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A settlement should be fair to both sides of a dispute. It should resolve the same dispute.
The claimant’s job, before the pre-settlement negotiations:
The claimant should study the value of the sustained losses and then estimate the case’s worth. After having taken that action, the same claimant ought to have a figure in mind, one that would represent the lowest acceptable bid from the insurance company.
Then, working with a personal injury lawyer in Barrie, the claimant must compose a demand letter. The amount demanded should be well above the minimum figure that is in the claimant’s mind. There needs to be room for bargaining. Both sides need space for creation of bids.
Lawyers also ask claimants/clients to refuse the insurance company’s initial offer. That could be an exceedingly low offer. In addition, lawyers ask their clients to delay negotiations until the injured victim has reached a point of maximum medical improvement.
The pace of the negotiations works to determine the fairness of the outcome.
Insurance companies know that most injured claimants are eager to get the money that should be coming to them. For that reason, insurance adjusters try to settle a case as quickly as possible. Claimants perceive that as fair, because it speeds the delivery of the desired compensation.
Still, that delivered compensation might not be a fair amount of money. The adjuster knows how much money the insurance company feels ready to give the injured victim. Of course, that same victim does not know what value the adjuster has placed on that same victim’s case.
Consequently, if the 2 parties settle too soon, the person that suffered losses might not get all the money that he or she would have received, if the negotiations had continued.
Does that mean that is helps to proceed slowly and with great caution? That is not necessarily the way to look at the situation. Sometimes claimants’ added caution could exasperate the adjuster. It might push him or her to refuse to respond to the most recent of the claimant’s demands. That would lead to creation of a stalemate.
Sometimes the only way to end a stalemate is to threaten a lawsuit. That treat could push the adjuster to offer a response. Hence, the negotiations would finally move forward.
When the 2 disputing parties did agree on a certain figure, it would be the claimant’s job to get confirmation of that same figure. The insurance adjuster should also say when the compensation package would be on its way to the lawyer’s office. The insurer would insist on a signed release form. The lawyer should arrange for that. Ultimately, all everything should proceed in a manner that is fair to all.