Legal Claim Guides
The moments that cost people the most money are signatures: an insurer’s release, a comp settlement, a severance agreement, a benefits denial nobody appealed. Each guide below shows the actual math and rules behind one of those moments, from injury and settlement charts and state deadline and damage-cap charts to workers’ comp payouts, employment claims, and insurance and disability appeals. All of it is built on the same 50-state legal database as our calculators, so you can value before you sign.
Personal Injury
Pain and Suffering Calculator: The Multiplier Method
The multiplier and per diem methods explained honestly, the severity bands behind them, and the state caps that limit them.
Read the guideCar Accident Settlement Amounts: Average Claim Data
Published claim averages with their sources, what drives the number for whiplash, disc, concussion, fracture and spinal claims, and the policy-limit ceiling.
Read the guideWhat to Do After a Car Accident: Legal Checklist
A printable legal checklist for the first hours, days and weeks: reporting, evidence, insurers, medical care and deadlines.
Read the guideSlip and Fall Settlement Amounts: What Claims Pay
The notice rule, the four things a fall claim must prove, comparative fault, and why so many premises claims pay nothing.
Read the guideWrongful Death Settlements: Who Files, Who Gets Paid
How economic and non-economic damages are calculated after a death, survival actions, who can file, and how settlements are divided.
Read the guideDog Bite Laws by State: Strict Liability Chart
A 50-state chart of strict-liability versus one-bite states with filing deadlines, and how the rule changes what a bite claim is worth.
Read the guideMedical Malpractice Damage Caps by State Chart
A 50-state chart of non-economic, economic and punitive caps plus pre-suit requirements, and how a cap changes a claim.
Read the guidePersonal Injury Statute of Limitations by State
Filing deadlines for car accident, slip and fall, malpractice and wrongful death claims in every state, with the exceptions that move them.
Read the guideLowball Settlement Offer? 10-Step Response Checklist
Ten steps for answering a low first offer: what the number tells you, how to counter in writing, and when it becomes bad faith.
Read the guideProduct Liability Settlement Amounts by Defect Type
Design, manufacturing and warning defects, who in the chain of distribution can be liable, and what moves a defective-product claim.
Read the guideWrongful Death Lawsuit: Who Can File, Deadline, Value
Who can bring the claim, what it consists of, how it proceeds, and the filing deadline, damage cap and fault rule in every state.
Read the guideLegal Malpractice Settlements: What a Claim Is Worth
The four elements, the case-within-a-case rule, what a settlement consists of, and the filing deadline in every state.
Read the guideSettlement Demand Letter Checklist and Template
Everything a demand letter must contain, a paragraph-by-paragraph template, the mistakes that lower the offer, and what happens after you send it.
Read the guideT-Bone Accident Settlements: Fault Rules by State
Who is at fault in a side impact, the 51-state fault rule and deadline chart, and the 8 records that prove it.
Read the guideMotorcycle Accident Lawsuit Settlements by State
How a rider’s lawsuit is valued, the helmet and fault arguments, and a 51-state deadline chart.
Read the guideTruck Accident Settlements: Caps by State
The 51-state cap and deadline chart, the $750,000 federal insurance floor, and who else can be liable.
Read the guideFinancial Advisor Negligence: FINRA Arbitration
The 6 common claims, FINRA arbitration vs court, the 6-year rule, and what a claim recovers.
Read the guideMedical Liens on a Settlement: Who Gets Paid First
Medicare, Medicaid, health plan and hospital liens: the order of payment, the 3 reductions, and how to resolve them before you sign.
Read the guideDiminished Value Claims: Rules by State
The resale value your car lost after a crash: whether you can claim it from the at-fault driver or your own insurer in all 50 states and D.C., the 17c formula, and how to prove it.
Read the guideAre Personal Injury Settlements Taxable?
What the federal exclusion covers, what stays taxable (punitive damages, interest, deducted medical bills), and how the allocation in your agreement decides it.
Read the guidePersonal Injury Mediation: Is It Binding?
How a mediation day runs, what binds you and what does not, how to prepare, and what happens when no deal is reached.
Read the guideCar Accident Lawsuit: Process, Timeline, Deadlines
When an insurance claim becomes a lawsuit, the stages from complaint to trial, how long cases take, and the filing deadline in every state.
Read the guideWorkers' Compensation
Workers' Comp Settlement Chart by Body Part
How weekly rates, impairment ratings, and scheduled losses actually combine, body part by body part, with your state’s real numbers.
Read the guideHow Much Does Workers' Comp Pay? Rates by State
The two-thirds wage rule, every state’s maximum and minimum weekly benefit, waiting periods, and what comp never pays.
Read the guideImpairment Rating Payout Chart: 5% to 25% Ratings
How an impairment rating is assigned, the rate-times-weeks-times-rating formula, scheduled versus whole-person ratings, and disputing a low one.
Read the guideWorkers’ Comp Lump Sum Settlement: How to Calculate
How a lump-sum offer is built from remaining benefits, future medical and disputed liability, whether it is taxable, and how long benefits can run by state.
Read the guideWorkers' Comp Claim Denied: What to Do Next
Why claims are denied, how to read the notice, the appeal path from review to hearing, and the evidence that wins.
Read the guideEmployment
Severance Agreements: What Is Fair and When Not to Sign
What is actually negotiable, the OWBPA time windows, and why you should value your potential claims before releasing them.
Read the guideEEOC Settlement Chart: Damage Caps by Employer Size
The federal damage caps by employer size, what stays uncapped, the charge and right-to-sue deadlines, and how remedies stack.
Read the guideRetaliation Settlement Amounts: How They Are Valued
The three elements of a retaliation claim, the remedies each statute allows, and the evidence that moves the number.
Read the guideHostile Work Environment Settlement Amounts and Caps
The severe-or-pervasive test, the conduct that qualifies, employer liability rules, and what a harassment settlement includes.
Read the guideUnpaid Overtime Back Pay: How It Is Calculated
The overtime rule, the two- or three-year lookback, liquidated damages, misclassification and off-the-clock claims, with the math shown.
Read the guideDisability Discrimination Settlements: What to Expect
Failure to accommodate, disparate treatment, the interactive process, and the federal damages caps by employer size.
Read the guideConstructive Discharge: When Quitting Counts as Fired
The intolerable-conditions standard, the unlawful-motive requirement, what to do before resigning, and what a settlement consists of.
Read the guideEmployment Arbitration Agreements: Should You Sign?
What signing gives up, the routes that still reach a court or the EEOC, class action waivers, and how arbitration changes a claim’s value.
Read the guideFired vs. Laid Off: Unemployment, Severance, Rights
How the reason a job ended decides unemployment, severance, COBRA and WARN notice, and when a firing or layoff is a wrongful termination.
Read the guideBreak and Final Paycheck Laws by State
Meal and rest break rules and final paycheck deadlines in all 50 states and D.C.: when you are paid if fired or you quit, vacation payout and late pay penalties.
Read the guideInsurance & Disability
Insurance Bad Faith: 8 Warning Signs and What It Pays
The warning signs of bad faith, first-party versus third-party claims, and the contract and extra-contractual damages state law allows.
Read the guideLong-Term Disability Denial: 180-Day Appeal Checklist
The ERISA appeal rules, the deadline that decides the case, and a printable checklist for building the record before you file.
Read the guideDealing with an injury instead? Browse the injury settlement guides — whiplash, herniated discs, concussions, broken bones, and more.
Put numbers on your situation
Sixteen case-type calculators, each applying your state’s actual rules — free, private, about two minutes.
What's My Case Worth?