When you experience any kind of personal injury, whether from an automobile accident, medical malpractice, a defective product, or something else, it is likely that you will receive a settlement offer from an insurance company shortly after you get hurt. While you may be tempted to accept the offer right away because you anticipate having to pay large medical bills or missing work for a while, it is essential that you assess the offer carefully before you decide whether or not to accept it. You do have a choice of whether to accept a settlement which has been offered to you, or to reject the offer and hold out for a larger settlement, which the insurance company may or may not offer to you.
An important thing to do before you read the settlement offer (or reread it if you have read it already) is to remind yourself who has prepared the offer for you. The person who created the settlement offer that you now hold in your hands works for the insurance company which issued an insurance policy to the person or entity who is responsible for your injury. Since they work for the insurance company, they create settlement offers which will benefit the insurance company by settling the claim as quickly as possible, for the smallest amount of money. In other words, the settlement offer that you have received was not created with your best interest in mind.
With the aforementioned concept in mind, it is time to read or reread the settlement offer. A good question to keep in your mind as you read it is whether it will fully compensate you for the injuries that you have received. It is possible that you may not know whether it will compensate you for your damages, especially if you do not yet know the full extent of the damages. Many times, insurance companies send out settlement offers very soon after an accident, and your doctors may still be in the process of assessing your injuries and determining a plan and a time frame for treatment and rehabilitation. Depending upon the situation in which you were injured, there may be other types of information which you would need in order to determine what your damages will be. If for any reason it is not possible for you to know the extent of your damages, it is a good idea to wait until you do know that information before making a decision to accept a settlement offer. You do not want to risk accepting an offer which will end up falling short of the amount of damages that you have sustained.
Since determining the value of an injury can be more complicated than simply sitting down with a stack of bills and determining how much money you would need to pay them, it is helpful to consult with a Kansas City Personal Injury Attorney if you have been injured in any type of accident. Your attorney can help you to get a sense of what your claim is truly worth. What’s more, your Kansas City Personal Injury Attorney can help you pursue a better settlement offer if the one which you have received is inadequate. They can even litigate your case for you, in the event that attempts to negotiate an appropriate settlement do not generate the results that you need.
The skilled Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers at Hubbard & Kurtz, L.L.P. help clients from throughout the region, including St. Joseph, Independence, Lees Summit, Columbia, Warrensburg, Overland Park, Olathe, Atchison, Lawrence, Topeka, and many other Kansas and Missouri communities. Please call us today, at (816) 472- 4673 to arrange for an initial consultation.
