INSURANCE COMPANY INCREASES OFFER BY 16 TIMES BEFORE TRIAL

It’s common knowledge that an insurance company’s initial offer is not their last. You go into an insurance claim anticipating some degree of negotiation. However, some insurance carriers have gotten carried away with unfair negotiations and their initial settlement offers amount to outright thievery.

At Aronberg & Aronberg, Injury Law Firm we are blessed to have the opportunity to represent only those clients who are truly deserving of a trial lawyer ready to go the distance. The insurance carriers have gotten into the habit of treating nearly every claimant as a fraudster and the sentiment among the insurance carriers seems to be “all claimants are guilty until proven innocent.” It is our pleasure and honor to prove the insurance carriers wrong.

Most recently, we had the opportunity to represent a very nice young man, father of 2, married to his high school sweet heart, and resident of Loxahatchee, Florida. Hard-working and down to earth. Every trial lawyer’s dream client. He was involved in a rear-end auto accident and sustained a lower back spasm which he thought would go away. His truck had very little visible damage.

Our client did not complain of much pain to the police, didn’t go to the hospital and he didn’t seek a lot of medical treatment in the days following the accident. He was hopeful the pain would go away. Remember, he was a hard-working guy not looking to get involved in an insurance claim. Unfortunately, his pain persisted and eventually he was diagnosed with a herniated disk.

The insurance company reviewed all our medical documentation and presented an offer. We were shocked when the initial offer was only $3,038. They attempted to justify their offer on the facts noted below in their letter.

Without hesitation, our law firm instructed out client to reject the offer and move forward with a lawsuit. He followed our lead. We completed compulsory medical examinations, depositions and other pre-trial matters. We set the case for trial and were preparing for the trial testimony of the expert defense doctors (who we discovered have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by insurance companies for their testimony). The night before cross-examining the defense’s expert radiologist, we got notice that the case would be settled. The insurance company increased their initial offer by 16 Times and paid our demand of $50,000.

While this is not our largest settlement of the month it has been the most fulfilling. The initial settlement offer was way too low to consider, and it highlights the importance of obtaining a trial ready personal injury lawyer. The insurance carrier wrote this case off due to the low property damage and lack of initial medical treatment. Their internal claims management computer system spit out a number that was way to low. With hard work, patience and persistence, we marched forward and got our client a reasonable result.

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