What is the formula for settlement in a personal injury case?  “I heard that you take the medical bills, you add them up and then you multiply by three or by two or by four, what is the formula?”

Well, this comes as no surprise to you, but there really is no formula for settling personal injury claims.

Personal injury claims, when they go to trial are determined by juries.  Juries decide how much money the plaintiff will be awarded and they’re not given any formula book.  Instead, they’re given evidence and a list of items of damage that they may consider and then they arrive in their own mind what your case is worth.

So what that tells us is that while there is no formula for settlement in a personal injury case, there is definitely a methodology, a way of looking at cases that are engaged in both by the insurance company who is making the offer and by the personal injury attorney who is making the recommendation for settlement.

Met with a very nice lady and her husband yesterday. Rear ended almost two years ago. Herniated discs in her neck and over $100,000 in medical expenses for surgery. The defendant was insured by one of the major insurance carriers.

Here’s the drill they used:

Provide no information TO the claimant, only ask for information FROM the claimant;

Change adjusters at least four times during the claim…each time an adjuster comes on board ask for all of the information all over again;

Keep asking for more information but PROVIDE no information;

Then, with two weeks to go before the statute of limitations expires, tell the claimant “if we don’t have everything we (keep) asking for in two weeks we are closing your file because your statute of limitations will expire.”

That’s right. These nice folks who got hit didn’t know that there is a two year limit for filing a lawsuit in Virginia. If you don’t file your claim in court in two years it is “forever barred” as they say.

Did the insurance adjuster do anything wrong? NO! The insurance adjuster working on your claim owes you NO duty. They work for the insurance company and are bound to act in the best interests of their company and their insured.

So, no, the adjuster is under no duty to tell you about things like the statute of limitations. They don’t give you legal advice.

That’s why I write the Virginia  Accident book that I do, record the CD’s and DVD’s and created the most extensive legal information website in Virginia.

Just so you’d know (and won’t have to rely on the insurance adjuster.)

A lot of times, when a case is small, it is possible to work out a settlement with the insurance company without the help of an attorney.  However, working with Allstate Insurance Company is a whole different story.   For years, Allstate took an interesting tactic of sending letters to claimants persuading them to not hire an attorney because “a lawyer will just take a huge portion of your settlement.”

Ben Glass’s office handled a case involving a woman who was in an accident with someone who was insured by Allstate.  It was pretty apparent that the accident was caused by the other person. This client had never filed a lawsuit against anyone before and had never been involved in an accident.  She had been in great health and was making $100,000 in income a year.  After following Ben Glass’s advice, she followed through with her treatment, got better and tried to work something out with Allstate.

After she recovered from her injuries, she approached Allstate with a reasonable settlement proposal and included her medical records, lost wage forms and medical bills.  Allstate responded by offering to only pay her medical expenses.  She ended up filing a lawsuit and what was interesting is that Allstate did very little to defend the case.  Eventually, Allstate admitted that the insured was at fault.  Just a couple of weeks prior to the trial, Allstate essentially tripled its offer and the case settled.

Dealing with Allstate after you have been injured in a car accidentcan be very frustrating. Oftentimes a board-certified experienced personal injury attorney can help immensely with that process.