The first step in negotiating a personal injury settlement is to send a letter to the defense adjuster with supporting medical documentation long before the plaintiff finishes his medical treatment. The second step is to send a settlement demand package after the plaintiff exhausts all possible medical solutions, i.e. reaches maximum medical improvement. The purpose of this post is to detail the third step in negotiating a personal injury settlement.
The third step in negotiating a personal injury settlement is to determine the value of the case. It is important to do this after you receive the first offer from the insurance adjuster. When I receive the first offer from the insurance adjuster, I never respond immediately with a counter offer. Instead, I call the adjuster and ask how he or she calculated this first offer. I ask hard questions and get details about how he or she calculated the offer. The answers to my questions give me important information on how I can most effectively negotiate with this adjuster. Adjusters don’t usually try to hide the ball. They let you know their defenses and what they consider to be the weaknesses in the case. It is important to understand those weaknesses in order to properly place a value on the case. For information regarding how to place a value on a personal injury case, click here.
For information regarding the next step in negotiating a personal injury case, click here.