People who get into accidents often wonder how their lawyers can help them reach maximum settlements. If you have gotten into an accident, you should know that the settlement amount depends on the severity of your injury, such as a small injury or a serious personal injury.
Depending on the situation, your personal injury lawyer can help you in the following way:
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Small Personal Injury Case
Suppose you have a case that is relatively small, such as a case where you got injured and received medical care for a few months until you got better. This kind of small personal injury case is usually done the old-school way.
Lawyer Sends A Settlement Opportunity Letter
Your lawyer will make a settlement opportunity letter and then start negotiating with the insurance company. Usually, the lawyer will allow you to complete your medical treatment and get all of your medical records.
Subsequently, they will send the medical records together with the letter to the insurance company and then follow up with the insurance company. After approximately a month of sending the letter, the lawyer will call the adjuster, and the adjuster will ask the lawyer for the demand.
Lawyer Proposes A Minimum Settlement Amount
Your lawyer will tell them a minimum settlement amount that they expect, and they will negotiate from there. The point is that the lawyer will not recommend you to go to a trial for a small personal injury case like this where you have been to the chiropractor and physical therapist and healed completely after a few months.
A Trail is Not Needed
For a small personal injury case, your lawyer wouldn’t even recommend going to trial because you might lose the case, but there can also be other problems. It may not be worth it to call the doctor and ask them to come to court and pay five to ten thousand dollars to the doctor when you have only sustained a small injury.
You might be wondering about how much back and forth you can expect with a small personal injury. In case of injury, you need to see a chiropractor and a physical therapist. Usually, a few phone calls between your lawyer and the insurance adjusters will suffice to get you the right amount of money.
Serious Personal Injury Case
Now, if you have a more serious personal injury, such as a spinal fusion, and there is a larger policy, such as a five-million policy, then this is certainly a different case. Your lawyer is more likely not to make a demand at all as they won’t settle it in the same way as a small personal injury case.
It is important to mention here that you should get in touch with a personal injury lawyer immediately if you have gotten into an accident and sustained injury, such as The Cottle Firm, Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyers if you live in Las Vegas.
Discovery Stage – Completion of Medical Treatment
Suppose everything is known, such as liability and construction safety. You also have the engineering experts – if it is a car crash and you need a car accident reconstruction where you know what the liability is. In the case of a bigger injury, you should have completed all of the medical care.
In the given example, if you know it is a spinal fusion, and you are not going to need any more surgeries, and everything is clear, then you are probably in the discovery stage. Maybe your case has been placed on the trial calendar.
Settlement Opportunity Letter With A Deadline
Now, in such circumstances, your personal injury lawyer will send the defense or the insurance adjusters a settlement opportunity letter and tell them the minimum amount they consider to be fair, which can be one million dollars. In this letter, the lawyer will also give the insurance company a timeline, such as thirty days to accept this demand, or they have the option of getting back to your lawyer and giving them an offer in good faith.
For example, if your lawyer demands one million dollars and gives the insurance company thirty days, and they get back to your lawyer stating that one million dollars is too high, but they also acknowledge the seriousness of the case and are willing to offer four hundred thousand dollars instead.
Probability of Mediation
Your lawyer will see that the insurance company is reasonable, and there is a great probability for your lawyer to ask for mediation where both sides might successfully bridge the gap and perhaps settle the case for seven hundred thousand dollars.
Now, if the insurance adjusters agree to the million dollars, then this will satisfy things as well, but if they offer a ridiculously low amount of money as a response or if they fail to respond at all – then the next thing that happens is that after the thirty days pass, the settlement amount will rise to three million dollars.
Serious Personal Injury Cases Might End Up in Trial
It is important to mention here that the only cases your personal injury lawyer will do this on are the ones that they want to take to trial. These are the cases where the lawyer feels confident that if they go to the jury, they are going to get more than a million.
Going to trial can make things take a little longer, but it is almost always guaranteed that you will get more and that the verdict will be in your favor. At this point, the path is clear for your lawyer, and they don’t really have to worry about demanding and negotiating.
Your lawyer will give the insurance adjusters the amount they believe your case is worth, and if they agree to pay the amount, then it is the best thing to do. However, if the insurance policy’s limit is only one million dollars and your lawyer has made it clear that they will take that million dollars – your lawyer has given the insurance adjusters the opportunity to protect their policyholders.
