Once the victim of an accident has submitted a personal injury claim, he/she becomes a claimant. Claimants should recognize the issues that ought to be considered, during any quest for a fair settlement.

What would be the claimant’s chances for winning, if the case were to be heard during a courtroom trial?

• Would the jury be shown evidence of a high quality?
• Would there be a decent amount of evidence?
• Would the witnesses seem credible? Do not overlook the possibility that the claimant/victim could be placed on the witness stand.

What sort of awards have juries given to other plaintiffs in this particular jurisdiction?

That information could guide both sides, as they struggled to come up with the figures to use during the negotiations. If juries had provided past plaintiffs with large award, then the claimant could make a larger demand. On the other hand, if those awards had been small, then the plaintiff’s demand should also be small.

Steps leading to negotiation

Claimant sends a demand letter to the adjuster at the other party’s insurance company. The amount demanded at the end of that letter should provide both sides with room for engaging in negotiations.

The claimant must await a response to the stated demand. It is usually much lower than the amount that was requested. Personal injury lawyer in Waterdown knows that the claimant’s response would set the stage for further negotiations.

Negotiating Process

Each side gets to study the offer that has come from the other side.
Each side has the chance to make a counteroffer, or the accept the most recent offer.
Each side can choose the rate at which it changes the size of is offer or counteroffer

—The claimant’s demand would get lower until it was close to the adjuster’s counteroffer.
—The amount offered by the insurance company would keep getting higher until the claimant had chosen to accept it.
—Claimants that reduce the size of the demand too quickly leave money on the table
—Claimants that reduce the size too slowly could cause the adjuster to refuse to give any response to such high figures.

Issues that could slow process

If the insurance adjuster were to suggest that there was shared blame, then that could slow the process. By the same token, if the adjuster were to question the severity of the reported injury, then that could have a similar effect on the rate at which the claims process would move forward.

If one or both of those particular issues were to be raised, then the claimant ought to think seriously about hiring a lawyer. Failure to do so would reduce the claimant’s chances for receiving what he/she would be ready to view as a fair settlement.