What Can Affect the Amount of Your Lawsuit
There are a lot of different factors that impact the value of your case and the amount of money that you can sue an insurance company for. When we say insurance company, we mean any party to a lawsuit – insurance company, corporation, government entity, individual. The factors are the same no matter who you are suing.
We are talking about compensation for damages. So the more damage you have suffered – whether it’s pain and suffering, income loss, property damage, etc., the more you can sue an insurance company for.
Also, how much is your policy worth? That can apply to both the defendant and you. If you’ve got a $25,000 car insurance policy and injure someone else who has $50,000 in damages, you’re probably going to take a beating in court.
But if you hit someone with $50,000 in damages and your policy is worth $100,000, well, you’re probably not going to necessarily have to tap into your savings account to pay for the damages.
For the second part , if the defendant has a big policy, they’re probably more likely to take a settlement before letting a jury decide.
Look at what’s the claim being made? If it’s a business claim with significant damages that will require documentation of lost profits, etc., we may have to bring in an expense expert to look at what the value of that’s going to be.
Is it a personal injury case? We’re going to have medical providers come in. We’re going to have past and future bills available. We’re going to get testimony from your doctors about how your injury is impacting you today and what it’s going to do moving forward.
So again, the bigger the damage, the better off you are, but there are always exceptions where for some reason the facts of your case, as bad and as tragic as they are, don’t carry the same value because of other issues.
Ways To Obtain Damages
When it comes to what you can claim for in a lawsuit against an insurance company, there are many types of damages that could apply. The first type is compensatory damages, which include pecuniary damages (medical bills, loss of income), pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, aggravation of a pre-existing condition, and punitive damages. The second type is statutory damages, which arise out of a statute or ordinance. While some of these may be relatively straightforward, the nuances of even the most basic items are best left to your attorney, who will be able to bring to bear expertise that you may not necessarily have. For example, damages for lost income can be complicated to calculate, depending on such factors as the plaintiff’s age, health, work history, education, etc. If they lost income they were already entitled to pension benefits, this can be even more difficult to determine, as having less money than you ought to may nevertheless reduce your pension benefits. Regardless, this is where your attorney comes in.
Being able to successfully sue an insurance company is not always as straightforward as it seems, and in many cases, they will use all of their resources in order to fight you to the bitter end, so you are going to want to keep as much of the upper hand as you can from the very beginning.
How Bad Faith Lawsuits Apply
What happens if a lawsuit is filed against the insurance company and you believe they have not held up their side of the bargain? This is called a bad faith insurance claim and depending on the severity of the offense, the amount you sued for might also increase.
Generally speaking, if the actions of the insurance company led you to suffer additional damages, then your compensation could go up significantly. For instance, if the insurance company failed to provide adequate defense against a lawsuit you were served, and you were forced to pay out of pocket for the lawyer and lose the case, then you may be able to sue the insurance company for that particular incident. This would qualify as bad faith.
You can also sue if the insurance company offered you compensation far below the damage repairs. If additional medical bills or damages are suffered because they insisted on underpaying the full value of repairs, then you may seek a higher compensation than they would normally be responsible for.
Legal Fees and Possible Origins
The legal costs associated with a lawsuit can significantly affect the final amount that a plaintiff will receive after settlement or trial. It is vital to understand how these costs are calculated and what standard fees may apply to a particular case.
The fees for hiring a personal injury lawyer will depend on the specific attorney or firm in question. Many legal professionals base their fees on the projected amount of compensation for which the case will be settled or awarded. As a result, those involved in lawsuits should discuss the potential costs up front with their attorney, either during the initial consultation or when filing the complaint. It is a good idea to remain in contact with an attorney throughout a case to make certain that any additional expenses will not exceed the agreed-upon amount .
Most personal injury claims will be filed on a contingency fee basis. This means that the attorney will not be paid until after the case has concluded. When an award is decided, the lawyer will take a percentage of the total amount. While the exact percentage will vary, 30 percent is a standard figure. The official rate can be determined when the suit is filed, but both parties usually agree to a contract that specifies the amount. It is important for the plaintiff to closely read the contract, as the document may also include information regarding provisions for partial settlements.
In addition to the standard fee, plaintiffs may be required to reimburse the attorney for other costs associated with the claim. This includes, but is not limited to:
The above charges are not standard for all cases, and it is important to consult directly with the lawyer.
Proving Your Allegations Against An Insurer
This is the most important step for you in proving a case against an insurance company. Your failure to meet these evidentiary burdens opens the door for an insurance company to walk away from compensating you or at least severely limits your compensation when you do prevail.
The first piece of evidence will be the list of medical bills you have received as part of your treatment. These need to be sent to the Subrogation department within the insurer with an explanation of liability so that they are aware that a claim may be able to be paid. The medical records will also be needed to break the chain from the relevant time period so that they can be determined to be necessary and related to the issue at hand. Emergency records, for example, will likely be limited to only the care you received on the day of the incident and in the immediate aftermath.
The next element will be the lost wages of the individual involved in the case. Your attorney will generally be able to assist you in obtaining a copy of your wage records from your employer or from the state’s taxing agency if your employer has not reported your wages. Your attorney will then obtain a similar copy of your 1099s from past years for comparison. If your injuries or the injuries of people in your family were severe enough that long-term or permanent care was required, your attorney will generally seek a life care plan. This plan will be created by a certified professional or caretaker after they have reviewed your medical records and assessed your condition. It will include a lifetime, calculated value for your care needs, and will be used to estimate how much money you will be able to recover.
Even More Cases And Settlements
Two recent cases demonstrate how insurance companies can successfully be sued for amounts above the policy limits. The April 6, 1998, accident in which a car being driven by an intoxicated teenager crashed head-on into a car carrying five Boy Scouts and three leaders resulted in at least three lawsuits against the teenager’s parents. One of the suits was four million dollars, but the other two totaled more than $45 million. Over the ensuing years, all three lawsuits were settled. The total recovered by the families was $37 million. The first settlement occurred in 2000. The family of one of the deceased scouts settled their lawsuit with the teenager’s parents for approximately $4.6 million. In 2001, the second family (out of the three) settled for an undisclosed amount with a national insurance company of the teenager’s parents and the parents of the other passengers in the teen’s vehicle. In July 2002, the attorney for the third family who was pursuing a wrongful-death claim, found himself in a real pickle because of what was considered a blatant mistake on the part of the judge handling the case. The half-million-dollar policy limits for liability of the national insurance company would have been available to settle quickly without risking going to trial, but the original policy had been cancelled for non-payment of premiums. The attorney for the family of the two surviving scouts , Mr. Kreiner, asked a New York trial judge to set aside the earlier settlement in which payment of the policy limits to the family of one of the deceased scouts was made. Judge Edward Schmidt upheld that settlement, finding no evidence that it was fraudulent. During litigation in the other cases, one of the insurance companies claimed that the family had previously settled (the agreement between the family of the deceased scout and the teenager’s parents), and therefore could not pursue the other two claims against the two other insurance companies. The judge refused to dismiss the other two claims. The second claim involved the families of the other two deceased scouts and the third insurance company, the State Farm Florida Insurance Company. Shortly thereafter, there were discussions that possibly led to Mr. Kreiner calling the family’s final settlement the very "largest wrongful-death settlement or jury verdict in the history of the world." The $27.5-million check for four surviving victims in the case did not come in until Dec. 29, 2003. Many legal experts believe the reason these settlements occurred resulted from Mr. Kreiner’s excellent preparation, research and lawyering. The trials were said to have cost the insurance company lots of money and would have put them in a precarious position where they might lose a lot of money.