One of the most important aspects of a personal injury attorney’s job is settlement negotiation. Because experienced attorneys have negotiated hundreds if not thousands of cases, they have a better idea of what a case settlement value should be. While negotiating cases, attorneys take a lot of information into consideration and often negotiate with insurance companies. Lawyers negotiate elements of a case including liability, total damages, medical expenses, policy limits, location considerations, and direct negotiations with insurance companies to maximize settlement amounts for clients. Negotiations can happen at any point in the case and your attorney should always keep you informed on what evidence helps or hurts your case.
Studies have shown that having a lawyer represent your case is more likely to lead to compensation from the claim and a higher settlement amount. In a study by Nolo, it was found that 91% of people who hired a lawyer received a settlement. The same study showed that only 51% of people received a settlement without a lawyer.
In our civil courts system, monetary compensation is the only recovery an injured party can demand. Money may not repair an injury entirely, and injured parties would prefer never to experience the pain and limitation of their injury rather than to receive any amount of money. As one may not unscramble an egg, the courts cannot take away the injury itself. What they do allow is for the at-fault party to provide monetary compensation to the injured person as a means of accountability.
Typically, at-fault parties, particularly in the cases of motor vehicle crashes or premises liability injuries, will carry some form of casualty insurance to protect them from large liability claims. The insurance carrier will assign an adjuster to negotiate the claim on the at-fault party’s behalf, and the at-fault party will have little to no say with regard to how much is offered to the injured party. Negotiations will occur among the adjuster, the adjuster’s assigned defense counsel (without input from the insurer), and the personal injury attorney (with the client’s input and authority). Settlement negotiations can be made before a lawsuit has been filed or afterwards. Sometimes, either by court request or by the request of one party, the parties may enter into a mediation to negotiate the claim. This is a non-binding process during which the parties sit down in the same building where an experienced mediator (or someone who has negotiated similar types of claims over the years) will assist the parties to come to a resolution on the case.