Knee injury settlements range from $20,000 for minor sprains to over $400,000 for cases requiring total knee replacement. The most common surgical knee injury — a meniscus tear requiring arthroscopy — settles for $50,000 to $125,000 on average. ACL reconstruction cases typically settle for $75,000 to $200,000, while tibial plateau fractures can reach $100,000 to $300,000 depending on severity and long-term prognosis.
Knee injuries carry high settlement values because the knee is the body's largest weight-bearing joint. Damage to the knee affects every aspect of mobility — walking, standing, climbing stairs, driving — and even successfully repaired knees develop accelerated arthritis, creating strong future damages claims.
Get your free knee injury estimate →Types of Knee Injuries and Settlement Ranges
The knee is a complex joint with ligaments, cartilage, tendons, and bone structures that can all be damaged in an accident. The type and severity of your knee injury — and whether surgery is required — are the two biggest factors in determining your settlement value. Here are the most common knee injuries and their typical settlement ranges in 2026.
| Injury Type | Settlement Range | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Knee Sprain / Strain | $10,000 - $30,000 | Stretched or partially torn ligaments, typically resolves with conservative treatment |
| Meniscus Tear (No Surgery) | $15,000 - $50,000 | Torn cartilage treated with physical therapy, bracing, and injections |
| Meniscus Tear (Arthroscopic Surgery) | $50,000 - $125,000 | Surgical repair or partial meniscectomy; removal of cartilage accelerates future arthritis |
| ACL Tear (Reconstruction) | $75,000 - $200,000 | Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using graft; 6-12 month recovery, high re-tear risk |
| MCL / PCL Tear | $40,000 - $150,000 | Medial or posterior cruciate ligament tears; PCL injuries often occur in dashboard impacts |
| Patellar Fracture | $50,000 - $150,000 | Broken kneecap from direct impact; may require surgical fixation with screws or wires |
| Tibial Plateau Fracture | $100,000 - $300,000 | Fracture of the top of the shinbone at the knee joint; often requires ORIF surgery, high arthritis risk |
| Total Knee Replacement | $150,000 - $400,000+ | Full joint replacement due to severe damage; lifetime of limitations, possible revision surgery |
Source: SetCalc analysis of court records and legal databases, 2025-2026. Ranges reflect national data; your location can shift values significantly. See settlement statistics by state.
Understanding the Range
The wide ranges above reflect the difference between a straightforward case and a complex one within each injury category. For example, a meniscus tear treated with a simple arthroscopic debridement and a 3-month recovery will settle near the low end ($50,000-$70,000). The same tear requiring a full meniscus repair with 6+ months of rehabilitation, persistent pain, and documented early arthritis on follow-up imaging can push toward $100,000-$125,000 — or beyond if combined with other knee injuries.
Lower End Factors
- • Quick recovery (under 3 months)
- • Conservative treatment only (no surgery)
- • Full return to pre-accident activities
- • No imaging findings of structural damage
- • Pre-existing knee degeneration
Higher End Factors
- • Surgery required (arthroscopy, reconstruction, replacement)
- • Multiple structures damaged (ACL + meniscus)
- • MRI confirms structural damage
- • Documented post-traumatic arthritis development
- • Permanent limitations on mobility or employment
Multi-Ligament Knee Injuries
Why Knee Injuries Are High-Value Claims
Knee injuries consistently produce higher settlement values than many other injury types — even compared to injuries that may seem more dramatic on paper. The reason is straightforward: the knee is critical to virtually every physical activity in daily life. Insurance companies, judges, and juries all understand what a damaged knee means for a person's independence and quality of life.
Primary Weight-Bearing Joint
The knee bears 1.5x your body weight when walking and up to 8x your body weight when climbing stairs or squatting. Unlike shoulder or wrist injuries, knee damage affects your ability to perform the most basic human functions: standing, walking, and getting up from a chair. This fundamental impact on mobility makes knee injuries inherently more valuable in settlement negotiations.
Affects Mobility and Independence
A damaged knee doesn't just cause pain — it threatens independence. Victims may need assistance with everyday tasks, become unable to care for their children or elderly parents, and lose the ability to participate in activities they once enjoyed. Juries are particularly sympathetic to loss of independence claims because they can easily imagine themselves in the same situation.
Accelerated Arthritis Is Inevitable
Medical literature consistently shows that traumatic knee injuries accelerate osteoarthritis development regardless of treatment quality. An ACL reconstruction patient has a 50-80% chance of developing significant arthritis within 10-15 years. This creates a strong "future damages" component in every knee injury claim — one that insurance companies cannot credibly dispute.
