This is certainly a loaded question, the answer to which can have a huge impact on the rest of your life. What is always a bad decision is accepting a settlement offer without at least considering your other options. You aren’t in any way obligated to take the first offer on the table, and just because the insurance company sends you a settlement doesn’t mean that’s the end of the discussion.

However, it is critical to understand that once you accept a settlement offer, your case is closed forever. There’s no chance of renegotiating or filing a future suit for the same incident. That is why it is of the utmost importance that you fully understand what you are legally entitled to so that you can judge whether the settlement is fair.

The Insurance Company’s Point of View

Though the Insurance company will not tell you how they arrived at their settlement number, you can be sure of one thing: they will always try to give you as little as they can get away with. They aren’t concerned about giving you enough money to truly cover your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The insurance adjustor’s job is to take all of the information into account about medical treatment, the plaintiff’s prior injury history, and the likelihood of the plaintiff winning at trial should the case advance to that stage.

Thus, the number they come up with does not truly reflect what you deserve. Instead, it is a careful, calculated assessment of risk on their part. If you have a high possibility of winning your case in trial, then their settlement offer will be much closer to the total case value than if you had very little chance of winning. There are other factors which also have an impact on the valuation of the settlement, like whether you have legal representation, whether your lawyer has a reputation for settling quickly, and whether your lawyer has a high rate of success in court.

Premier Orlando Personal Injury Attorney

If you’ve been injured in an accident of any kind and receive a settlement offer from an insurance company, you should always seek legal counsel before responding to the offer. At The Troutman Law Firm, we have represented cases like yours for over 25 years in the Orlando area. Our team of legal experts can walk you through every step of the process, from a minute after the accident occurred up until you receive the compensation you deserve. Let us help you decide whether the settlement is right for you. If you’d like to see if our firm is a good fit, please call us today for a free initial consultation at 407-647-5002.