Understanding Personal Injury Settlement Offers
Posted on: 22 December 2017
If you get injured, having to take a case to court is not exactly the best way to deal with it. Going through a trial can be stressful, expensive and can take months and months for it to be done. On the other hand, being offered a settlement by the other side can be a wonderful opportunity to get your case over with and to get paid quickly. The issue of personal injury settlements can be somewhat confusing for some, so read on for some more information about the possitive side of personal injury cases.
Understand what you can be paid for: When it comes to personal injury cases, the dollar amount that you are entitled to get as a result of the accident is called money damages. This term encompasses all the many ways that the accident has impacted you, such as:
- Your vehicle
- Personal property, such as lost or damaged clothing, cell phones, child car seats, etc.
- Lost wages, which is any time you missed attending your job, including any paid time off you had to use.
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
The importance of your medical expenses: Many people fail to understand how important the dollar amount of their medical expenses from their accident can be, and it's easy to see why. In most cases, the medical expenses are automatically paid by the insurance carrier for the at-fault driver. You should know, however, that just because you never see any bills doesn't mean that the dollar amount is not a key part of your potential settlement offer.
Your pain and suffering can only be equated to dollar and cents by using the cost of your medical expenses. This dollar amount demonstrates the severity of your injury, and thus the impact the accident and injuries have had on your life. The higher your medical expenses, the more your pain and suffering payment will be.
When will a settlement offer come? Most personal injury cases are settled out of court, but the timing depends on several things. Once you hire an attorney, a letter detailing your injuries and "demanding" compensation will go to the at-fault driver and their insurance company. If there's no offer forthcoming, you might need to file suit and proceed to the discovery process, where evidence and testimony are exchanged between the parties. This presents another opportunity for a settlement to be offered. Even if the trial begins, a settlement offer can come at any time.
Be sure to get a legal expert on your side who knows how much you should get and how to get it. Speak to a personal injury attorney right away. To learn more, contact a law firm like Zavodnick, Perlmutter & Boccia LLC.
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