If you have been in an accident where it wasn’t your fault, then you will have to prepare to deal with the at-fault party’s insurance company – primarily the insurance adjusters. Even if you have sustained a small personal injury, you must seek medical treatment and maintain all records of your medical bills so that you can demand compensation.
Here are a few important things to know about working with a lawyer and negotiating with the insurance company.
Sending A Settlement Opportunity Letter
A settlement opportunity letter is also known as a settlement demand letter. This letter is typically prepared by the injured party’s attorney to the insurance adjuster of the other party’s insurance company in an attempt to reach a settlement in a personal injury case.
The settlement opportunity letter typically comprises the settlement demand where the specific amount that is requested is laid out. The demand is followed by an introduction, which is a broad overview of your potential case.
Subsequently, the letter will contain the facts, which are then followed by the injuries that you suffered due to the accident. Next up, the settlement opportunity letter will detail the damages, which typically include the specific amount that you were billed for during the treatment of your injury.
This detail is then followed by essentially a wrapping up with another demand.
Supporting Evidence is Part of the Settlement Letter
It is important to mention here that the settlement opportunity letter is attached to your medical records as supporting evidence of the injuries that you suffered, as well as proof of other losses, such as loss of wages. When done correctly and persuasively, the settlement opportunity letter can be incredibly helpful with the settlement of the matter without going through the additional expenses of going to trial.
What if the Insurance Policy Refuses to Pay What They Owe You
If the insurance company refuses and your lawyer takes the matter to the court, where the jury gives the verdict of ten million dollars, the insurance company still needs to pay that one million dollars that they could have paid years ago.
At this point, your lawyer will have the upper hand and actually be in a position to argue that the policy is still open and that the insurance company has indeed acted in bad faith and essentially failed to protect their policyholder, which is their obligation. There is an obligation to act in good faith and fair dealing, and insurance companies have to put their own financial interest on an equal footing with those of their policyholder.
Why Does the Settlement Opportunity Letter Work?
Usually, when insurance companies get a settlement opportunity letter from personal injury lawyers, they get scared as they don’t want to take the case to trial, where the jury might demand a higher amount for injuries.
So, you can expect a lot of commotion to the point where the insurance company offers you the policy that you asked for, and they will offer you an amount that is very close to the policy, or they will give you a reasonable offer, such as half or three-quarters of what you desire.
They could also agree to go to mediation to bridge the gap between your lawyer’s demand and their offer – or – they will just say that they will change lawyers and they will challenge liability in court. However, the settlement letter sent by your lawyer to the at-fault driver’s insurance company always leads to something.
Why Work Closely with A Lawyer When Negotiating?
If you have a small personal injury case, your personal injury lawyer, very tactfully, will usually make a demand that is about three times what they think the case is worth.
This aspect perfectly explains why to hire a lawyer, such as The Cottle Firm, Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyers, if you are from Las Vegas to help with settlement and negotiating. Your lawyer understands the ins and outs of negotiation with insurance companies and will keep all aspects in mind when deciding on the initial settlement amount.
On that note, working closely with the lawyer while negotiating with the insurance agents is incredibly important, as the biggest mistake you can make is to be too quick to go down.
Why, you might ask? Well, the thing is that you can never usually go back up in any given scenario. If your initial demand was thirty thousand, then you can never expect it to go up to fifty thousand because you set your initial demand at thirty thousand.
When asking for an amount in the settlement opportunity letter, you need to look at the medical history, the verdicts, and the potential settlements for that injury in your local area. You have to base the settlement amount on what has happened in your locality over the last couple of years.
When to Take A Personal Injury Case to Trial?
When it comes to the settlement of the bigger personal injury cases, you can see yourself sitting with your lawyer and getting a jury verdict, as you are typically dealing with a life-changing injury that you believe to have a compelling human story. In this case, you will be taking your personal injury case to trial.
Life-changing personal injury cases are great for trial, and the way to settle a case is to write a settlement opportunity letter with a given deadline for action. For instance, you can ask the insurance company to pay you one million dollars within thirty days – and if they fail to do so, you will increase the settlement amount to three or five million dollars.
This sort of ultimatum makes the insurance company really worried because they see finances go down as their objective is to save money. The insurance company is there for their profit, and they will do their best to whittle you down to nothing or the bare minimum, which is unacceptable in a personal injury case.
Final Thoughts
With the help of a personal injury lawyer, you are essentially flipping the insurance company’s script on them as you are telling them to pay you the amount you asked for. If they don’t, you will go for three times more, and this is how you blow up their world and reach a fair settlement.
