An Injury Lawyer in Ottawa County helps clients who have been in vehicle accidents and are having problems convincing the insurance company to pay an adequate settlement. There may be disputes over whether certain medical expenses were necessary, for example, and whether the person should have already returned to work. Lawyers usually accept only cases that are worth a fairly substantial amount of money. Otherwise, by the time the client pays the contingency fee, the amount left over may be only what he or she had been offered by the insurer in the first place.
No-Fault Insurance
With Michigan being a no-fault state in regard to insurance payments for accidents, the injured person must negotiate with his or her own automobile insurance company for a settlement. After an accident victim hires an there, the attorney determines how much to ask for a settlement.
This occurs after interviewing witnesses, reading reports from law enforcement, and perusing the client’s medical records. Insurance companies typically begin with a relatively low settlement offer made directly to the policyholder, but they tend to respond more favorably once a lawyer becomes involved.
Settlements vs. Trial
Usually, vehicle accident cases are settled out of court unless the injury was extremely serious and has lifetime consequences. For example, if the victim needed to have a leg amputated after the collision, a lawyer from an organization such as and may prefer to bring the case to trial unless the insurer offers a remarkably high settlement offer.
Maximum Insurance Payouts
There is another important point, however. The insurer is only legally liable to pay the amount that the policy is set up for. If the maximum coverage the policyholder chose was $50,000, the insurer does not have to pay any more than this. An example in which it can be useful to hire an attorney is when the policy maximum is $100,000, but the insurer is only willing to pay half that even though the total costs of the accident are higher. Very serious injury cases are more likely to go to trial when the policy maximum is higher than this, such as $250,000.