Often Requires Multiple Surgeries Over a Lifetime
Knee injuries rarely end with a single surgery. An ACL reconstruction may fail and require revision. A partial meniscectomy often leads to accelerated arthritis that eventually requires a total knee replacement. A tibial plateau fracture treated with hardware may need hardware removal and later joint replacement. Each additional surgery adds to the lifetime cost of the injury and the total settlement value.
The Knee vs. Other Joints
The Arthritis Factor: Long-Term Knee Damage
The single most important factor that elevates knee injury settlement values is post-traumatic arthritis. Unlike many other injuries where you heal and move on, a traumatic knee injury sets off a degenerative process that worsens over time — even after successful surgical repair. Understanding this is critical to valuing your claim correctly.
Post-Traumatic Arthritis: The Medical Reality
When the knee sustains a traumatic injury, the cartilage and joint surfaces are damaged in ways that alter the biomechanics of the joint permanently. Even with perfect surgical repair, the joint mechanics are never fully restored. The result is accelerated wear-and-tear that develops into osteoarthritis years — or decades — earlier than it would have naturally.
- ACL reconstruction: 50-80% develop significant arthritis within 10-15 years, regardless of surgical success
- Meniscectomy (cartilage removal): Arthritis risk increases 6-14x compared to uninjured knees
- Tibial plateau fracture: Nearly universal arthritis development, often requiring knee replacement within 10-20 years
- Patellar fracture: 50-70% experience patellofemoral arthritis affecting stair climbing and kneeling
Future Knee Replacement Probability
A key element of future damages in knee injury claims is the statistical probability that the victim will eventually need a total knee replacement. The younger the victim, the more compelling this argument becomes. A 35-year-old with a tibial plateau fracture has a near-certain probability of needing at least one knee replacement in their lifetime — and possibly a revision replacement 15-20 years after the first. This creates a future medical cost claim of $100,000-$250,000 or more.
Lifetime Medical Costs
When calculating the true value of a knee injury, future medical costs must include ongoing pain management (injections, medications), annual orthopedic follow-ups, physical therapy for flare-ups, assistive devices (braces, canes), and the eventual knee replacement surgery. A life care planner or economist can project these costs to present a compelling damages figure that accounts for the full lifetime impact of the injury.
Don't Settle Before Documenting Arthritis Risk
Proving Knee Injury Causation
One of the biggest challenges in knee injury claims is proving that the accident — not pre-existing wear and tear — caused your knee damage. Insurance companies aggressively argue that knee problems are "degenerative" and would have developed regardless of the accident. Here's how to defeat that argument.
Address Pre-Existing Arthritis Head-On
Many adults over 40 have some degree of knee arthritis visible on imaging — even without symptoms. Insurance adjusters will point to any pre-existing changes and argue the accident didn't cause your injury. The legal counter: under the "eggshell plaintiff" doctrine, you take the plaintiff as you find them. If a person with mild, asymptomatic arthritis suffers a traumatic knee injury that makes the knee severely symptomatic, the at-fault party is liable for the full extent of the worsened condition.
Key point: Obtain a written statement from your doctor differentiating between pre-existing degenerative changes and acute traumatic injury caused by the accident. This distinction is critical.
Get an MRI as Soon as Possible After the Accident
Timing matters enormously for knee injury claims. An MRI performed within the first 2-4 weeks of the accident establishes a baseline that shows acute injury — bone bruising, ligament tears, meniscus damage with associated joint effusion (swelling). These acute findings are difficult for insurance to attribute to pre-existing degeneration. A delayed MRI (months later) gives adjusters room to argue the damage could have occurred after the accident.
Key point: An early MRI showing bone marrow edema (bone bruising) at the injury site is powerful evidence of acute traumatic injury that cannot be explained by age-related degeneration.
Document the Mechanism of Injury
The way the accident happened matters for proving causation. A dashboard impact in a front-end collision is a classic mechanism for PCL tears and patellar fractures. A twisting force during a motorcycle fall is consistent with ACL and meniscus tears. Pedestrians struck by vehicles commonly suffer tibial plateau fractures from the bumper impact. Your attorney should connect the accident mechanics to the specific knee structures that were damaged.
Consider Biomechanical Analysis
In high-value knee injury cases, a biomechanical expert can analyze the forces involved in the accident and explain how those forces caused the specific knee injury. This is particularly valuable when insurance argues that the collision wasn't severe enough to cause the damage. Biomechanical testimony connecting accident forces to injury mechanism can be decisive in settlement negotiations and at trial.
The "No Prior Symptoms" Argument
Impact on Career and Daily Life
Knee injuries produce some of the most compelling "life impact" evidence in personal injury cases because the limitations are visible, relatable, and affect nearly every aspect of daily functioning. Documenting these impacts thoroughly can significantly increase your settlement value.
