Understanding More About Settlements Following An Accident
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
When you’re involved in a Florida accident, it can throw your entire life into chaos. After all, not only do you have to try to recover physically and mentally, but you have to do so while coping with large financial burdens that can occur as a result of injuries. From medical bills to lost wages, those financial burdens are made all the worse due to the existing bills that continue to pile up.For many, those financial burdens are exactly why a settlement offer will be so enticing. In these settlement offers, you’ll be given the chance to gain a lump sum of cash as long as you agree that you relinquish all further rights to seek additional compensation.
But is it worth it? The answer is that sometimes it can be, but the key is making sure that you take steps to ensure that you’re getting a settlement offer that is fair. A personal injury attorney will be key in doing so. However, learning a bit more about why that is and about settlements and how they fit into post-accident recovery is important.
The first thing to keep in mind is that a settlement can often be part of a longer term strategy used by insurance companies. For example, they may string you along with stall tactics, making it feel as though you have no chance of getting any money at all. Then, when the settlement offer is made you will be more likely to accept the proposal – even when they offer you less than what you’re really owed.
But just what are you actually owed? There are a lot of different factors that can play into this, but some of the primary things that will influence what is a fair settlement amount include:
- Medical costs associated with the accident, including medications and emergency services.
- Future potential medical costs that may occur as a result of the accident.
- Lost wages due to time away from work caused by your injuries.
- Future potential lost wages that occur from the accident.
While medical costs are easy enough to identify, future potential costs often require things like medical experts or financial experts to make a prediction as to what total costs may end up being. This means that you’ll need to have access to those professionals, and a good personal injury attorney will be able to draw on their pool of resources to help with this.
Another thing to understand about settlements is that in order to get the best possible outcome, having an attorney on your side is important. The reason is that many insurance companies and legal teams are unlikely to even offer you a settlement while you’re trying to go through things on your own. And if they do, it will almost always be incredibly lower than you should get.
But with an attorney on your side, it’s more likely that they’ll work towards offering you something fair. That’s because knowing that you have a professional on your side could end up costing them more. In short, they’re more likely to work to give you a fair settlement because they know that your attorney could actually end up costing them more.
The bottom line is that having an attorney on your side could provide you with the best possible result from your injury settlements. You’ll get a fairer, faster offer with the pros helping you.