How is a personal injury settlement calculated in Georgia?

Special damages are the part insurance companies are willing to argue about with receipts in hand. Past medical bills and lost wages are concrete. Future medical care and future lost earning capacity require modeling — and most personal injury firms cut corners here, reaching for rule-of-thumb estimates rather than vocational and economic experts.

General damages are where settlement value compounds — and where insurance companies underweight most heavily. The 'multiplier' approach (1.5x to 5x special damages for general damages) is rough at best. Sophisticated cases build general damages from the actual evidence: how the injury changed daily life, what activities are lost, what the plaintiff's relationships and trajectory looked like before versus after.

Liens reduce the net recovery substantially in some cases. Health insurance subrogation, hospital liens (governed by O.C.G.A. § 44-14-470), Medicare and Medicaid claims — each has its own rules, and resolving them well often determines what the client actually receives. A settlement that does not account for liens upfront can leave the client owing money out of pocket.

• O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33
• O.C.G.A. § 44-14-470