Example Of Personal Injury Claim In Which Insurance Company Made Low Ball Offer To Severely Hurt Plaintiff
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-22 22:10:03 | Word Count: 566
It is worth looking at car accident claims where insurance companies chose to make offers well below the sum consequently recovered by the plaintiff at trial. These cases illustrate the factors which may come into consideration when deciding on the offer and the factors that might affect the ultimate outcome.
For example, consider a claim in which a bicyclist was injured. The driver in this situation was driving an SUV. The victim recounted seeing the driver come from the opposite direction then make a U-turn immediately in front of him giving him no time to stop his bicycle. This caused him to go over the hood of the vehicle. The plaintiff suffered from a wrist injury in which his cartilage was torn. As a result of his injury he had issues when he returned to his job as a mechanic with a dealership of high-end motor vehicles. Testimony from a physician indicated that the bicyclist will most likely require surgery to fuse the bones in his wrist at some point in the future and that when this happens it will probably stop him from continuing to hold down a job as a mechanic. This would mean a loss of earning capacity.
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With this information the law firm was able to name the employer as a second defendant. The insurance company made two settlement offers in the case. The first offer was for $10,000. The second offer, which they made the week prior to trial, was for $30,000.
The law firm documented that they rather than accept those low-ball offers took the case to trial and the jury gave the bicyclist $550,000.
Both sides knew the specifics of this case in advance of trial. The testimony of the doctor was not unexpected. But, each side perceived the case from a distinct angle and therefore reached a very different conclusion as to the value of the case. The insurance company adjuster and defense lawyer no doubt saw the matter as about an injury from which there was a full recovery. They most likely discounted the bicyclist's position that he had difficulties from the injury when he returned to work. And they most likely felt that the doctor's testimony was either too speculative or too far removed from the present.
But the law firm representing the victim positioned the matter so that it was not about an injury that resolved itself but about an injury that would come back to haunt the victim in the future. The injury may not have needed surgery immediately but it created sufficient damage to the wrist that it would require in all likelihood, not only surgery but a fusion. And this would probably put an end to the victim's career as a mechanic of high-end cars. By letting the jury consider the total effect of the injury the law firm was able to achieve a verdict over 18 times the sum offered by the insurer.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting catastrophic injury cases. To learn more about how a bicycle accident attorney can help you or to learn about other vehicle accident cases including fatal car accident cases visit the websites
