If you’ve been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have the right to pursue a legal claim for compensation, which is typically paid by the responsible party’s insurance company. To resolve the lawsuit, your attorney can either go to trial or negotiate a monetary settlement on your behalf.
Most personal injury cases settle outside of court. However, it can be a long and bumpy road to receive a fair settlement offer from an insurance company. Their unstated intentions are not to do the right thing or compensate accident victims fairly, but to pay the least amount of money possible. For most insurance companies, it is all about money and has nothing to do with fairness. This can be both painful and frustrating for clients, especially those with serious, life-altering injuries.
Although insurance companies and attorneys representing injured plaintiffs have an adversarial relationship, their conversations are generally civil and produce fair results. Our experienced attorneys advocate fiercely for settlement offers that exceed expectations and have developed strategies to navigate the tricky negotiation process.
In This Article:
- Insurance Company Tactics in Personal Injury Lawsuits
- How We Approach Lowball Offers in Injury Cases
- Block O’Toole & Murphy’s Competitive Edge in Settlement Negotiations
Insurance Company Tactics in Personal Injury Lawsuits
Insurance companies are not looking out for your best interests and may use various strategies to try to gain the upper hand in a lawsuit. By reading the below, you’ll know what to expect and will be better prepared to combat these commonly used tactics.
1. Reaching Out Directly to the Plaintiff
Insurance companies may try to contact you to discuss the lawsuit, but you should never communicate with them without first consulting with a lawyer. Although these conversations may seem harmless and even friendly on the surface, they could jeopardize your case.
- Taking statements: Insurance adjusters may record the conversation and try to gather information about the accident or your injuries, then use your statements against you later on.
- Making offers: They may also dangle a settlement offer, then warn you that it could be withdrawn soon. This is meant to make clients uneasy and pressure them to accept a lowball offer quickly, before an experienced attorney can assess the full value of the case.
To prevent these issues, we send a letter of representation directing the insurance company and their agents to contact Block O’Toole & Murphy about the case instead of trying to contact our client. We’re equipped to handle insurance company tactics, and all communication should go through us instead.
2. Blaming the Accident Victim
During negotiation discussions, insurance companies may try to shift blame to the plaintiff for their own injuries. If they are successful, this will reduce the value of the case.
- Disputing liability: The defense may argue about how the accident took place and try to reframe your accident in a way that deflects from the defendant (their insured) and puts the blame squarely on you — even if that version of events is blatantly untrue or nonsensical.
- Questioning the accident’s role: They may also allege that the injuries were preexisting or an inevitability due to the plaintiff’s lifestyle, rather than connected to the accident. For example, if someone has played soccer from a young age, the insurance company may claim that’s the true cause of the injury — when in reality, the defendant’s negligence caused the injury and took away our client’s ability to participate in the sport they enjoy.
Even though blaming the victim is often unfair, our response is restrained. We calmly let the insurance company know that if they don’t come around to a reasonable offer, we’ll take the case to court.
How We Approach Lowball Offers in Injury Cases
The most persistent issue we have with insurance companies is unrealistically low settlement offers.
This is always frustrating, especially in catastrophic injury cases. Some clients need intensive years-long medical treatment or may be unable to ever return to work. In such cases, the results of the lawsuit will have a huge impact on their quality of life. Despite that, insurance adjusters typically justify their lowball offers by claiming that they think it’s fair, or that their boss didn’t authorize them to offer more.
Whether it’s directly with the insurance company or through a judge or mediator, we usually want to continue negotiations after receiving an inadequate offer. The prospect and risk of trial is a daunting one for an insurance company, particularly when their adversary enjoys a sterling track record. That pressure continues to accumulate with time, making patience and composure essential tools in any elite trial lawyer’s toolbox. We aim to build the strongest case we can and conduct ourselves in good faith, but beyond those guidelines, every negotiation is unique.
Declining the Offer
We carefully assess case value by gathering evidence, hiring experts, and analyzing past verdicts that have been upheld by appellate courts. Once confident in our preparation, we advise clients not to accept an offer from the insurance company that doesn’t reflect the fair value of their case.
