How A Personal Injury Claim Gets Settled?

Settlement of a personal injury claim normally comes at the end of a period of negotiations. Experienced lawyers have learned how to negotiate with an insurance company.

First steps in the negotiation process

Working with a personal injury lawyer in Hamilton, the plaintiff composes a demand letter. That contains the amount of money that the victim hopes to win as compensation. The adjuster responds to the demand letter. That response gives the weaknesses in the plaintiff’s argument. The plaintiff responds to the adjuster’s comments. At this point, the plaintiff must wait for a response.

The exchange of offers begins and continues

• The adjuster makes a low offer.
• The plaintiff makes a second demand, usually one that is a bit lower than the first demand.
• The adjuster increases a bit the size of the insurance company’s offer.
• The plaintiff must decide whether or not to accept that new offer. The plaintiff might show a willingness to reduce further the size of the amount that has been demanded.
• The 2 sides keep exchanging offers until they agree on a settlement figure.

The significance of the reservation letter, when introduced:

Insurance companies use such a letter as a way to underscore the fact that the start of negotiations does not equate with an admission that the policy under consideration covers the reported accident. Regardless of that fact, the insurance company must still investigate the claim and negotiate with the claimant.

Possible problems

The plaintiff might propose an amount for the compensation and then wait for a response from the adjuster. If that response has not arrived within a couple weeks, the plaintiff must try to keep the process going forward.

The plaintiff could write a letter to the adjuster, threatening to contact the adjuster’s superior. If the adjuster still does not respond, then it would be necessary to write a letter to the adjuster’s superior. That usually gets the adjuster to issue a response. The adjuster and plaintiff have agreed on a settlement figure. That was an oral agreement. No further action has been taken. The plaintiff writes to the adjuster and confirms the terms of the agreement. The plaintiff asks when the settlement check should be delivered to the plaintiff’s lawyer. The adjuster arranges for payment of the agreed-upon settlement.

The insurance company sends the settlement check to the plaintiff’s lawyer. The lawyer takes the percent of that check that matches with the agreed-upon fee. Then the lawyer writes a check to the plaintiff. If the lawyer uses a nickname on that same check, that name might not be the name on the plaintiff’s bank account. Consequently, the plaintiff must speak with the lawyer, and that same attorney needs to write out a new check.