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If you have been seriously injured in an accident, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses. In many cases, recovering financial compensation after an accident will involve negotiating a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurance company. But, while securing a settlement may be the best-case scenario under the circumstances at hand, you should not accept a settlement until you talk to a Fort Myers personal injury lawyer at Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A.

Why?

There are actually numerous reasons. We cover seven of these reasons in detail below, but one of the most important factors you need to keep in mind after a serious accident is that the insurance companies are not on your side. Their goal is to pay you as little as possible, and as a result, any settlement offer you receive without legal representation will almost certainly be for much less than you deserve.

7 Important Reasons Not to Accept a Settlement Until You Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer

With this in mind, here are seven reasons why you need to be very careful about accepting a settlement too soon:

1. It Is Up to You to Prove Your Accident-Related Losses

If you have a personal injury claim after an accident, it is up to you to prove your accident-related losses. The at-fault party’s insurance company will not know how much you are entitled to recover unless you provide documentation of the losses you have incurred and will incur in the future.

As a result, until you provide this documentation, the at-fault party’s insurance company has no way of knowing what constitutes a fair settlement in your case. The insurance company is not going to take the risk of overpaying; so, if it offers you anything, you can be almost certain that you are entitled to more.

2. Your Recoverable Losses Could Be Much More Than You Realize

Another reason not to accept a settlement until you talk to a Fort Myers personal injury lawyer at Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. is that your recoverable losses could be much more than you realize. Consider the following questions:

• Will you need additional medical care in the future? If so, what additional medical bills are you going to incur?
• How much money will you need to cover your pain medications, medical supplies, transportation, and other out-of-pocket costs?
• How long will you be unable to work due to your injuries? When you return to work, will you need to take a lower-paying position?

Knowing the answers to these questions—and many more—is critical for making an informed decision about settlement after a serious accident. If you focus only on your short-term financial needs, you will almost certainly leave money on the table.

3. You Also Need to Know What Constitutes “Just” Compensation for Your Pain and Suffering

In most cases, serious accident victims in Florida are entitled to compensation for their financial and non-financial losses. Non-financial losses include things like pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent scarring, and loss of enjoyment of life.

To seek compensation for your non-financial losses, you need to document them thoroughly, and you also need to know what constitutes “just” compensation in your case. Here, too, you cannot simply rely on the at-fault party’s insurance company to accurately calculate the value of your claim. To ensure that you are seeking the full compensation you deserve, you need an experienced Fort Myers personal injury lawyer at Spivey Law Firm on your side.

4. You May Be Entitled to Compensation from Various Sources

Personal injury claims are often much more complicated than many people realize. For example, in some cases, accident victims will be entitled to compensation from multiple parties. If you are entitled to compensation from multiple parties and you only file a single insurance claim, this could mean that any settlement offer you receive only reflects that insurer’s share of liability.

This, of course, is in addition to the issues we discussed above. Serious accident-related injuries can impact your life for years to come, so it is critical to ensure that you are fighting to hold all at-fault parties duly accountable.

5. Once You Settle, You Cannot Go Back and Ask for More

Another critical fact that many people do not realize is that once you accept an insurance settlement after an accident, you generally cannot go back and ask for more. In other words, once you settle, your personal injury claim is over. This is true even if you unknowingly settled for less than you deserved.

When you work with a lawyer at Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A., one of their first priorities will be to calculate the true value of your personal injury claim. Once you know how much you are entitled to recover, then you can make an informed decision about whether to accept any settlement offers that are on the table.

6. Your Personal Injury Lawyer Will Have Your Best Interests in Mind

Unlike the insurance companies, your Fort Myers personal injury lawyer will have your best interests in mind. While the insurance companies will be focused on paying you as little as possible, your personal injury lawyer’s job will be to help maximize your financial recovery.

7. Your Personal Injury Lawyer Will Not Charge You Anything Up Front

Finally, hiring a personal injury lawyer to help you after a serious accident should not cost you anything up front. In fact, you should not have to pay anything unless your lawyer helps you recover just compensation. At Spivey Law Firm, we advance all out of pocket litigation costs. When we negotiate a settlement on your behalf, your legal fees will be calculated as a percentage of the compensation we help you recover.

Schedule a Free Consultation with a Fort Myers Personal Injury Lawyer Today

For over 30 years, Attorney Randall L. Spivey has practiced law in Florida. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Attorney by the Florida Bar Association, where less than 1% of all attorneys in Florida are Board Certified in Civil Trial Law. He is also rated by Martindale-Hubbell as a Preeminent Attorney, which is the highest level for professional excellence and the highest level of skill and integrity. Randall L. Spivey is also recognized as a Florida Super Lawyer for attaining a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement by Super Lawyers magazine. Further, Randall L. Spivey has been selected as a Top 100 Trial Lawyers, an honor given to only a select group of lawyers for their superior skills and qualifications in the field.

If you would like to know more about how an experienced Fort Myers personal injury lawyer can help you after a serious accident, we encourage you to contact Randall L. Spivey at Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. To schedule a free consultation as soon as possible, please call us at 239-337-7483 or toll-free at 888-477-4839 or contact us online at Spiveylaw.com today.