Negotiating a New Jersey Car Insurance Settlement

When negotiating a claim, a New Jersey auto accident lawyer will look at how the individual’s life has been impacted. They will do this by looking at medical bills, lost wages, the effect on the individual’s life, their pain, and their suffering. This needs to be taken into consideration not only for the past and the present, but also for the future.

When a settlement is reached, there is no going back to reopen the claim if someone later finds the pain is still there or the settlement was not sufficient. Therefore, an individual needs to be sure that when the claim is settled, it is enough money to fairly and justly compensate them and their family for the rest of their life.

The Negotiation Process

The negotiation process in a New Jersey car insurance settlement is different in every case. There are many factors that come into play based on each individual’s case and injuries. Negotiation is an art form that is acquired through experience, understanding how insurance companies like to negotiate, and understanding how to maximize the settlement that an individual is able to obtain.

Estimating Damages

It is very difficult to estimate damages in a New Jersey car insurance settlement because every case is different. It is fairly easy to estimate the economic damages because there are actual amounts based on medical bills and lost wages.

It becomes more difficult to estimate the damages when dealing with non-economic damages like pain, suffering, and the effect on lives. That number needs to be determined by looking at the whole picture, including how this person’s life has been impacted and if it is going to be permanent, get worse, or get better depending on the case.

Demand Letter

When dealing with a settlement demand to an insurance company, it is important for an individual to have an attorney do it for them. There are many elements to that demand letter that an individual who does not have the experience in doing them would not know to include. These factors include how old the person is, what their life expectancy is, what they do for a living, what type of family they have, whether they have children, whether they have grandchildren, and other factors.

The letter also needs to deal with the economic loss, such as lost wages, medical bills, future medical treatment, inability to work, injuries, amount of pain and suffering, and how it affects their life and their family’s lives.

Handling a Counter Offer

When someone is considering a counter offer, they need to make sure that whatever amount of money they are going to obtain is going to be able to compensate them and their family for the rest of their lives. The case will not be opened again after it has been settled. Therefore, an individual needs to make sure that whatever amount of money the counter offer is is a fair amount for the circumstances of the case.