The vast majority of the time personal injury lawyers deal with defendants and insurers, they can expect the other side to bargain in good faith. What are your options, though, if it feels like the defendant isn't interested in much more than stringing the case out? Personal injury attorneys will usually tell their clients to follow these four tips.
Don't Assume Bad Faith
Even the legal world has its dumb moments, and you shouldn't assume the other party to a claim or suit isn't sincerely trying to deal with a problem. For example, a small business may have a hard time going through its records to find employee and maintenance logs to investigate a slip-and-fall incident at a store.
Not all businesses are lawyered up to the gills. Some may need a few weeks to sort things out before responding to a compensation demand, evidence request, or negotiation offer.
Keep Excellent Records
If the defendant or an insurance adjuster speaks with you, make a small note of it. Write down the name of who you spoke with and when the conversation happened. Make copies of all written correspondence. Likewise, lock all digital communications and save them to cloud backup systems for safekeeping. Even if these records don't document bad faith, they're valuable. They can refresh your memory about conversations and when they happened.
Continue to Demonstrate Good Faith
A judge's biggest concern when a law firm brings a case to court is that the two sides made good-faith attempts to resolve the matter. If the other side wants to be the bad guy, let them be the bad guy and continue to follow the advice of your lawyer. A judge will usually just tell two feuding parties to resume negotiations and to demonstrate better faith in the process. If you want the judge to shut down the other side's bad-faith conduct, you need to show you made your best effort to resolve the matter.
Use Your Counsel as an Outlet and a Shield
If your emotions get the better of you, don't lash out at the defendant. No matter how infuriating their foot-dragging might be, there's no upside for you in starting a fight. If you must let off steam, do so while talking with your lawyer.
Similarly, if you feel the other side is being abusive, don't suffer through it. Cut off the conversation and instruct them to discuss the issue with the law firm you hired. If they don't have counsel, tell them to get some. Speak with a personal injury lawyer to learn more.
Share17 June 2021
Hello, my name is Matthew. Welcome to my site. I am here to talk to you about accident and personal injury attorneys. When I was involved in a serious accident, I had to recover for months in the hospital. My finances suffered due to mounting medical bills and lost wages. I dealt with considerable pain through every phase of the healing process. I worked with an accident and personal injury attorney to obtain compensation for the repercussions of the accident. I created this site to help others find an attorney to work with so they too could acquire compensation following an accident.