While suffering a personal injury can mark a serious setback in life, victims can get justice by filing a lawsuit against the person who negligently injured them.
Our lawyers can help you get the compensation you deserve by using our extensive experience and legal knowledge in your lawsuit. Depending on the type of accident you were involved in, we will know what strategies will work best to win your case. Our lawyers will know where to locate important evidence and can explain how it will prove liability and justify the damages we are claiming. Our goal is to negotiate a settlement that accounts for all the losses you have endured as quickly as the case allows. However, our attorneys will be ready to fight your lawsuit in court if the defendant is not willing to pay what you are owed.
For your free case review with our personal injury attorneys, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., at (201) 777-1111.
Negotiating a Settlement in Your Teaneck, NJ Personal Injury Lawsuit
After suffering a personal injury, most victims need compensation as fast as they can get it. Even minor injuries can significantly impact your finances and future plans. Unfortunately, insurance companies and defense attorneys know this and often offer low settlement amounts right from the start of a case. This strategy is used to pressure victims into accepting a settlement offer while under the pressure of mounting expenses and before they have time to talk to a lawyer. However, if you accept a settlement that does not account for all your damages, you will miss out on the compensation you need and deserve.
Thus, the best way to negotiate a satisfactory settlement is to have our personal injury lawyers file a lawsuit. Not only will this show the defendant that you are serious about recovering compensation, but you will also be able to collect more evidence. If done right, your case will most likely settle before a trial is necessary. The following is how our team will negotiate a settlement in your Teaneck personal injury lawsuit.
Gathering Evidence
Settlement negotiations in a lawsuit are critical. While some cases might settle quickly and without much of a fight, most are negotiated through litigation. When an insurance company is defending the person who injured you, our lawyers will typically file a lawsuit at the same time as filing your lawsuit. This way, we can gather evidence during discovery to fully assess your damages and make a claim for an amount that reflects your losses.
It also removes the “statute of limitations” as a concern in your case. Most lawsuits for personal injuries must be filed within two years from the date the victim was injured, according to N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-2(a). However, once the lawsuit is filed, your case does not need to settle at any particular time. We can take all the time we need to gather evidence and prepare for a potential trial.
During discovery, we can obtain evidence in the defendant’s possession. This includes any records relevant to your case and getting their testimony while questioning them during depositions. If the defendant essentially admits fault or testifies to acting in a way that makes liability clear, the insurance company or defense attorney would likely settle the case rather than risk wasting more money by fighting the case at trial.
We will use the evidence we gather during discovery and assess it along with your medical records, lost wages, and any other evidence in your possession to help make our final calculations. Our team will get records from any healthcare providers who treated you to show a full picture of your injuries.
Estimating Pain and Suffering
Your settlement should also cover your “pain and suffering” damages. These are the non-economic losses your injuries have caused, like physical pain from your injuries and the emotional fallout from the accident. Many personal injury victims suffer mental anguish after an accident, but many settlement offers will attempt to lowball the amount of pain and suffering a victim gets.
Our team has a few ways of assessing your pain and suffering so a fair amount can be negotiated. In some cases, we might use the per diem method, in which the number of days you will suffer is multiplied by your economic damages. In other cases, we might use the multiplier method, whereby we assign a number to your injuries based on their severity and multiply it by the number of days you are likely to endure pain and suffering. Most of the time, we will get testimony from medical and mental health experts to help substantiate these damages.
Negotiating the Settlement
True settlement negotiations can begin once both sides have the evidence they need. The first offer will likely be lower than what you can get, so we will usually reject the first offer. Suppose we have overwhelming evidence and expert statements. In that case, we can try to convince the defendant that it will actually be cheaper to pay you what we are asking now than let the court decide the award for damages. Sometimes, the defendant or insurance company will drag their heels, hoping to call your bluff before trial. That is why it is not uncommon to settle a case even as the parties are walking into court for their trial.
There is often a bit of back-and-forth between the attorneys in a lawsuit before a settlement is reached. Of course, we will discuss every settlement offer made in your case since it is ultimately your decision whether to accept it. You might need compensation immediately and are not overly concerned with recovering every dollar you lost out on. You might decide that it is in your and your family’s best interests to take a good settlement now rather than wasting more time and money fighting for an ultimate award in court. Alternatively, you might need a court to decide the matter if the other side refuses to compromise despite strong evidence against them.
It is important to weigh this decision carefully. Going to trial might raise the expenses of your case, but it might also be the best way to get compensation for the full range of damages you suffered. Juries tend to be much more sympathetic to injury victims than insurance companies and attorneys. Some of them will likely be accident victims themselves, so they will want to compensate you fully.
However, if you accept a settlement, it releases the defendant and their insurance company from any liability for the accident after signing it. Once a case is settled, it cannot be refiled to recover additional damages not negotiated for, even if it stems from the same accident.
Our Teaneck, NJ Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help Today
Contact our personal injury lawyers at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., by calling (201) 777-1111 today for a free case evaluation.