When being made the victim of a personal injury accident, your initial course of action may be to receive medical treatment to heal from your bodily injuries and seek expert assistance to fix your property damages. Soon after, though, you may contact the at-fault party’s insurance company to receive financial compensation for these bodily injuries, property damages, and the like. It is almost always the case that an insurance company will come back with a settlement offer to avoid a trial by jury. Read on to discover how an insurance company calculates a settlement offer for your claim and how a seasoned Washington, D.C. injury lawyer at Simeone & Miller, LLP can work to ensure you receive a fair and full payout.
How does an insurance company calculate a settlement offer for my personal injury claim?
There is no standard formula that insurance companies follow to calculate a settlement offer for a personal injury claim. However, they typically start this calculation by looking at how much you have paid in medical bills thus far. Then, they may multiply this number by a factor ranging between 1.5 to five, depending on how intensive and extensive they determine your bodily injuries to be. In addition, they may tack on the amount of wages you have missed out on since you incurred your bodily injuries; along with possibly accounting for the wages you may miss out on until you reach a full recovery. This is not to mention their incorporation of property damage bills you have incurred thus far.
What should I do if I receive an insufficient settlement offer?
You must remember that, at the end of the day, an insurance company is simply a business that is working to meet its bottom line. In other words, they may adopt every tactic possible to minimize the amount of financial compensation they initially offer to you. This is regardless of how much documentation you provide them of your medical bills, property damage bills, lost wages, etc.
For this reason alone, it is almost always recommended that you do not accept a settlement offer without conferring with a proficient Washington, D.C. injury lawyer first. This is because our team has enough experience to almost instantly conclude whether an insurance company is lowballing you. What’s more, our team has the skills to compute an accurate estimate of how much your current and future bodily injuries and property damages are going to cost you; and overall go back with a strong negotiation strategy.
And even if an insurance company is unwilling to negotiate, our team will transition into being your legal representative at your upcoming trial proceedings. Undoubtedly, there is a lot more to be considered with settling an injury claim. So please initiate a conversation with a competent Washington, D.C. injury lawyer as soon as possible. Someone at Simeone & Miller, LLP is awaiting your phone call.