By: Curran Tompkins, Associate Lawyer
Not everyone will be put into a position, like yourself, where you are putting a number to the value of your pain and suffering.
The process of negotiation usually follows this pathway:
Your lawyer gathers all of the objective evidence in your file to prove your losses (financial documents, medical documents, expert reports, etc.)
You either approach, or you are at your maximum level medical improvement (no new symptoms are appearing, and you are stabilizing with treatments)
Your lawyer and you discuss your options (settle, continue to monitor, proceed to mediation or settlement conferences)
You initiate settlement discussion directed by your lawyer
There is a sequence of back and forth offers from the parties
You come to a settlement
At all stages of this process, you are the decision-maker. We meet regularly with you and we keep you informed on the stages of your progress. We will give you our opinion on both the time frame and potential settlement value of your file.
Prior to releasing any offer to the other side, we will review it with you. This can take the form of a “settlement demand” that we can issue directly to the insurance company, or to another lawyer.
Ultimately, the process of settlement is a give and take and there are usually three or more rounds of offers. At the end of the day, we work with you to get to a number you both understand, and you are comfortable accepting.
DISCLAIMER: The publications on this website are intended to provide information of a general nature and not legal advice. The information contained in this publication is current to the date of the publication and may be subject to change following the publication date.