knees are strongly associated with age, so younger plaintiffs far better in knee injury cases than older plaintiffs. It is simply easier for a young person to convince a jury or insurance adjuster that their was nothing wrong with their knees before the accident.

The fourth factor is the whether the plaintiff’s treating doctor is willing to testify in the case. Treating doctors make the best expert witnesses and this is particularly true in knee injury cases. The testimony from a treating doctor is much more convincing than the testimony of a hired expert.

The fifth, final, and most important factor driving value in knee injury cases is whether injury results in some type of permanent impairment. This can often be one of the most significant factors in a knee injury case because any permanent impairment of the plaintiff’s ability to walk can have major life impact. So the average compensation payout for a permanent injury will invariably be higher than an injury that resolves.