Questions Most Frequently Asked By Client of Personal Injury Lawyer

When consulting with a Personal Injury Lawyer in Cambridge, a possible future client can be expected to ask one or both of the following questions: What chance do I have for obtaining a fair compensation? How long should it take to achieve that goal [get that compensation]?

Factors that affect the size of a settlement

• The nature of the victim’s injuries.
• The provisions in the defendant’s insurance policy.
• The claimant’s readiness to hire legal representation.
• The claimant’s readiness to keep negotiating, as opposed to accepting an early settlement.

There is no study that has examined the extent to which each of the above factors affects the claimant’s chances for winning a fair compensation. Yet there has been an analysis of the percentage of cases that ended with a small payout, as opposed to those that provided the claimant with a large payout.

What were the results of that study?

That analysis showed that in 70% of the cases studied, the defendant paid money to the claimant. In other words, negotiations led to a settlement. The same analysis showed that in roughly 47% of the cases, the payout ranged between $3,000 and $25,000. In 21% of the cases, the payout exceeded $25,000, but stayed below $75,000. In only 16% of the cases did the plaintiff/claimant get less than $3,000. By the same token, in only 16% of the cases did the plaintiff get more than $75,000.

How long does it usually take to settle a case?

The group that studied the payouts for various cases also examined the amount of time that passed, before the defendant paid that money. That group averaged the amount of time taken by a series of cases. The average length of time came to 11.4 months.

Understand that a more patient plaintiff can usually win a larger compensation. As was indicated above, a plaintiff’s readiness to keep negotiating, as opposed to settling, can work to ensure the winning of a larger reward.

Of course, it can prove difficult to fight an insurance company, that wants to settle as soon as possible. Indeed, only lawyers are good at fighting the insurance company. That is why victims that decide to hire an attorney normally get a larger reward than those that simply follow the insurance company’s suggestions.

Still, statistics show that even lawyers can get only so much money from any insurer. An adjuster has learned how to emphasize the weakness in a claimant’s case. By emphasizing that weakness, the adjuster can argue that the plaintiff does not deserve the money demanded. So, according to the insurer, the insurance company does not owe a penny more than $65,000 to $70,000, even if the victim had huge medical expenses.

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