I would advise you not to try to settle this on your own. Once you settle, you will
probably not be able to reopen your claim later... the adjuster for the insurance co.
(regardless of the company) owes you no duty to treat you fairly. His/her job is to get rid of the claim as cheaply as possible.
In regard to what a claim is worth, there is simply no easy, quick answer. The purpose of claims is to compensate, as best as money can do, for the injuries and losses---nothing more...since it is intended to compensate you for the loss, so many factors go into the analysis; that is why the law does not recognize and there is no magic formula. The bottom line is that a claim is worth what a jury will likely return based upon all the facts of the particular case. What is the future life expectancy? how long will the pain and the injury last? what is the impact the injury will have vocationally? what is the impact it has, and will have on you
personally--both in terms of what is done for fun in life and in interactions with others? how conservative are juries in your area? how difficult will it be to prove the injuries and the fault of the other driver? does the insurance company believe you are willing to take this to trial to be treated fairly and to obtain fair compensation? what are the med bills and lost wages? what claims do health ins co have to be reimbursed? These are just a few of the factors that go into evaluating a claim. That is why in the abstract it is almost impossible to realistically give you a value from these limited facts. That is also why two people can have exactly the same injury with the same med bills and yet they be worth very different amounts.
All of the above are just a few reasons why you should not try to settle the claim on your own. Consult with an experienced injury attorney. He/she can be very helpful at this stage of a claim in protecting you from making inadvertant mistakes with the insurance company. also find a lawyer who with the national trial lawyers assoc. Their web site has a find a lawyer section. This site is
http://www.atlanet.org While member ship in this organization is not a guarantee as to the quality of the lawyer, I have never met an excellent lawyer who was not a member of this plaintiffs' lawyers organization.
Good luck
George Senteney
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George H. Senteney
Prairielaw.com
"More people helping people with the law than anywhere."
