Knee injuries can involve broken bones, torn ligaments, and other injuries. Depending on the severity and how the accident happened, your damages could be different.
Never accept a settlement for your knee injury unless it covers all of your needs, including the cost of all medical care (physical therapy included), lost wages, and pain and suffering from the injury. Many factors, such as your age, fitness, and physical ability before the accident, will also play a big role in determining your damages.
Call Rice Law’s Maryland personal injury lawyers today at (410) 694-7291 for your free case review.
Damages Available
Most injury cases involve these damages, and our Maryland personal injury lawyers will have to determine which damages are available in your specific case, based on what harms you suffered.
Economic Damages
Economic damages pay you back for the expenses the injury caused you. Getting hurt is quite expensive, including damages from
- Medical bills
- The cost of home care and home adaptations for a disability
- Replacement services around the house while you heal
- Childcare costs while you are hospitalized
- Property damage
- Lost value (e.g., in your car after a car crash)
- And more.
Non-Economic Damages
On top of that, injuries affect you in many ways that have no bills or receipts:
- Emotional distress
- Physical pain
- Mental anguish or suffering
- Embarrassment
- Lost ability
- And more.
These also have costs, which we can put a value on to help you recover monetarily for the intangible harm you faced.
Punitive Damages
While everything we have discussed so far pays you back for your knee injury, other damages can be used to make the defendant pay for what they did. These “punitive damages” are only available in limited circumstances, usually requiring additional proof of serious misconduct on the defendant’s end.
When these damages are available, it usually means you should not settle. Defendants will not typically pay these in a settlement; only a court order will get them to pay you these additional damages.
Rating Severity for a Knee Injury
Injury cases are generally based on how severe the injury was. This means looking at these major areas of impact of your knee injury to help gauge how much the case is worth.
While we look at specific bills and economic impact for economic damages, rating your overall severity of the injury helps gauge non-economic damages.
Treatment Required
More medical care needed for an injury means a higher settlement price. If you needed surgeries, physical therapy, CT scans, and more, these costs are much higher.
How Disabling is the Injury?
An injury that makes it hard to return to work at full capacity for a prolonged period can mean higher damages. If an injury totally disables you or requires a change in careers, this is an even more serious – and expensive – injury.
Effects on Daily Life
“Disability” can refer to the effect on your ability to work, but it can also refer to the effect on your daily living. Being unable to walk around to do chores/errands, being unable to perform in sports you enjoyed, or simply being in pain every day are big impacts on your daily life.
These often deserve non-economic damages.
How Much Does it Hurt?
The pain itself is also compensable. Long-lasting, chronic pain can be worth far more in damages.
Emotional and Mental Effects
An injury can affect your mind as much as your body. Depending on how the accident happened, the fear of reinjury or PTSD symptoms from the accident may be a real hinderance on your life.
Alternatively, a long-term injury that makes it hard to return to important activities can also mean fear, embarrassment, feelings of loss, and more. This emotional distress and mental anguish is also compensable.
How Do You Calculate Pain and Suffering Damages for a Knee Injury?
Generally, we take the severity of your injury into account in one of two possible computation methods:
- The Multiplier Method lets us choose a multiplier based on your injury’s severity, then we apply that to your total economic damages to calculate non-economic damages. For example, if a serious ACL tear is a 2.5, and your total economic damages are $100,000, we would claim $250,000 in non-economic damages.
- The Per Diem Method lets us choose a daily value for your pain and suffering. This starts from your daily wage and goes up or down based on the severity of the injury. Then we multiply that by how long the injury lasts.
Damage Caps
Maryland caps non-economic damages, but there is no limit on economic damages. This cap goes up every year on October 1.
For 2026, the cap is $980,000. On October 1, 2026, into the year 2027, the cap goes up to $995,000.
Should You Go to Trial or Settle Your Case?
If you have a high chance of winning, and the defense refuses to pay the full values you need, you may have to take the case to trial to get full damages. You may also want to go to trial if you could be entitled to punitive damages in your case.
Otherwise, most cases settle if you can reach a fair settlement offer. Our lawyers will fight to get a fair settlement through negotiations and strong case building.
Does How the Accident Happened Affect Damages?
What kind of accident you were hurt in may have a big effect on what injuries you suffered. For example, a slip and fall might have just tweaked your knee, or perhaps left you with a ligament tear. A serious car crash could have broken your knee in multiple places and caused additional injuries, resulting in a more serious case.
How much fault each defendant bears also changes how much they each pay. Plus, if the defendant’s actions were especially reckless, it may justify punitive damages.
What if You Can’t Get a Fair Settlement?
If our lawyers cannot reach a fair settlement through negotiations with the defense, we can take them to trial.
Call Our Maryland Personal Injury Lawyers Today
Call (410) 694-7291 to discuss your potential case with our Baltimore, MD personal injury lawyers at Rice Law today.