Occupational Limitations
- ✗Standing and walking limitations — Many jobs require standing for extended periods: retail workers, nurses, teachers, construction workers, chefs. A knee injury that limits standing to 30 minutes at a time can effectively end certain careers, creating a substantial lost earning capacity claim.
- ✗Inability to kneel — After many knee surgeries, kneeling is painful or impossible. This eliminates or severely restricts occupations like plumbing, electrical work, flooring installation, landscaping, and childcare. The loss of ability to kneel is one of the most commonly cited permanent restrictions in knee injury cases.
- ✗Stair climbing restrictions — Post-traumatic knee damage makes stairs painful and sometimes dangerous. This affects multi-story workplaces, home accessibility, and essential tasks like carrying groceries upstairs. Some victims require home modifications (stairlifts, first-floor bathroom conversions) that add to the economic damages claim.
- ✗Job modifications and career changes — When a knee injury forces someone to transition from a physical job (earning $65,000/year) to a sedentary desk job (earning $40,000/year), the $25,000 annual difference multiplied over their remaining working years creates a massive lost earning capacity claim that can exceed $500,000.
Loss of Activities and Recreation
- ✗Sports and athletics — Running, basketball, soccer, skiing, tennis, and most high-impact sports become risky or impossible after ACL reconstruction or knee replacement. For active individuals, this represents a profound loss of enjoyment of life.
- ✗Hiking and outdoor activities — Uneven terrain, inclines, and distance walking become significant challenges with a damaged knee, eliminating outdoor recreation that many people consider central to their quality of life.
- ✗Playing with children or grandchildren — The inability to get down on the floor, chase children in the yard, or participate in family activities is one of the most emotionally powerful damages elements in knee injury cases. Juries respond strongly to this type of loss.
Document Everything You Can No Longer Do
Realistic Knee Injury Settlement Examples
Here's what real knee injury settlements look like when you account for injury type, surgery, location, and case-specific factors. These examples are based on SetCalc's analysis of actual settlement data.
Example 1: Meniscus Tear from Car Accident in Texas
Case Details:
- Rear-end collision in Dallas, TX
- Medial meniscus tear, right knee
- Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy
- 4 months of physical therapy post-surgery
- Medical bills: $22,000
- Lost wages: $8,500
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $30,500
- Pain & suffering (2.5x): $76,250
- Future arthritis treatment: $15,000
Settlement Range:
$45,000 - $65,000
TX modified comparative fault, clear liability, partial meniscectomy with documented arthritis risk
Example 2: ACL Reconstruction from Motorcycle Accident in California
Case Details:
- Left turn collision in San Diego, CA
- Complete ACL tear with lateral meniscus tear
- ACL reconstruction with patellar tendon graft
- 9 months of physical therapy
- Medical bills: $58,000
- Lost wages: $24,000
- Permanent activity restrictions documented
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $82,000
- Pain & suffering (3.5x): $287,000
- Future medical (arthritis, possible replacement): $55,000
Settlement Range:
$140,000 - $190,000
CA pure comparative negligence, San Diego jury values, multi-structure injury with permanent restrictions
Example 3: Tibial Plateau Fracture from Truck Accident in Illinois
Case Details:
- Broadside collision with semi-truck in Chicago, IL
- Schatzker Type V tibial plateau fracture, left knee
- ORIF surgery with plate and screws
- 12 months of rehabilitation
- Medical bills: $95,000
- Lost wages: $42,000
- Permanent limp, unable to return to warehouse job
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $137,000
- Pain & suffering (4x): $548,000
- Future knee replacement: $85,000
- Lost earning capacity: $180,000
Settlement Range:
$225,000 - $325,000
IL plaintiff-friendly, Cook County premium, commercial vehicle defendant, career-ending injury with future replacement needed
Calculate Your Knee Injury Settlement Value
Calculate Your Knee Injury Settlement Value
Every knee injury case is different. The ranges and examples above give you a starting point, but your specific settlement value depends on the unique combination of your injury type, surgical treatment, location, long-term prognosis, and case circumstances.
SetCalc's AI-powered knee injury settlement calculator analyzes your specific details against real settlement data from your state to generate a personalized estimate. Unlike generic "multiply by 3" calculators, we factor in:
Injury-Specific Analysis
- • Meniscus tear vs. ACL vs. fracture vs. replacement
- • Single vs. multi-structure damage
- • Conservative vs. surgical treatment
- • Post-traumatic arthritis probability
Location-Specific Data
- • Your state's comparative fault rules
- • Local jury verdict tendencies
- • Regional cost of living adjustments
- • State-specific damage caps
What Is Your Knee Injury Really Worth?
Stop guessing with generic formulas. Get a location-specific, injury-specific estimate based on real settlement data for your type of knee injury — reviewed by a licensed personal injury attorney.
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