According to a 2003 study by the Insurance Research Council, the leading property/casualty research organization in the United States:
- Between 1997 and 2002, the average medical liability payment to claimants in “serious” accidents, that is, accidents in which one person was admitted to a hospital, was $46,199.
- Between 1997 and 2002 62% of all claimants that received any amount of bodily injury liability payments also were paid money for lost time from work.
- Of those 62%, the median number of days lost from work was seven.
- 20% of those who lost time lost more than one month of work.
- The payments for lost work time range from an average of $5,000 for the median claim, $15,089 for one month claims and $30,253 for those out of work 3 months or longer.
These dollars area also paid under the bodily injury per person and per accident limits.
- Between 1997 and 2002, 25% of claimant’s cars in accidents where bodily injury liability payments were made contained more than one passenger. In over 83% of those instances, when one passenger was injured the others were also injured. So, consider the above figures and at least double them in one quarter of accidents.
- Courts tend to be generous with liability awards. From 1997 to 2002, fully 81% of bodily injury claimants received bodily injury payments that were greater than the actual losses they claimed.
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