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• The Importance of Witnesses in an Ohio Personal Injury Case

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THE FOUR PHASES OF A PERSONAL INJURY (AUTOMOBILE, TRUCK, MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT) CASE. Part 3 of 4

Phase 3: The Settlement phase:

As we have discussed in the last two articles, a non-fatality personal injury case can be broken down into 4 distinct phases:

1. Treatment Phase
2. Record Gathering Phase
3. Settlement Phase
4. Litigation Phase (if necessary)

Once all of your medical records have been collected, your lawyer will typically contact the insurance company to make a settlement demand. Your claim is now in what you could call the settlement phase.
The insurance adjuster will usually send the medical bills out to an outside medical company to be reviewed to see if they feel they are medically necessary and reasonable and comply with established medical billing guidelines.
The insurance adjuster will often send the medical treatment notes out to their own doctor to be reviewed.
These two things can take a while for the insurance company to complete, depending on the company. The insurance company may hold a round table to discuss the case, and have a supervisor review the round table recommendations. If the case is large enough, settlement authority may have to climb all the way up the insurance company ladder to the home office and a vice president or other executive. You see, insurance companies don’t just write big checks without crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's and this takes time. Wouldn't you do the same thing before you wrote a big check to a stranger?
However, remember that patience is a virtue. It normally takes one to three months for an insurance company to review a claim and make an offer, but that is just an average. It can take a lot longer or shorter depending on many factors, most of which are outside of your injury lawyer's control. The only option you usually have is to wait for an offer or spend years in litigation, so giving the insurance company some time is reasonable and in your best interest most of the time. Some insurance companies hope you will get impatient and just walk away. Don't give them the satisfaction. Don't let them pocket the settlement money that rightfully belongs to you.
More serious injuries means more documented medical evidence must be provided to the insurance company to review and that means more time needed to review it. If you were not hurt or just saw a doctor once, your case could be wrapped up very quickly, and probably for a small amount of money. Don’t think a quick settlement automatically means a fair settlement. They are usually not the same thing. Don't also think that some other lawyer has some magic wand that gets their client's huge quick settlements all the time. That is fantasy. Maybe 20 years ago, but not today.

Initial offer from insurance company

Soon enough, the insurance company will usually make an initial offer. Don't worry, it is usually not where the case will settle, but you have to start somewhere. Your injury attorney will usually make a high demand and they will make a low offer. You get it. This gives each side negotiation room. Your accident attorney should contact you when the offer comes in and discuss it in detail with you. You should be involved in this entire negotiation process. After all, it is your claim.
As for Chester Law Group, the biggest frustration we hear from clients is how slow the insurance company is in making an offer. Well, rest knowing that an experienced attorney is on your side, and while your attorney can't control when an offer is made, they can say that if an offer is not made in a timely and fair manner they will file suit on most cases for their clients to get them that fair offer.
A majority of cases settle without a lawsuit for a fair amount, in general. Remember, any lawyer can settle all of their cases if they accept a low enough amount on each case. The goal is to get a fair amount and avoid the time and expense and stress of litigation, not to settle quick and cheap.
case value:how to calculate it

Let's turn our discussion to case value. What is your particular case worth? I hear that question a lot. Well that is a question that cannot be answered in a short article, but I can tell you that some factors that go into determining the value of the typical Ohio personal injury claim include:

• Type and severity of injuries
• Types of symptoms involved, such as headaches, nausea, muscle spasms, range of motion problems, depression, TMJ, etc.
• Length of treatment
• Length of symptoms
• Effect of your injuries on your ability to work at home and on the job
• Length of time you have to work at home or on the job in pain
• Effect of injuries on all aspects of your lifestyle, social, sports, hobbies, etc.
• How long your lifestyle will be negatively affected by the injuries
• How long and to what degree these injuries have caused physical pain and emotional suffering
• Any surgical procedures involved in your care
• Any permanent injuries, such as scarring, loss of use of a limb, etc.
• Future medical care, future treatment, future symptoms, future pain and suffering, future pain while working, and future loss of enjoyment of life
• just to name a few.

It takes time to answer the questions
You can also see that the question of what your injury claim is worth cannot really be accurately answered until you have recovered from your injuries or your doctor says you will never fully recover. How long you had injuries, symptoms, treatment, pain at work, negative effect on your social life, and how long these will occur in the future are all dependent on time. How can you know these factors until you are recovered or far enough along in treatment to know you will never fully recover? The answer is you can't. Of course, most Ohio injury attorneys will discuss these issues regarding your particular claim personally with you as your case progresses. No article can address the particular issues in your exact case, but this article is meant to give an overview of the issues a typical person faces in an Ohio personal injury claim. You should talk to an injury lawyer to discuss your particular case

Give the insurance company what it wants to know

The above list gives you some idea of what insurance companies are going to want to know from you and your doctor to put a fair value on your case. Sometimes the offer from the insurance company is low simply because these sorts of issues are not addressed by you and by your doctor in their notes and therefore not known to the insurance company. It is worth repeating that the relevant information used by insurance companies to value your claim comes from you and your doctor. If it is not in the doctor's notes, it does not exist for most insurance companies. This is why it is so important to work with your doctor to make sure all the honest, relevant information about your injuries and how they affect your life is in your medical file. If your doctor is not asking you these questions, you may want to ask yourself why not. Most doctor SOAP notes should cover most of this and doctors are required to take notes.

Contact us today for a FREE, NO OBLIGATION consultation about your personal injury legal needs.

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