When someone else’s negligence or flat-out wrongdoing causes you serious injury, it’s in your best interest to try to maximize the personal injury settlement for your claim.
After all, you’re suffering because of someone else’s disregard for your safety. Getting what you’re owed doesn’t negate that, but it will help you get your life back together.
You’re also likely to find yourself with a fight on your hand. The insurance company will do everything they can to try to either dismiss your claim, or offer a lowball figure to settle quickly.
Follow these simple tips, and you’ll be on your way to maximizing your compensation.
First, Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer
Hiring a personal injury lawyer is the first and most important thing you must do in order to maximize your settlement. A good lawyer will show the other party that you’re not a pushover, that you’re going to fight to get the best settlement that you can. Check out Jones Act lawsuit settlement High Rise Financial for more info.
The cold hard reality is that the insurance company on the other side of your case has every reason to try to deny you what you’re owed. They’ll use every trick in the book to try to minimize their liability, the amount of money they end up owing you, and they tend to be very, very good at this.
In addition to showing them you’re in this to win, hiring a personal injury lawyer will help you negotiate the complex legal process, taking a lot of the pressure and stress of the situation off your shoulders. You can always learn more by searching for a personal injury lawyer in your area.
Be Ready With Evidence
There are many situations in life in which you can expect, within reason, to be taken to some degree at your word.
A personal injury case is the exact opposite of those times. Here, evidence counts for establishing what happened: cold, hard, tangible, look-at-it-for-yourself documentation of what actually happened to you, what the situation was, and what the effects have been.
All of those are important. You’ll need to establish what happened, and that may include police reports, testimonies from other people who saw what happened, photographs of the scene, and so on, and you’ll also need to make it clear what the effects have been on you.
Honesty is the Best Policy
While you want to maximize your compensation, it’s important to be perfectly honest and not to exaggerate, lie, or deliberately obfuscate or mislead about the extent of your injuries and their effects on your daily life.
Beyond the moral ideal of telling the truth, it’s also the case that being dishonest or misleading about your injuries in a fraudulent manner is actually against the law.
Moreover, if you were to be untruthful, there’s a good chance you would be found out, as insurance companies have every incentive to hire an investigator for this very purpose, i.e. to ascertain the real extent of your injuries and whether you might be lying or exaggerating.
On that note, you should also be honest about any previous injuries or accidents that might affect your condition. Again, not being forthright is likely to harm your case.
Follow Your Treatment
It is absolutely imperative that you follow medical advice and complete any prescribed course of treatment. Failure to do this could cost you a great deal in terms of your final settlement.
The insurance company will be swift to pounce on any gaps in your treatment and try to claim that if you missed treatment, you must not have needed it. To put it mildly, this would be very bad for you, and it could handily result in a lower final settlement.
Know What You’re Worth
During personal injury settlement negotiations, a common tactic employed by many insurance adjusters is to come straight out with a take-it-or-leave-it figure. They’re counting on you to not know what your claim is really worth and to not take the time to find out.
Don’t fall for this. Instead, take the time to figure out the real worth of your claim and what you should be receiving.
You’ll want to come up with the range of figures that covers what you believe your claim is worth. With the help of your personal injury lawyer, present this range to the insurance company.
Within that range, figure out the absolute bare minimum you’d be willing to accept. Be sure to keep this figure to yourself, and use it as a handy reference so you know whether or not to accept a settlement.
rachel frampton says
My sister would like to hire a personal injury lawyer because she accidentally slipped inside the mall. After all, the latter forgot to place precautions in the wet area. Well, you are right that this type of professional will show the other party that my sister is not a pushover. Of course, we’ll keep in mind to prepare the necessary evidence and state what actually happened.