Often times I have had potential clients tell me that, “they spoke with another attorney and he/she guaranteed me that he/she would get me at least $10,000.00 on my accident claim.” My answer is always the same, “that is impossible!” It is 100% not possible to determine the value of a personal injury claim shortly after an accident or incident occurred. So many different factors go into determining the monetary value of a personal injury claim and most of these factors cannot be quantified until sometime close to the end of the case. For example, one of the factors that determines the value of a claim is the total medical expense. At the very beginning of a claim, an attorney has no way of possibly knowing how many and the extent of medical bills that any particular client will run up during the course of their treatment following an accident or incident. Did the person have 4 weeks of therapy, 6 weeks of therapy or 8 weeks of therapy? Were any diagnostic tests done such as x-rays, MRI’s or CT Scans? And more importantly, what is the extent of the person’s injury? Were there broken bones or were there merely soft tissue injuries? Even after a client is finished with their medical treatment and the attorney has obtained all of the medical records and bills, it is still somewhat difficult to determine a case’s value. All insurance companies place different values on cases. The exact same case might settle for $15,000.00 with company x, but might only settle for $10,000.00 with company y. The only answer that I ever give a client when they ask me the value of their case early on in the process is, “I will try to get you as much money as I possibly can, because the more money I get for you, the more money I get for me.” That is the most honest, on point answer that any personal injury attorney can give a potential client. Some attorneys will tell a potential client that they will get them a certain amount of money just to get the person to sign up with him/her. Nothing good can come from this. If their estimate is too high, then the client will not be happy in the end when they get less money than they were promised. If the estimate is too low, yes, the attorney might look like a hero because he got more than he/she anticipated, but it leaves the question, why was this attorney so far off as to his/her estimate of what the case was worth? In conclusion, be very leery of any personal injury attorney that will give you a dollar amount guesstimate as to the value of your claim shortly after the accident/incident occurred.