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What Determines The Value Of Your Claim And When Should You Settle?
Usually the best time to settle your claim is after your doctor has released you from treatment or your doctor tells you that your physical condition is as good as it is going to ever be. If you settle before then, you risk settling for less money than your case is really worth. You may later find that your injuries were much more serious than you thought they were when you settled.
Generally, the more serious the injuries, the higher the value of the case. For example, a broken arm obviously is more serious than a bruised arm. An arm that is permanently weakened is more serious than a broken arm, and so on.
Answers to the following questions are important in determining the value of your claim. "Yes" answers mean the claim is generally worth more than "no" answers.
Do the witness statements, photographs, accident report, and other evidence show you did nothing wrong to cause the accident? If fault is clear, your claim is likely worth more than if fault is contested. Insurance companies often are very creative in coming up with ways that you may be at fault, even if you know you did nothing wrong.
Do the independent witnesses say the party you believe to be at fault was at fault?
Do you have recorded statements from the accident witnesses?
Do you have photographs and videos of the accident location, your injuries, the object(s) causing your injuries, and any property damaged in the accident?
Was a report of the accident made to the police, to the property owner where the injury occurred, to your employer, or to other appropriate persons soon after the injury such as the employer of the person who harmed you?
Did the person who harmed you say they were at fault at the scene or elsewhere?
Did any disinterested witness hear the other person admit fault?
Was the conduct of the person at fault bad enough to make a disinterested person believe that the conduct was outrageously reckless?
Did any of the witnesses volunteer that the other person's conduct was especially bad or outrageous?
Did the person who harmed you harm someone else in a similar manner either before or after your accident?
Was the person who harmed you working for an employer at the time of the accident? If so, do you know who that employer is?
Did you loose consciousness after the accident?
Did you seek medical care soon after the accident?
Did you follow your doctor's orders in all medical treatment after the accident?
If you did miss any doctor's appointments, did you call and cancel the appointment and giving the doctor a clearly understandable reason to miss the appointment, such as illness of other family members or funeral attendance?
Did the doctor's staff write the reason for the cancellation in the medical records?
Did your doctor ask to see you frequently?
Did your doctor prescribe physical therapy?
Have you had any special tests that were "positive," such as an MRI, CT Scan, EMG, Discogram, lung function test, blood chemistry analysis, urinalysis, and the like?
Do you have any loss of mental function such as long-term or short-term memory loss, frequently forgetting planned activities shortly after planning to do them, or problems doing mental calculations as quickly and accurately as you did before the accident?
Did you see any medical specialists after the accident?
Have you seen a neurologist, neurosurgeon, internist, physiatrist, orthopedist, pain specialist, or other board certified specialist in physical injuries?
Have you seen a psychiatrist, psychologist, neuropsychiatrist, neuropsychologist, or other board certified specialist in mental injuries?
Do you have large medical bills?
Were your injuries particularly painful, such as a broken bone, a burn, or a deep cut?
Have your injuries caused you to miss work?
Will your injuries permanently interfere with your ability to work like you did before you were injured?
Do you need to be retrained to learn new skills to make a decent living?
Has any loss of ability to work been documented by a vocational rehabilitation specialist?
Will your injuries cause you to experience permanent pain, either occasionally or constantly?
Has your doctor prescribed a pain management program with a pain specialist?
Will you need future medical treatment?
Have you suffered disfigurement such as scarring, loss of a limb, or permanent limping?
Have your injuries permanently hurt your ability to do any sports, recreation, exercise, hobbies, and other leisure activities?
Will your injuries permanently harm your ability to do chores around the house such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, laundry, caring for children, lawn mowing, raking leaves, and car and home repairs and maintenance?
Have your injuries interfered with your relationship with your spouse and other relatives by making you moody, irritable, depressed, feel guilty in not providing for your family as you did before, or cause you not to want to get out of the house and socialize with family and friends as you did before?
To help you decide what your case is worth, at the proper time your attorney can sit down with you and discuss with you cases that may be similar to yours, including what sums of money juries have awarded at the trial of similar cases, what settlement amounts have been voluntarily paid in cases like yours, and the pros and cons of trying your case versus settling your case.
Copyright 1994 - 2007 Clifford B. Rodgers.
Last Modified July 2, 2007
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