Big businesses are part of nearly every personal injury dispute. On one side, you as an injured person are trying to get the resources you need to put your life back together. On the other side, the insurance defense attorneys are negotiating to protect the other policyholders who may also need to claim benefits in the future.
It is a complicated situation. However, we work with insurance companies frequently — we understand their motivations and inner operations. This puts us in a favorable position when representing injured people. Here are some of the lessons we have learned.
1. Insurers are reasonable
Insurers work under strict regulations. They have very specific contracts. If you show that you deserve payment, they should typically see reason.
2. Negotiations do not always work
Sometimes, if your injury results in very serious damages, insurance companies might not agree to pay the full amount you deserve during negotiations. This is not necessarily because they do not want you to recover. It is more likely that their internal policies require the higher level of accountability and transparency that a trial typically provides.
3. First offers are often estimates
Insurance adjusters, the people who value claims for the company, typically form an initial settlement offer on short notice with very little specific information. As a result, the first amount tends to come from statistics. You would probably benefit more from an estimate that came from data specific to your injury.
When you begin a personal injury case, it is important to understand who the parties are. This is even more true for claims involving powerful companies, such as those arising from slip and fall injuries in stores.
One of the ways we consistently get our clients what they deserve is by understanding how insurance companies operate. These huge organizations do not necessarily operate by the same rules as individuals — but they do have rules and patterns they tend to follow.
