Personal Injury Legal Advice: Evaluating a Settlement Offer

If you have been injured in an accident of some form, your insurance company will have an adjuster closely examine the facts, evidence, and details of your injury. Based on the adjuster’s findings and recommendations, your insurance company will make you a settlement offer. This offer is likely to give a dollar figure, but very little explanation as to how they came to that amount. It may also include convoluted legal fine print. In either case, evaluating a settlement offer from your insurance company may present a challenge, but some personal injury legal advice can help.

How Can You Evaluate a Personal Injury Settlement Offer?

To effectively evaluate your settlement offer, consider asking the following questions:

Is the Offer Sufficient?

When you first receive the offer, you may find it to be a lot less than you had hoped for, and your initial reaction may be to reject it as insufficient. Do your homework to determine if this is actually an insufficient offer. Ask your company to explain the reasoning behind the settlement offer. If they do not give it to you, prepare an estimate for yourself. Consider how much each day of your injury has cost you so far, including medical expenses, lost income, and more. If the offer does not cover at least those sustained expenses, then it is most likely insufficient and needs to be renegotiated.

Will this offer cover my future expenses?

In addition to your previous and current injury-related expenses, you may need future medical care. You must make sure that the settlement you are being offered includes compensation towards that care. To determine if the settlement offer includes sufficient coverage for future expenses, take the current offer, subtract from it what you have previously and currently incurred in expenses, and see what the difference is. If the remaining amount is not sufficient to cover what you believe will be the expenses of your ongoing care, the offer is not likely to be enough and may need to be reconsidered.

What are the payment terms of my settlement?

Most settlements are offered in three payment structures: lump sum payments, periodic payments, and structured settlements. Lump sums are one large amount, paid once. Period payments are made occasionally over a longer period of time, and structure settlements over an even longer period. If the terms of your settlement are not included on your offer, contact your insurance company to determine and/or negotiate which term works best for you.

Getting Help

If you find that you are having difficulty agreeing with your insurance company on the terms and specifics of your settlement, consider getting a lawyer. Your attorney can review offers to see if they are fair based on what the law entitles you to, and can help you to negotiate a better deal with the insurance company who is trying to settle your case.

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