Settling a personal injury case can be stressful. If you are not a lawyer, you might not have the experience to know what your case is worth, and you might want to trust the insurance company’s valuation of your case. However, there are some important steps to take before settling an injury case with an insurance company in New York.
First, calculate the damages on your own. An attorney and financial experts are often needed to make sure your valuation is correct. Second, you might need to reject the insurance company’s first offer and appeal your case. Third, you should consider filing a lawsuit and taking your case to court instead of settling if the price isn’t right.
For help with your case, call The Martello Law Firm today for a free consultation. Our number is (914) 685-6950.
Calculating How Much Your Personal Injury Insurance Settlement is Worth in New York
To calculate what your case should be worth, it is often important to work with an experienced Westchester personal injury lawyer. Our attorneys have experience with other cases that can help us understand trends and how much insurance companies are willing to pay. Additionally, many damages are properly calculated with the help of subject matter experts that our attorneys can hire to use as expert witnesses or to write reports to use in settlement negotiations.
Most insurance claims deal with damages for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. However, both medical bills and lost wages often require us to consider how much these damages are worth now and what further help you will need going forward. Especially when it comes to calculating future lost wages, we might need to hire experts to project what future wages you will miss out on based on how your injury affects lost promotions and pay increases you would have otherwise received until retirement.
It is important to also have a White Plains personal injury lawyer calculate your non-economic damages. Damages for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages can be difficult to calculate, and insurance companies often use shorthand systems that apply a multiplier or a per-day value to these costs. However, they do not always ultimately reflect your damages properly – and some insurance policies won’t even cover these damages in the first place. Especially when it comes to no-fault auto insurance claims, New York insurance companies might block pain and suffering damages entirely, which could be a good reason to reject settlement altogether and take your case to court, if possible.
Appealing Insurance Offers in New York for Injury Cases
When the insurance company gets back to you with its initial offer for a settlement, it might not cover everything you need. Insurance companies often return a low-dollar value for the initial offer hoping that you will accept the settlement and end your case without hassle. However, especially in cases involving very serious injuries, these initial offers might be too low, and an appeal might be necessary.
If the insurance company is dealing in good faith, they might still think the settlement is too high and offer a lower valuation. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can appeal the case, submit additional information, and seek to negotiate a better settlement with the insurance companies.
If your insurance company seemingly never intended to pay your claim in the first place, they might be acting in bad faith. Bad faith insurance claims can often be filed when insurance companies breach their duty of good faith and block claims by canceling policies after the fact, “losing” claims, or simply refusing to return your calls or letters. If this has been your experience, call our New York personal injury lawyers right away so we can enforce your rights and get you the payments you deserve through a bad faith insurance lawsuit.
Suing vs. Settling with Insurance for an Injury Claim in New York
Getting payments for an insurance claim to cover your injuries might be the fastest way to get your damages paid after an accident. However, insurance companies might not compensate your injuries in full, and a lawsuit might be a better way to get compensation.
In most cases, our New Rochelle personal injury lawyers will seek to file a lawsuit alongside any insurance claims – if we can. When you pursue damages through both routes simultaneously, it can help push insurance companies to negotiate and settle for a fair value to avoid trial. However, some lawsuits are blocked because of insurance rules. For instance, work injuries and car accidents with mild injuries both use no-fault insurance systems that might block lawsuits against certain parties. Our New York personal injury lawyers can help look for alternatives, such as loopholes that allow lawsuits against third parties for work injuries or laws that allow lawsuits for “serious injuries” in a car crash.
In many cases, insurance companies will simply refuse to pay injury claims at their full values. When this happens, you might need to take your case to trial to get the compensation you deserve. Our New York personal injury lawyers can try your case before a judge and jury and fight to get you the damages you deserve through a court award if settlement offers are not adequate.
In the end, the choice of whether to accept a settlement lies with the client, not the lawyer. We can advise you on what might be best to maximize your damages, but the final decision is yours.
Call Our New York Personal Injury Lawyers Today
For a free case evaluation, contact the Mount Vernon personal injury lawyers at The Martello Law Firm. Call us today at (914) 685-6950.
