How to Negotiate a Personal Injury Settlement
If your personal injury is the result of someone else’s negligence, you can expect that party’s insurance provider to make a settlement offer. Settling a case can be a challenging process, particularly if you are not represented by an attorney.
Board Certified Truck Accident Law Attorney Robert “Bob” Byrne
This information is meant as information only and not legal advice. It merely sets forth general notions that typically apply in some, but not every, personal injury case.
The following tips can help you get the damages you deserve.
Know the Full Amount of Available Insurance
One tricky part of legal is figuring out how much insurance coverage is actually available to cover a loss. When we represent clients, one of our goals is to recover the full amount of insurance coverage available for a certain claim.
The first insurance that comes up is the defendant or wrongdoer’s liability insurance policy. This is the primary source of coverage available to cover a car accident claim. The defense will likely not disclose the full amounts of the liability coverage of the insurance policy.
Virginia law does have a mechanism that we use to figure out the amount of the defendant’s insurance coverage. This can be found in Va. Code sec. 8.01-417.01. Under this statutory provision, an insurance company that has a liability policy has to disclose the amount of the policy if the injured party’s medical bills exceed $12,500 and certain other conditions are met.
But the liability policy is oftentimes only the first layer of coverage. There may be available underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage available to you that you can add or stack to the liability policy. It may be the case that the defendant driver or homeowner also has an umbrella policy, an excess policy, or some other insurance policy that can provide coverage. The information is often not disclosed outside of litigation, so you need an attorney who is able to request and fight to learn about additional coverages that may be available.
Determine a Satisfactory Settlement Amount
Take the time to carefully review all of your losses to come up with a complete list of damages you hope to obtain. This list should include:
- Medical expenses, past and future
- Lost wages, past and future
- Lost earning potential
- Pain and suffering, past and future
- Property damage
- Inconvenience, past and future
- Disfigurement and associated embarrassment
For a legal consultation with a personal injury lawyer, call 434-817-3100
The future component of damages are really hard for an unrepresented party to obtain. This is because litigants typically need to have expert testimony to establish the need and amount of future medical care. In addition, expert testimony must establish that such treatment is not only medically necessary, but that it is reasonable in scope and amount, and is necessary to treat injuries caused by the crash in question. For that reason, it may not be enough for you to collect medical bills with doctors’ statements about your condition that project your recovery time.
You may find similar challenges when it comes to seeking future lost wages and future lost earning capacity. These claims depend on specific and technical testimony from particular experts, and insurance companies will try to poke holes in these types of requests even when they are presented in perfect order.
In addition, it is awfully difficult to calculate noneconomic damages like pain and suffering, inconvenience, and mental anguish. These damages may also be dependent on a level of expert testimony. But, more importantly, they are human damages that are sometimes only capable of determination by a jury.
We have had cases where the insurance company refused to put meaningful settlement amounts on noneconomic damages claims for our clients. When that is the case — and it often is — we advise the client to push through litigation and even go to trial. Unlike insurance companies that are typically burdened by algorithms and formulas that calculate human damages, juries are usually able to see the true human value of what was lost when someone has a permanent injury.
Prepare To Reject an Initial Offer
One of an insurance adjuster’s roles is to keep your settlement offer as low as possible. If you receive an offer that is far from your own calculations, you may be dealing with an insurance adjuster who is counting on your ignorance for your case’s value. In that situation, you can submit a counteroffer with evidence to support the amount you have in mind. Make sure to include photos of property damage and physical injuries, police and hospital reports, and eyewitness statements. But if you are representing yourself, you can expect that the insurance adjuster will keep your settlement offer very low regardless of what information you provide.
Request Justification for an Offer
Sometimes it can be challenging to know if you have a reasonable offer before you. Ask the adjuster to explain in detail the process for calculating the damages. Understanding the offer’s justification will help you determine if you should reject it or seriously consider accepting it.
You may find it helpful to have a consultation with an attorney at that time. An honest attorney will let you know if you are being taken advantage of by the insurance company. While it is true that you would have to pay them a percentage of what you might receive, a skilled personal injury attorney will increase the settlement offer to such a dramatic extent that they will ultimately increase the amount you will receive.
Have Patience
Click to contact our personal injury lawyers today
Insurance adjusters can be notorious for stretching out the claims process. This is often a tactic they use to force you to settle for a lower amount than you deserve. They sometimes assume you are anxious to settle quickly because of mounting medical bills and lost wages. Although this may be true, your willingness to accept a settlement too soon could keep you from realizing the true value of your claim.
Avoid Contact With The Insurance Company
Unless you are a skillful negotiator and you can afford to partake in a long negotiation with an insurance adjuster, you may want to engage with an attorney who can negotiate a settlement on your behalf. Personal injury attorneys are familiar with the tactics insurance adjusters employ and adjusters know this. They can prevent the insurance adjuster from getting a statement from you that tricks you into saying things that are harmful to your case, or that takes your statements out of context. This is not to say that all insurance adjusters will try to take advantage of you, as there are some who will try to give you a fair result that is on the lower side. But you are more likely to receive a reasonable settlement offer sooner if you have an experienced attorney on your side.
Complete a Case Evaluation form now
The physical, emotional and financial damages you endure from a personal injury that is someone else’s fault can be overwhelming. If you are looking for a personal injury lawyer in Harrisonburg, Va to help with a potential case, consider contacting MartinWren, P.C.
Call us today for a free consultation.
Call 434-817-3100 or complete a Case Evaluation form
