QuestionQUESTION: Having submitted a demand letter with a detail description of the pain and suffering as you suggested many times, what will be the choice for the claimant if the at fault insurance does not want to increase the offer much? Will the only option is to take legal action or take the insurance offer? Thank you for your answer.
ANSWER: Hi Zilch,
You ask a very good question since most claims do hit a point like this, and from the perspective of you, the claimant, that point is always too soon. There are many factors at work against the adjuster. She likely does have some valuation software, such as Colossus, and when it gives its settlement figure, the adjuster is expected to come in at or around it. She cannot keep going to her supervisor asking for more money or her career will suffer at review time.
So let's look at some tools other than the demand letter. Anyway, the so-called demand letter is grossly overrated as a secret to a settlement. When we look at the search words that lead visitors to www.SettlementCentral.Com demand letter is at the top. Somehow people think that there is some magic formula that they will learn and hence they will be able to settle their own claims.
Since you have been reading up on these forums, then I am sure you are not one of those who is too focused on the demand letter. Hopefully you also read about some other tools that can be used to get some movement when the adjuster seems stuck. Here is one way to get off the stuck position: send a "second salvo" letter, as I will describe below.
At www.SettlementCentral.Com insurance claim settlements are taught via what to do BEFORE the demand letter AND after the adjuster responds. Since it is late for your claim to worry about what to do before the demand letter is sent, let's see if there is anything that might make sense to do now that you are stuck.
The "second salvo" letter is based on the premise that the adjuster might truly have an interest in what you have to say: in other words, that she is operating in good faith. If she is not, then there is not a whole lot that can be done. But most adjusters are normal people and while they do put their job first, they also can be influenced by new information that they did not have before. A second premise of the second salvo letter is that the adjuster may be willing to give the claimant some more money, but he has not given her any reasons to do so. She needs something in writing to "paper" her file: something with new information that will justify her making an increase in her offer.
The two things that can be helpful at this stage are witness statements and a narrative report. For example what about using lay witness statements from family, friends, and co-workers. Some of these people do have relevant evidence to document what you are going through. List those things that you cannot do. And be sure to include those things that yoiu CAN do, but for which you will suffer that night or for the next few days. Witness Statements Settle Personal Injury Insurance Claims http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0196.htm
The second idea is to ask your doctor to make you a narrative letter. Narrative reports can settle personal injury claims.Get a narrative report from your doctors regarding your HISTORY and treatment and prognosis and FUTURE medical care.
Cryptic medical notes may be medically significant, but why make the insurance adjuster struggle to figure out the significance of the injuries? A narrative report or letter spells things out so the adjuster can see, read, and understand the doctor's diagnosis and prognosis and her record of the problems and pain and suffering you have endured.
Plus, narrative letters can tie together the trauma and its after-effects in a way that is authoritative.
Www.SettlementCentral.Com recommends that insurance claimants almost always include some type of typewritten medical information to accompany to computer coded medical records and/or handwritten records. That is the first clue as to when to use the narrative report: if you are asking the adjuster to evaluate your claim on the basis of handwritten records and/or computer coded records that indicate diagnosis and treatment codes, then you need to supplement the record with a narrative report.
We have a lot of free legal tips on insurance claims settlements using doctor narrative reports http://www.settlementcentral.com/page8003.htm You can get information there as to how to ask for a narrative letter and what it might cost. Talk to the doctor's office manager about it.
Make darn sure your doctor does have updated full information in his records, or the adjuster may not give you credit for what you have been through in this summer. For example, if you just ask for a narrative letter now, three months after your last appointment, then you best go in for another appointment first and document for the doctor examples of pain. While I have no idea of your current condition, it is not unreasonable that you would still have a lot of residual pains. Maybe such things as nagging signs of soft tissue injuries you are noticing following a full day of sitting at your computer or doing physical activities. Personal Injury Medical Records http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0114.htm
I trust that my extra time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: It seems the insurance still has rooms to increase the offer but the claimant needs to do extra job. If it is true and assume the claimant has already provided anything, will filing the lawsuit enforce the insurance to likely offer the maximum they can or they will still keep the current offer but is willing to go to the court? What will the insurance likely do if the lawsuit has been filed according to your experience? Tank you for your answer.
AnswerHello again, Zilch,
I wish there were some good answer or rule of thumb I could give to you, but the responses of the insurance company to moving into litigation vary by company and by the case specifics. Four companies have taken a hard-line approach: "We will defend any lawsuits with great vigor and the attorneys will eventually decline to take ANY cases against us unless they are big cases." So if you have one of those companies, no additional money will be offered.
How could anyone ever even guess at the answer in your specific case, given the lack of knowledge we have about the case and the negotiations to date? We can, however, state the usual procedure after filing a lawsuit. NO, there will be NO automatic increase in the offer just because you file a lawsuit. Otherwise, of course, everyone would simply file the lawsuit, now, wouldn't they? Yes, more money probably WILL be offered, but that will be later on.
Instead of seeing some increase in the offer upon filing the lawsuit, the claimant will have to wait until the discovery process is complete (interrogatories, depositions of you and doctors and witnesses) AND even then, nothing is likely to be offered until after a settlement conference ordered by the court. So you WILL see an increase in the offer. Who knows how much that will be? But in any event, the new money will not be communicated until maybe 18 months or so down the line. That is about how long it takes to get through the discovery process and the motions procedures (to dismiss, etc) and then to participate in the settlement conference.
Yes, that process CAN be shortcut with an agreement to participate in mediation or arbitration. So consider that as something that could bring resolution to the issue in about half the time as the normal litigation route.
I trust that my time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
