One of the biggest mistakes you can make after an auto accident is to deal with the other party and insurance company without professional advice. The driver accused of negligence usually has a lawyer to help them. Moreover, the insurance company has legal counselors and number crunchers experienced in preventing victims from receiving financial justice.

To help you better understand how difficult it can be to reach a fair accident settlement, here are some of the tools used by insurance claim adjusters and defense attorneys to deny victims needed money.

Offering Low Ball Settlement Amounts

Offering a so-called low ball award amount is widespread practice in the insurance industry. The company has to make a profit and paying out large settlements is not the optimal way to achieve this goal. If they can outwit an unknowing, desperate accident victim with a very low offer, then all the better.

Ignoring Emotional Injuries

Insurance claim adjusters cannot announce a large settlement to their bosses without tangible evidence of your injuries. Instead, adjusters want a stack of medical bills and reports demonstrating physical damages.

The problem is that emotional stress is not so easy to document. Yet, people can experience emotional trauma after an auto accident and deserve just recompense.

Denying Negligence

To recover damages, accident victims need to prove the other party was legally negligent. Few novices understand this point.

You have to demonstrate the elements of negligence, as defined by state law, present in the case facts. There is no better source of information on how to prove such negligence than an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Using Legal Precedence to Refute Claims

Similarly, you have to demonstrate that the case facts match with some legal precedent. Good luck with all the required research! It could take weeks or months in the law library to find the necessary information. Yet, a personal injury lawyer has already graduated law school, passed the bar and spent years honing their craft. Take advantage of this knowledge because the other side will surely have its set of precedent cases available.

Being able to point to precedent cases that demonstrate you could prevail at trial is a good way to persuade the other side to offer a fair settlement.

Get Professional Help Today

Before attempting to settle with an insurance company or negligent driver, you should consider talking the situation over with a compassionate personal injury lawyer. This legal professional can help you avoid settling for a low ball offer, getting your emotional injuries ignored, failing to prove negligence and being unable to cite relevant past cases.