Sudden Insurance

Most of the time, the answer is yes, but it depends on the type of case you have. If your case is small, meaning relatively low dollar value, then you can probably get by on your own without having to use a lawyer. However, knowing whether you have a small or big dollar case may be an issue you want to discuss with a lawyer.

Referring to a small case is not meant to diminish the importance because all cases are important to the people injured. However, our legal system cannot restore your health. All it can do is require the party at fault to pay you some money in return for your damages. So small means what you should be able to realistically expect to receive in payment for your injuries.

Some criteria to determine if your case might be considered a small case include the following: (1) your vehicle was only lightly damaged, like a bumper scratch/dent, (2) the medical treatment was for a soft tissue injury and lasted only 2-3 months, (3) the bills were not more than $3,000 to $5,000, and (4) the injuries were not permanent.

Typical cases that might qualify as small cases are rear-end collisions where there is only minor damage to the vehicle; where the injured person only saw a chiropractor and was diagnosed as having a soft tissue injury and recovered fairly quickly with no long-term permanent effects. These are the type of cases that people often settle for themselves.

If you have a small case, you still need to make sure your medical treatment is finished before trying to settle your claim. Ofteny doctors, such as chiropractors, will tell you that you have reached maximum medical improvement, or MMI. At this point, they will release you from treatment and tell you to come back if you have any problems. Once you are released, you will want to collect the bills and records from all medical providers who have treated you for your injury. If you were initially transported by ambulance and were treated in the ER of the hospital, you will want to collect these records as well.

After you have collected your medical records, you should write a letter to the insurance company stating your your demand or request for settlement. In your letter, you should ask to be reimbursed for your medical bills (and future medical bills if applicable) as well as the pain and suffering you went through and/or expect to go through in the future. You can present your own offer or ask them to make you an offer. The insurance company will then contact you and give you their offer. In most cases, their offer will be less than what you were hoping for. You are always free to make a counter offer and to negotiate with them.

The insurance company could offer to settle your case for the cost of medical bills plus $500 to $1,000 for your pain and suffering. They might offer you more or less. But this is probably in the range of what you might see if you negotiate with them directly for this kind of small case. If you are negotiating a larger case, you should expect more than this. Some law firms offer a free service where they will review the offer from the insurance company, compare it against your records, and let you know whether the insurance company is making a fair offer or not.

Even when attorneys charge there their typical 1/3 contingency fee, it is usually better to use one in larger cases. A study that was done in 1999 by the Insurance Research Counsel, found that people who used a lawyer for their personal injury claim received on average 3 1/2 times more compensation than those persons who settled their own cases.

If your case is a larger case, you should ask the attorney whether they will insure that you receive at least as much as offered by the insurance company. Our practice is to insure our clients get at least as much as offered by the insurance company or we will cut our fee to make that happen. This means the client will end up with more money in their pocket than if they had done it alone. This is a good thing to ask the attorney you are thinking of using.