Negotiations with an automobile insurance company normally begin with an offer from the adjuster. The smart claimant discusses that offer with a lawyer, and then responds, hoping to hear how the adjuster’s first offer might change.
If the adjuster soon responds to the claimant’s counter-offer, the process can proceed smoothly. On the other hand, the lack of an answer tends to indicate that the negotiating process has slowed.
Questions that the claimant must seek to answer
Is the claimant’s medical situation unstable? The insurance company might be hoping for a more reasonable estimate of the costs for treatment. On the other hand, the treating doctor may lack sufficient information to predict the future care needs of the patient/claimant.
Has the case become more complex than the Injury Lawyer in Cambridge anticipated? If that is the case, the lawyer’s office may not have all the resources that it needs, in order to proceed with the case in an efficient and effective manner.
Another possibility to consider
It could be that the defendant, the person responsible for the accident has caused a delay. That could represent an effort to push the plaintiff to drop the case. If that is the case, it then becomes necessary to initiate the moves that will allow the 2 sides to argue their cases in a courtroom.
A court proceeding takes time. Why would such legal action help to force movement on a stalled case?
A defendant has the ability to force a delay, during negotiations, but not during a trial. The judge wants both sides to meet specific deadlines. If either side fails to meet an established deadline, the judge can order enforcement of legal sanctions. Alternatively, the judge might elect to hit the defense team with financial requirements.
Obviously, the defense team would hope to avoid the need to deal with such pronouncements from the judge. For that reason, it would probably stop using its delaying tactics.
A word of caution
Judges do not favor any side. The plaintiff must also meet any established deadlines. The client-lawyer team must work together to assemble the papers that are mentioned in a judge’s request. An inability to produce the requested paperwork could land the plaintiff in the position once occupied by the defendant’s team.
In other words, once pressure has been placed on the other side, that same level of pressure could be placed on anyone that fails to meet the judge’s deadline. The judge wants the process to move along, regardless of which side might come out a winner.
Lawyers should make that fact clear to their clients, if thought has been given to the initiation of legal action, in order to force action on a stalled case.
