What a roof fall case is actually worth

The variables that move it most

In rough order of impact.

• Whether you can return to your trade. Permanent inability to do the only work you're trained for is the largest single driver in this category
• The medical picture — surgeries, hardware, fusion, traumatic brain injury, permanent impairment rating
• Future care and its cost over your remaining lifetime
• Lost earning capacity, beyond the wages missed so far
• Available insurance limits. A claim is only collectible up to what's actually insured, and this is frequently the real ceiling
• How many third parties exist, since each brings its own policy
• Comparative fault — your share, if any, reduces the recovery proportionally in most states
• Venue. The same facts are worth materially different amounts in different counties

What doesn't move it as much as people expect

The severity of the fall itself — a 30-foot fall with a good outcome is worth less than a 12-foot fall that ends a career. How badly the defendant behaved matters mostly through punitive damages, which are rare and capped in many states. And the amount billed by hospitals is not the same as the amount that will be recovered for medical expense, because most jurisdictions have rules about billed versus paid amounts.

Fee structure

Personal injury work is contingency-based, typically a third of the recovery, sometimes rising if the case goes to trial. You pay nothing up front and nothing if there's no recovery. Case costs — experts, filing fees, depositions, medical records — are separate from the fee and are usually advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery.