Knowing how personal injury lawyers negotiate settlements provides insight into choosing an attorney to represent you. To pursue maximum damages, your lawyer must have the experience, skills, and resources to investigate, collect evidence, determine liability, calculate your full damages, and make a convincing case based on the law in settlement negotiations or court.
At Gervelis Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys use decades of combined experience in personal injury cases to fight for justice one case at a time. We know how stressful settlement negotiations can be. We will keep you informed every step of the way—that’s the Gervelis Guarantee.
Considerations Attorneys Use in the Settlement Negotiation Process
Notifying the other party of your claim and the damages you seek often triggers settlement negotiations. The other party will investigate, and your attorney will continue building your case. The two sides share evidence during the discovery process.
You may get a fair offer quickly if your case is straightforward. Complex claims often require several rounds of negotiations and witness depositions. How lawyers negotiate settlements depends on factors including:
- Liability: Under Ohio’s comparative negligence law, plaintiffs can recover in lawsuits if they are 50 percent or less responsible for their damages. However, the compensation you can recover will be reduced in proportion to your share of the fault.
- Injuries: The nature and severity of your injuries affect the overall value of your claim. More severe injuries typically lead to higher medical expenses and greater pain, suffering, and emotional harm.
- Medical and other expenses: This includes current and future medical costs, rehabilitation, home nursing, and other expenses.
- Lost wages: This includes past and future earnings and lost earning capacity.
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress: These non-economic damages often form a greater proportion of a settlement than economic losses.
- Punitive damages: In Ohio, judges may only award punitive damages when the defendant’s actions constitute malice or egregious or aggravated fraud. Malice includes a conscious disregard for the safety of others, resulting in a great probability of severe harm.
Engaging With Insurance Companies
Ohio is an at-fault insurance state. Insurance adjusters may unfairly blame car accident victims for minimizing payments. In these and other personal injury cases, they may use the state’s comparative negligence law to shift blame and minimize payouts. An attorney’s role as an advocate for an injured party is critical when facing these insurance company tactics.
Insurance company representatives may try to stall, so you’ll take a lowball offer to get much-needed compensation sooner. Stalling could also result in losing your opportunity to collect damages. The Ohio personal injury statute of limitations gives you two years to file a lawsuit. As you near the end of this statutory deadline, the insurance company loses its incentive to settle to avoid court.
Insurance companies may also try to convince accident victims to settle or drop their claims by telling them they have no case. Our accomplished personal injury lawyers will not let them get away with it.
What Negotiation Tactics Do Lawyers Use?
Defendants and insurance companies put their interests first. Skilled plaintiff’s lawyers make cases for fair settlements based on tactics such as:
- Adapting to the other party: An attorney can’t allow bully tactics to dictate negotiations. Using these tactics may be counterproductive if the other party is fair and reasonable.
- Staying fair and objective: If the other party finds terms or behavior outlandish, they may shut down negotiations.
- Having a settlement range: With your input, your attorney should have minimum and acceptable offers in mind.
- Preparing and presenting solid evidence: Evidence must support every claim regarding liability and damage amounts.
- Using active listening: Active listeners try to understand what the other person is saying and note things like their verbal and nonverbal cues.
- Communicating calmly: Yelling and finger-pointing aren’t likely to lead to reasonable solutions.
- Staying silent: It is often better to let the other party respond rather than push an argument. Their response may support your claim.
- Walking away: If the other party is unreasonable, it is sometimes best to walk away and let them come back with another offer or go to court.
- Using leverage: Preparing every case as if it will go to trial gives a lawyer leverage in negotiations. No case is required to settle. Sometimes, it’s best to take your chances with a judge and jury.
How Long Do Negotiation Settlements Take?
Your personal injury settlement timeline depends on the specific circumstances of your case. Some settle within a few weeks to a few months. Claims with liability questions and complex damages calculations can take several months or longer.
Your case may also take longer if there are multiple defendants, such as a negligent driver and the manufacturer of a defective part. If the insurance company or defendant refuses to cooperate or negotiate in good faith, you may also face a longer timeline.
If you have extensive injuries or those with long-term impacts, extended settlement negotiations may be in your best interest. For example, it can take several months for doctors to determine the long-term effects of a back or traumatic brain injury.
You can speed up the settlement process by preserving evidence of your accident, keeping all your medical records, and being completely honest with your attorney. Surprise evidence the other party uncovers can stall negotiations while your attorney investigates and counters.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Maximize My Settlement?
Attorneys use their legal knowledge, interpersonal skills, and experience in similar cases and settlement negotiations to pursue maximum damages. They can use investigators and experts, such as accident reconstructionists and medical and financial professionals, to establish the other party’s liability, the extent of your losses, and the compensation you deserve.
A skilled attorney asks questions and gets to know their clients. Calculating economic damages can be straightforward. However, maximizing compensation for your pain, suffering, and other non-economic damages depends heavily on your attorney’s ability to tell your story during negotiations or court proceedings.
Well-established personal injury law firms often have professional networks they can rely on. They can help you seek medical treatment from skilled physicians who can document your injuries. They can also refer you to other community resources you and your family need after an accident.
Based on their experience, your attorney may tell you a settlement offer is low. They may also advise accepting a fair offer. Protecting you against an unnecessary, protracted court battle is one of the reasons why lawyers want to settle out of court. If you risk too much, you may end up with nothing.
Can You Negotiate a Settlement Without a Lawyer?
You can negotiate without a lawyer, but you risk making mistakes that can jeopardize your case and leave money on the table. Hiring an attorney—especially one with experience in your type of claim—has several benefits, including the following:
- Objectivity
- Legal expertise and knowledge of the local legal landscape and its players
- Resources to gather evidence and conduct full investigations
- Complete damages calculation, including future expenses
- Increased settlement value through skilled negotiations
- Speeding up your Ohio settlement timeline
- Courtroom experience
How personal injury lawyers negotiate settlements hinges on their knowledge and skills, which come with hard work and experience. You trust a skilled mechanic with your vehicle and a licensed electrician with your home. Trust a law firm with a successful background in personal injury claims with your settlement negotiations.
When To Accept a Settlement Offer
Don’t accept a settlement offer without consulting an experienced attorney. It’s hard to turn down compensation after bills pile up. But think about the long-term impact if you accept now and can’t cover damages from your accident later.
Consider factors such as whether the offer meets your financial needs and fairly addresses the extent of your harm. Talk to your lawyer about how much you want, what you consider fair, and what amount you absolutely won’t accept.
What if Negotiations Aren't Successful?
If you aren’t satisfied with a settlement offer, your attorney will prepare your case for court. That doesn’t mean negotiations end. Very few personal injury claims make it to a verdict. Your attorney will continue to analyze the evidence and present your arguments to the other party. If the insurance company or opposing attorneys are worried about a jury deciding liability and damages, they may make a last-minute offer.
Contact Gervelis Law Firm Today
It is often difficult to sort out evidence, liability, and damages in personal injury claims. The other party may have a team of insurance adjusters and lawyers, all fighting to deny or minimize your damages. Our personal injury attorneys will provide aggressive, experienced, and effective legal representation at every step of your case. We’re here when you need us most.
Contact Gervelis Law Firm today for a free consultation by completing our online contact form or calling 866-792-2728.
