Negotiating Your Personal Injury Claim
In our article from several weeks ago, we discussed how and why many personal injury claims are resolved through a settlement, rather than a jury verdict. Of course before your claim can be settled however, you, your Passaic County personal injury lawyer, and the insurance company will need to negotiate the various aspects of your claim.
What happened? Who exactly is responsible, and why? How does that responsibility (liability) translate into an actual dollar amount for the damages you have suffered as a result of your injuries?
All of these questions will need to be addressed, and many times can be done so before your claim ever actually goes to court. When it comes to negotiating your personal injury claim, here is what you need to know.
Why Working with an Experienced Passaic County Personal Injury Attorney is Important
When you file any kind of injury claim with the insurance company, whether it be a first-party claim (a claim with your own insurance provider) or a third-party claim (a claim against the provider of some negligent party), that insurance company will hire what they call an “insurance adjuster” to investigate your claim.
While this adjuster may seem helpful or friendly, at the end of the day they work for the insurance company, their job is essentially to settle your claim for as little as possible, and they are usually quite good at finding ways to do so.
If the insurance company has professional representation on their side during your personal injury claim, you most likely will want to have representation of your own, someone who is familiar with the ins and outs of personal injury law, and the various strategies and tactics insurance companies employ in order to settle for as low a dollar amount as is possible.
The Personal Injury Negotiation Process, Wayne Accident and Injury Lawyers
Once you have retained the services of a Clifton accident and injury lawyer, the insurance company can no longer legally contact you without doing so through your attorney. At this point, your attorney will start investigating your case, and gathering the evidence necessary to proving the full extent of the damages you have suffered, and how and why the other party is liable for those damages.
However, most negotiations between your attorney and the insurance company will occur “behind closed doors” so to speak, meaning without you taking part in the actual negotiations. This can be difficult for people who prefer to have a high degree of control over circumstances, but it is important that you remember that:
- Your attorney is legally obligated to act in your best interests and in accordance with your wishes, and you have the final authority over whether to settle your claim, continue negotiating for a better offer, or to take your claim to court.
- It is very possible for you to you accidentally say or do something during negotiations which harms your own case, and it is more efficient, and safer, to let your attorney who has extensive personal injury negotiation experience to handle this process.
- It is important that you instead focus on recovering physically from your injuries, and emotionally from the trauma and stress that traumatic accidents can often cause in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
Clifton Personal Injury Lawyers Recover the Compensation You Need and Deserve
As the negotiation process for your personal injury claim unfolds, your Clifton personal injury lawyer will be able to advise you as to what kind of offer would accurately and fairly compensate you for your injuries and resulting damages, and work in a professional and knowledgeable manner towards securing such an offer.
At The Law Office of Fredson & Statmore, our attorneys have extensive experience securing full and fair compensation in personal injury claims of all kinds for clients and their families in towns across New Jersey and Passaic County, including Clifton, Wayne, Paterson, Little Falls, West Milford, and Woodland Park.
If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of the reckless or negligent actions of another party in a car accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, construction accident, ladder and scaffolding accident, a slip and fall, as the result of a dangerous or poorly maintained property, or any other kind of accident leading to injury, our firm is ready to provide you and your family with the attentive, knowledgeable, and highly effective service you need and deserve in such critical matters.
To speak with our legal team today in a free and confidential consultation regarding your injuries, your options for recovering compensation, and how exactly we can help you to do so, please contact us online.
