The initial settlement offer received from the insurance adjuster is typically so low that you will need to take a second and third look at it to make sure you read it correctly. The insurance company will use every trick in the book and ludicrous claims defending their lack of consideration towards justifying a fair settlement offer. So why do insurance companies lowball? Because they can.
You may have the “perfect” personal injury case on paper proving no preexisting conditions, clear liability towards the offending party, received positive diagnostic imaging findings, and ensured your client diligently attended doctor-recommended treatment/therapies. And even after all of this, your client may still be experiencing ongoing pain and functional limitations. So, one must ask, “Why on earth would the insurance company still give a lowball settlement offer?” Again, because they can.
Inadvertently, what the insurance company is telling you is that even after you have dotted all of your “I’s” and crossed all of your “T’s”, you haven’t proven to them how all of your client’s injuries have affected their ability to provide for their family, care for themselves, or participate in the leisure activities they once did before their injuries.
I know it sounds weird, but by simply dotting all of your “I’s” and crossing all of your “T’s”, you are still only bringing a knife to a gunfight in hopes of obtaining a fair settlement from the insurance company. The fact of the matter is that the injured person is simply a number to the insurance company and the injured client’s claim is punched into a computer program that equates their injury to a set value of the claim.
So how do we combat these lowball settlement offers? You have to arm your client’s case with heavy ammunition to not only get the insurance company’s attention, but also fully educate them on why your client deserves an appropriate settlement. You must come out of the gate with both double-barrels-ablaze.
A proven way to do this is through a trial-tested functional abilities evaluation report that has over 4 decades of widespread usage in the personal injury and workers comp arena. This evaluation, better known as the Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), is the industry standard on how your client’s impairments and disabilities from their collision affect their livelihood; more specifically their ability to perform work-related activities, activities of daily living, and leisure activities.
Don’t get caught up in the unnecessary back-and-forth negotiations with the insurance company unless you have the answer to the question, “How does your client’s impairments affect their life?” Get an FCE to help educate the insurance company and aid in a fair and swift settlement.