Sometimes, it might be necessary to file a car accident lawsuit to obtain a satisfactory injury settlement. If the insurance company is not responding to your claim or if their offers are too low you might need to resort to the courts to obtain the compensation you need for your injuries and damages.
Why Settlements Fail
Settlement negotiations between an injured party and an insurance company fail because the parties are unable to reach an amount acceptable to both sides. Typically, the insurance company is offering too little money or the injured party expects too much compensation.
The Next Steps
Unfortunately, it is common for settlement negotiations to stagnate with both parties digging in to their positions and becoming unwilling to budge from their point of view. In this instance, mediation, the process by which the parties submit their dispute to a neutral party to negotiate agreeable settlement terms, will also often fail. Therefore, many times injured parties have no choice but to file a lawsuit against the insurance company.
Why a Lawsuit
A lawsuit might be the only way an injured party can truly make an insurance company sit up and take notice. Lawsuits take control over the negotiations away from the parties and submit the resolution to the dispute to the court or jury. In doing so, both parties lose control over the disagreement.
However, for an insurance company a lawsuit is even more threatening. While an injured party runs the risk of not obtaining compensation for his injuries at the end of the suit, an insurance company may face needing to pay extensive amounts of compensation and the other party’s attorney’s fees. In this, lawsuits are more frightening for a company and will be avoided at all costs.
The Results of Filing a Lawsuit
Filing a lawsuit can result in two possible outcomes: the parties restarting settlement or attending mediation or the parties litigating the dispute. Sometimes, merely by filing the lawsuit an injured party shows that he is serious about his request for compensation, making the company sit up and begin to take the claim more seriously and induce the company to be more accommodating during negotiations or mediation. An injured party filing a lawsuit after receiving and rejecting a settlement offer indicates to the insurance company that it must take the claim more seriously and work harder to find a resolution in order to avoid litigation.
Getting Legal Help
If you have received a settlement offer that is unacceptable and are interested in filing a lawsuit to obtain compensation for your damages and injury, seek legal advice. An attorney will guide you through the filing process and advise you about the best steps to take to settle or resolve your claim.
