Not every lawsuit settlement will be in the tens of millions of dollars. If it were solely left to the insurance companies to determine how much to give in concessions, they would give the least possible. It should be known that insurance companies never want to give out settlements, and this is why they have invested in top-notch attorneys to counter all your claims and only award the least possible amount. Aggressive legal representation is necessary to get the best settlement from legal battles.
They will always try to use a trick, legal loopholes, and other means to ensure you don’t get the settlement you deserve. But you can also do several things to stop them dead in their tracks to increase your chances of getting the compensation you deserve. This will depend on several factors, some of which are discussed below-:
Be very thorough with the documentation.
The documentation in legal lawsuits, such as personal injury cases, can be tedious, but they are of utmost importance if you want a worthy settlement. Irrespective of how you choose to proceed – either working with a personal injury attorney, working directly with the party at fault, or working directly with your insurance company, it is imperative to document everything and every step of the process. First, you must obtain something to show that the party at fault was indeed the party at fault. For example, if it was a major auto accident, you need a police report giving details of the accident and indicating who the party at fault was.
It would help if you never succumbed to the guilty driver’s temptation to convince you not to call the police. If it is impossible to get a report from the police, such as incidents in private properties, then get the contact information of someone who witnessed the accident and give a clear account of what happened. Also, take photos of the scene and try as much as possible to preserve every evidence you can get from the location. Such will help you with the litigation process, but should you decide to go for legal funding from an organization such as grapeleafcapital.com, it will be easy to get assisted because you will have proof that you have a higher chance of winning the case.
Talk with the right people.
To begin with, you should hire the right attorney. They should not just be practicing lawyers in that particular field but also have the experience and expertise in dealing with specific cases like yours. You can get them by asking for recommendations from friends and families who might have had a similar experience, or you can research on the internet for such lawyers in your area. Your choice of attorney may be the difference between whether or not you get a good or bad settlement or if you don’t get any compensation.
But choosing a good attorney is not the end of the journey. Contact proper medical providers if it is a case dealing with personal injuries. You may consider your general practitioner for a start, but you must work with a specialist to proceed with the treatment. Only go to the providers who offer the specific treatments you need. If you visit the wrong specialist, a misdiagnosis may ensure that your injuries are not severe, hindering your chances of getting a good settlement.
If it is a case of a defective product or malpractice, it is still important to work with your attorney to get the best experts in the respective industries. The idea is to have a watertight case that will punch holes in the defense’s evidence and easily convince the jury that you deserve to be given the settlement you are after.
Be aware of the statute of limitation.
Depending on the particular case you are involved with, you should be aware that there are statutes of limitations beyond which a patient may not be considered or may not attract any settlements. Statutes of limitations refer to the duration it may take before you make a claim. It varies widely depending on the case and the state. You should be aware of these because you may take too long to sue for settlement. When you present your claim after the statute of limitation is over, there will be a higher chance of your case getting thrown out of court. You will have to suffer all the ensuing consequences without any form of compensation.
Be ready for the long and tough walk ahead.
This is of vital importance if you are ever to get the settlement. If you got into an accident and went to the emergency room the same day but did nothing about it, it will give the judges that you weren’t hurt. Also, if you start to miss court dates because you have more important things to do, it may indicate to the judges that the case isn’t that important to you, and the defendants might as well be right.
If you have appointments for physiotherapy four times a week for three months and start feeling better after three or four weeks, this should not be a reason to stop the sessions. There is a reason why the doctor prescribed the sessions as such, and you will also need the documentation that you attended all the sessions when battling it out for a settlement. In other words, court battles may sometimes be long and tedious and might demand a lot from you. It would help if you were prepared for the fight ahead and ready for the run-up to the last mile. Any lapse between might give the defense what they need to convince the judges to throw out the case.