Putting the Conversation in Writing
After rejecting an unsatisfactory offer, our next step is to create a paper trail. Our attorneys will send a letter to the insurance company recounting the low offer and the negotiations that occurred. Our letter typically discusses the insurance company’s arguments in detail and exposes the flaws of their position. That letter is then added to the claims file maintained by the insurance company and triggers an internal reaction within the company.
The adjuster may face scrutiny from their employers if the case goes to trial instead of settling, especially if the verdict exceeds the amount they could have resolved the case for. Knowing their lowball offer will be on file and reviewed by others, and that they’re facing the uncertainty of a jury trial, often motivates them to make more serious settlement offers going forward.
Calling an Insurance Adjuster’s Bluff
Our strategy is shaped not only by the facts of each case, but by the relationships and the level of trust we have with the negotiators. We often encounter the same attorneys and insurance adjusters over time and become familiar with their communication styles. Some people are true to their word, while others may claim a settlement offer is final, even though there’s still room to persuade them to offer more.
We saw this in action when we represented a client who tragically underwent a traumatic leg amputation after she was struck by a car. Although we were initially told a maximum amount that the insurance company was willing to pay, our demand was higher than that. Our figure was based on careful consideration of the client’s medical needs, lost earnings, and the pain and suffering she endured.
Our attorneys were thorough and tenacious throughout the lengthy negotiation process. Although the insurance company was initially reluctant to budge any higher with their offer, the conversation became more productive when we warned them that the window to negotiate was closing, and that we were ready to take the case to trial if necessary. Our evidence was strong, and we knew the insurance company wanted to avoid trying the case in front of a jury. We were able to settle the case for more than $2.4 million over their original tolerance.
Going to Trial
We’ll ultimately go to trial if the insurance company won’t budge on their unrealistic offer. Our role is to continue pushing to get the best possible offer for our clients.
Block O’Toole & Murphy’s Competitive Edge in Settlement Negotiations
Just as we evaluate who we’re working against, insurance companies do their own research on our firm. Block O’Toole & Murphy is taken seriously by our opponents because they analyze our past cases and see what we can achieve.
Past Results
Our strong track record affects how insurance companies value the cases we take on and positions us to get similar or even better outcomes going forward. For instance, if we have an open case with facts that resemble a past lawsuit that we resolved for $1 million, the insurance company will likely approach the current negotiation with the mindset that they’re going to be paying at least that much. A smaller or less prominent law firm is unlikely to have the same advantage.
Legal Advocacy Backed by Truly Understanding Our Clients
Our firm also excels at building personal connections with our clients and conveying the effects the injuries have had on their lives. For instance, one of our clients was previously a physically active man who enjoyed martial arts, bowling, and playing basketball with friends. After his construction accident, things that most of us take for granted — like putting on shoes, sitting, lying down, going up and down stairs, and driving — were difficult to do and could trigger immense pain.
In addition to being forced to give up the hobbies that brought him joy, our client could no longer do everyday tasks like mowing the lawn, taking out the garbage, and cleaning his house. Most importantly, the accident impacted his ability to provide for his family. He couldn’t return to work or take his children out for activities. He also struggled to take care of his young disabled child, which was very distressing for him. Many of our meetings with him were spent not only working on the case, but discussing his challenges and checking in to see how he was doing emotionally.
We knew there was a lot at stake, and that the outcome of this lawsuit would be critical for our client’s ability to move on from the accident with peace and dignity. We didn’t take that responsibility lightly, and took the time to truly learn and understand what he was going through.
When it was time to negotiate with the insurance company, we didn’t just focus on our client’s medical needs — we also conveyed the heartbroken parent who worried about his children’s future and his ability to support them. This kind of personalized negotiation is very powerful. The story of a family man whose life was upended due to another party’s negligence is resonant and would have evoked empathy from jurors. Not wanting to risk a trial, the insurance company settled the case for $5,900,000.
When our client accepted the offer, it was incredibly rewarding to see his overwhelming sense of relief and hope for the future. Although the settlement could not take away his chronic pain or restore his mobility, he could rest assured that he would be compensated for his future medical expenses and lost wages, and had the funds to hire an aide to help him care for his disabled child.
Contact Block O’Toole & Murphy Today
Block O’Toole & Murphy has achieved landmark results, including $65 million and $22.5 million settlements. For a free legal consultation, call 212-736-5300 or fill out our online contact form.