When you’ve suffered a serious injury, it’s a painful and traumatic time. The most serious injuries leave life-altering effects, sometimes requiring physical therapy and ongoing medical procedures, or leaving you with a permanent disability. Unfortunately, insurance companies may take advantage of you while you are vulnerable after an injury. Understanding common insurance company tactics and avoiding potential pitfalls is essential.
Why Do Insurance Companies Sometimes Make Fast Settlement Offers After an Injury?
Insurance companies in the United States are privatized, meaning they exist to make profits. Maximizing their profits depends on taking in more premiums than the company pays out on claims. An insurance company attempts to pad its profits by reaching out to an injury victim very soon after their injury with a settlement offer. They do this when they understand that their policyholder is at fault for the injury.
An insurance company may quickly offer a settlement in the hopes that you will accept it while you are still vulnerable and uncertain about how you will manage your hospital bills while unable to immediately return to work. They make this offer very soon after the accident, not because they are compassionate, but because they want you to accept a fast settlement before the full extent of your damages becomes clear to you.
While it’s important to file a claim in good time to ensure that it meets the statute of limitations (two years from the injury date in California) if the case has to go to court, it’s also important not to accept a first settlement offer before you know the full scope of your damages, including what to expect in the future for continuing medical care and the impact of the injury on your earning ability.
Signing a First Settlement Offer Disqualifies You from Filing a Lawsuit
Any time you sign a settlement offer, it includes signing away your right to file a lawsuit and take the case to court. This is a beneficial resolution to a case once your injury-related expenses and permanent physical and emotional impacts are well understood. A later settlement after an attorney calculates your damages results in the compensation you deserve without the time, stress, and additional expense of court. If you sign a first settlement offer before you know the permanent impacts of your injury, you cannot ask for more compensation later.
A First Settlement Offer Is Typically a Low Starting Point for Negotiations
An insurance company’s first settlement offer is almost always far less than a claim’s full value. Common compensation in personal injury claims includes amounts for damages such as past and future medical expenses, past and future income loss, pain and suffering, and catastrophic injury damages if they apply in your case, such as loss of limb, disfigurement, or diminished quality of life.
An experienced Van Nuys personal injury lawyer handles all communication with the insurance company, protects against lowball first settlement offers and other common insurance company tactics, and carefully calculates your past, present, and future damages. A skilled attorney argues for the maximum compensation available in your personal injury claim. Then, they assertively safeguard your best interests while negotiating with the insurance company to achieve the most favorable outcome possible in your case. If the insurance company fails to offer an ample settlement, your attorney will take the case to court.
