If you settle an auto accident claim without obtaining legal advice, it is virtually impossible for you to know whether the settlement offered by the other driver’s insurance company is fair. Because insurers know that non-attorneys lack the experience to evaluate a liability claim, they frequently take advantage of unrepresented car accident claimants by pushing lowball settlement offers. The insurance company is well aware that car accident victims face severe financial challenges and frequently rely on this financial pressure to persuade accident victims to settle their case for pennies on the dollar.
An insurance company will often try to persuade injury victims that there is a simple standardized formula for determining the value of a car accident claim. The insurance company adjuster may even suggest that retaining a personal injury lawyer will only result in a reduced net recovery. This is a trap, and the insurance company is hoping you fall for this bad advice.
Evaluating a Car Accident Claim More Art than Science: Subjective Damage Factors
There are many subjective factors that are relevant to the proper estimation of the value of damages in a car accident lawsuit. A few examples of these subjective factors include:
- Moral outrage generated by the at-fault driver’s conduct
- “Likeability” of the accident victim
- Individual life experiences and impact on the victim’s quality of life
- Persuasiveness and advocacy of your personal injury attorney
- Closeness and quality of an injury victim’s marriage before and after the collision
This certainly is not an exhaustive list of the subjective factors that are relevant in determining the value of an auto collision claim. However, these types of factors do not lend themselves to simply being plugged into a mathematical formula. The weight, relevance, and impact of these factors are largely dependent on effective litigation strategy and persuasive advocacy.
When an insurance company tells you that they determine the value of your claim by use of a mathematical formula, this is misleading. The insurance company will often multiply your medical costs by a factor based on the seriousness of your injuries. For example, the insurance company may multiply all of your medical expenses by 1-3 for minor injuries, 4-6 for moderate injuries and 7-9 for serious injuries. The insurance company adjuster may add to this total lost wages and property loss (i.e. vehicle damage) before making an offer to settle your case based on this calculation. However, a skilled personal injury attorney often can obtain far more than the amount indicated by this type of simplistic calculation.
Balancing Evidence of Fault vs. Potential Recovery
While a wide array of complex subjective factors are important to determining the value of a car accident claim, the probability of a successful recovery and the amount of the potential recovery also constitute important factors. Generally, personal injury attorneys consider an inverse relationship between the strength of the evidence of liability and the maximum recovery that might be available when evaluating a case. In other words, a smaller recovery will still merit bringing a legal claim if the evidence of liability is compelling. However, the possible recovery will need to be higher to justify the cost of litigation when fault will be a hotly contested issue.
Our Mississippi Car Accident Lawyers cannot guarantee any specific recovery, but we often provide a general estimation of the range of recoveries that might be possible based on an evaluation of your claim. Contact Barrett Law today at 800.707.9577 to schedule your free consultation.
