Do you find yourself facing a low personal injury settlement offer? The best thing to do before anything else is to get in touch with a personal injury attorney in Minneapolis. Luckily, our team at Osterbauer is the best personal injury lawyer in Minnesota, where we can help you deal with such situations. To learn more, be sure to keep reading below.
How You Need to Respond
If you’ve been working on your claim up until now, the best thing to do is to speak with our attorneys at Osterbauer to get the assistance and advice you need. An experienced and knowledgeable personal injury attorney will be able to represent you and fight for your best interests. However, if you get a low settlement offer from a law firm or insurance company, you and your attorney will need to take the following steps to secure a counteroffer.
Stay Calm
If you’ve been given a lowball offer for your suffering and pain, it may feel like an insult but you need to remain calm and avoid reacting to this initial offer. Because you have no obligation to talk to the insurer, you will need to keep a professional approach and leave the negotiation with your attorney. Remember that getting an initial offer is just the start of coming up with a solution.
Analyze their Offer
After getting an offer, you can look through its content along with your attorney. He/she will be able to break everything down for you and check what is and isn’t acceptable which you can then use in making the counteroffer.
Ask Questions
Once you’ve had the time to analyze their offer and are no longer letting emotions take control, it’s time to start asking questions. Be sure to find out why the adjuster provided that specific offer and ask your claims adjuster to provide you with a breakdown of how the offer was made based on the details they have. Furthermore, your insurance adjuster must give you the reason as to why they made a decision or why they denied your claim.
Provide Facts
When trying to settle offers regarding injuries, everything will need to be documented, so be sure to gather information on the following things:
- Your injuries
- Property damage
- Medical costs
- Lost wages
- Other damages
All of these things will be used as evidence to support your claim, and the more evidence you have, the better it will be for your team since it will be easier to prove your claim. Moreover, having all the necessary paperwork to support the amount you’re asking for will make it harder for the insurance company to give a lowball offer.
Create Your Counteroffer
Apart from providing them with a formal rejection of their offer, you and your attorney can create a counteroffer based on the amount of compensation you deserve, which may include:
- Medical treatments
- Pain and suffering
- Other damages you sustained
You might also consider factors such as the limits of the insurance policy offered to you. Another option is to look into the personal assets of the defendant if the policy limits on the insurance aren’t enough to cover the value of your injuries. Keep in mind that there is a lot of back and forth while negotiating.
Respond in Writing
Your attorney can create a formal response to notify the insurer that you will not be accepting their offer. While your attorney creates a draft, you and your attorney can point out any assumptions being made by the insurance company that resulted in the low offer. A written response can also include any additional details left out from the demand letter, regarding your injury case such as:
- Proof of lost income
- Details from police reports
- Non-economic damages
- Updated medical bills and reports
- Details on how your pain and suffering affect your life
Never Settle Unless You’ve Healed
If you have yet to heal fully from your injuries, be sure not to take any settlements of any kind. You have no way of knowing just how much your bills will amount to, which includes:
- Past and future income loss
- Medical bills
- Non-economic damages
Unless you know how much the full cost of the settlement will be, it’s best not to settle a claim.
What is a Good Settlement Offer?
When trying to determine what kind of offer to settle for, be sure to look for fair compensation according to your losses and injuries. A settlement offer that will leave you in debt as a result of lost wages and future medical expenses won’t do you any good. If you’re trying to settle a car accident negotiation, a victim and an insurance company will need to start by discussing their views on what will provide a reasonable and fair outcome.
You have the Right to Reject and Negotiate
An insurance company will always aim to provide the smallest amount possible for accidental injury claims. An experienced negotiator will know that the first offer will never be the best, especially when an insurance company is negotiating for the other side. However, you have no obligation to accept this and your attorney will most likely advise you to reject it.
If you’re ever contacted directly by an insurance adjuster with a lowball offer, remember that you don’t have to talk with them. Even if you do talk with them, you’re under no obligation to accept any low offers from them. By working with Osterbauer, you’ll have an experienced attorney to speak on your behalf, and the claims adjuster will know better than to talk to you.
How Osterbauer Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
Our experienced personal injury attorney in Minneapolis are expert negotiators who can provide you with the advice and assistance you need. We have the skills and experience you need to evaluate both your present and future financial needs. Our lawyers will be able to serve two vital functions when working out a settlement negotiation:
- Our lawyers will conduct a detailed analysis of the injuries you’ve suffered to calculate how much you will need to cover for the out-of-pocket expenses you may need to spend. We’ll also take into account the suffering and pain you endured, along with the damages you sustained to your relationships and overall quality of life.
- Translating just how much all of these things will cost you in dollars can only be accomplished by a skilled and seasoned attorney, which is why we’re here. Our lawyers will also negotiate directly with defense lawyers and insurance companies so that you don’t have to.
For the best personal injury lawyers in Minnesota, be sure to contact Osterbauer at 612-334-3434 or visit our website.
