Many plaintiffs in a Tulsa, Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit are confused when their personal injury attorney presents a personal injury settlement offer for the first time.
People who are not legally represented are at an even bigger disadvantage at evaluating whether the first proposed personal injury settlement offer is fair and sufficient. Your personal injury attorney will advise you that you are under no obligation to accept any offer from an insurance company and have every right to pursue your claim through the court system.
So, what happens if you reject the first offer from the insurance company?
This is a scary situation to potentially be in. Often, people think if they don’t accept the first offer that the subsequent offers will be lowered or there will not be any subsequent offers.
Your Tulsa personal injury attorney will assure you that the insurance company’s first offer will not be their last. Typically, the first offer is also the lowest.
This article will outline negotiating personal injury settlement offers and counteroffers with the help of your personal injury attorney as well as what elements insurance companies look to in deciding a settlement offer amount.
The First Offer
As previously mentioned, you have every right to accept or reject your first personal injury settlement offer—but don’t forget that your personal injury attorney will also have advice based on your specific situation.
Typically, the first offer is when the insurance company formally notes they have reviewed your evidence and are ready to commence settlement negotiations.
The first personal injury settlement offer also triggers your Tulsa personal injury attorney to draft a demand letter to the at-fault driver’s insurance company. The letter will clearly and in detail outline the specific amount of money requested.
A demand letter is more than a request for a specific damage amount; this letter allows you to tell the story from your point of view, introduce important evidence that proves the fault fault of the other driver, outline the medical treatment received so far, discuss what your medical recovery may be, and provide any other information your personal injury attorney thinks is important to include.
At the end of the demand letter, your attorney will include the personal injury settlement amount that he or she believes is appropriate, fair, and would ultimately settle the case.
Determining the First Offer
Because the first offer is usually so low compared to what you and your lawyer believe to be fair, it is important to look at what actually goes into evaluating a claim from the insurance agent’s perspective.
The following elements are what insurance companies and agents consider when preparing to make a first offer in a personal injury case:
- The victim’s story and any police report or accident report filed.
- Background investigation on the victim, such as if they have filed personal injury claims before.
- Medical records, medical bills, proof of employment and earnings, proof of damage to property (if an adjuster notices that a victim has a prior injury to the body part complained about in the current claim, they will request those medical records as well).
- Evaluates the victim’s chances of winning at trial.
- The amount a jury might award the victim if the victim wins at trial.
- The type of medical provider providing treatment (i.e. a chiropractor versus an orthopedic surgeon).
- If a pain and suffering award is being requested and the amount.
Once the insurance agent has come up with a settlement amount, the first offer is usually a percentage of that amount; the insurance agent is never going to offer the full value in the first offer.
For example, the insurance agent may offer 45% of the total value of the victim’s case. However, there is not a standard initial percentage offered in the insurance field.
The percentage is often lower for unrepresented clients, higher for well-known successful personal injury attorneys, and lower for attorneys with little to no trial experience just looking to settle the case. This is not to say that going to trial is preferred, but attorneys with trial experience are taken more seriously because insurance companies do not want to spend their resources to go to trial.
Counteroffers
Once the first personal injury settlement offer is made, the attorney demand letter is subsequently sent off.
After the demand letter is sent, your attorney and the insurance agent will go back and forth negotiating settlement offers.
After every offer is given by the insurance company, your Tulsa personal injury attorney is obligated to give you notice of it. He or she should help you decide whether you are comfortable with the amount.
With minor accidents with mostly automobile damage, these negotiations may not be very long.
If there are serious medical issues that result in permanent disability, a change in career, or a change in lifestyle, negotiations may not always result in a satisfactory amount. Therefore, going to trial is necessary.
The most important thing to remember is that you are under no obligation to accept anything from the insurance company and shouldn’t accept any amount without legal representation. Insurance agents tend to take advantage of unrepresented victims. If you are injured and have property damage, you need an advocate in your corner.
Free Consultation with a Tulsa Personal Injury Attorney
Consulting with an attorney as soon as possible in the event you are injured is very important in order to preserve your rights, make sure insurance companies take you seriously, and help you negotiate and obtain a fair settlement. An attorney can help protect you and advise you on what you are entitled to in a personal injury settlement.
Hiring a knowledgeable and experienced Oklahoma personal injury attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.
Contact an experienced Tulsa personal injury attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma personal injury civil process.
For a free confidential consultation, call 918-924-5528 now.
