Personal injury cases end in settlements the vast majority of the time. Settlement offers may prevent both sides from spending additional money in court and extend the process. While settlement offers sometimes represent the best solution, taking that offer is not always a good idea. Whether or not you should accept a settlement offer depends on what the offer covers. If the other side isn’t willing to provide a fair settlement, your case might warrant a court date.
Top 3 Reasons to Reject Settlement Offers
First things first, negotiating with insurance companies without an attorney by your side may be ill-advised. The people talking to you focus all their time and effort on limiting how much they pay out. When delivering settlement offers to those without legal representation, they can often send lowball offers, given the lack of knowledge of the case’s value on the other side.
Don’t let insurance companies pressure you into accepting an initial offer. If you were injured in an accident, contact Probinsky & Cole for the help you need to secure compensation.
Reason 1: The Offer Doesn’t Cover Future Medical Expenses and Needs
If you’ve just been injured in a Florida car accident, one of your most pressing needs is to ensure your medical bills are taken care of. Initial settlement offers from insurance companies often focus on immediate costs, neglecting the long-term medical needs that can arise from an injury. If you are only focused on the present, you may accept these offers to achieve financial relief without thinking of the future.
Injuries often require more extensive treatment than initially anticipated, and without adequate funds, you may struggle to afford the necessary care. Later, you will end up in the exact same position as before, unable to pay medical bills. Your personal injury attorney can help you get short-term assistance through state and local programs to weather the storm while negotiations play out. At the end of the day, compensation that fully covers all your injuries and needs is better than one that leaves you incomplete.
Reason 2: The Offer Ignores Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages, namely pain, suffering, and emotional distress, should never be overlooked, even if they don’t directly relate to economic challenges after your injury. Insurance companies often minimize or overlook these damages in their initial settlement offers because it’s the one thing that, in some sense, is arbitrary. At trial, juries can impose high damages or downplay these costs, but the risk is always there. Settlements aim to avoid risk when possible, and insurance companies may not want to roll the dice.
A fair settlement should adequately compensate for these intangible losses, as they significantly contribute to your overall well-being and recovery. Probinsky & Cole’s personal injury attorneys can assist in negotiating a fair sum based on previous cases and Florida law. For reference, Florida caps punitive damages but not non-economic damages.
Reason 3: The Offer Overlooks Liability and Fault Issues
Insurance companies might offer low settlements when liability is unclear or disputed, hoping that claimants will accept the offer to avoid the complexities of proving fault. However, this may signal that they are worried about what would be uncovered after a full investigation. They wouldn’t rush to finalize a large settlement if they were 100% convinced their driver is blameless.
Comparative negligence laws here in Florida allow victims to recover a percentage of their awarded compensation even if they are partly at fault. This means that even if you were partially responsible, a court judgment can still cause insurance companies to send you a significant judgment. If they can avoid this by settling first, they don’t have to worry that a court determination of fault is higher than their estimates.
Overlooking liability issues can easily result in your case’s settlement not reflecting its underlying value. There is no reason to go to court when there is a fair settlement before you. But, if your case is much stronger than the other side is saying, avoiding an out-of-court settlement to acquire full compensation may be warranted.
Contact Probinksy & Cole today to start on your case and learn whether an existing settlement offer is worth it. Time is of the essence, and our team can quickly counter settlement offers that don’t cover all your needs.
