how to increase settlement value

How to Increase Settlement Value in Maine | Do This Now

Suffering injuries in a personal injury claim can be overwhelming. While recovering and healing from your injuries, it’s challenging to change your focus to dealing with aggressive insurance companies and attorneys.

Unexpected car accidents, slip and fall incidents, medical malpractice, and other personal injury cases substantially impact your physical, emotional, and financial health.

It’s vital to speak to a qualified personal injury attorney who understands the ins and outs of a personal injury case and how to achieve the best possible result for you. Read on to learn more about how to increase a personal injury settlement and what you are entitled to recover in these types of cases.

How to Increase Settlement Value

Knowing how to increase the potential settlement value of your case requires taking multiple steps that strengthen your case. A strong case puts you in control of negotiation discussions to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.

Seek Immediate Medical Treatment

After an accident, even if you believe yourself free of injury, it’s important to seek medical attention immediately.

Many serious injuries do not show symptoms for hours, days, or sometimes even weeks after an incident. Seek a complete evaluation so a medical professional can document all injuries you suffered in the accident.

Connecting your injuries to the accident eliminates any opportunity for insurance companies to claim that your injury resulted from another unrelated event.

Gather and Preserve All Evidence

Gathering compelling evidence is vital to maximizing and supporting your demand for compensation. Valuable evidence to retain and provide to your personal injury attorney includes the following:

  • Medical records detailing your injuries and expenses;
  • Pay stubs documenting lost wages;
  • Photographs documenting the scene of the accident and your injuries;
  • Names, contact information, and statements of any witnesses to the accident; and
  • Expert testimony.

A skilled personal injury attorney collects and organizes this valuable evidence to build a strong case and give you leverage during settlement discussions.

Determining Liability

Your attorney analyzes the facts of your case and the circumstances surrounding your accident to establish the liability of the party responsible for your injuries.

Filing a lawsuit against the correct party is vital to recovering the compensation you and your family need. Clear evidence of liability provides the basis for negotiating successfully by making it harder to dispute the validity of your claim.

File Your Claim

Your attorney understands the best time to file your personal injury claim. There may be situations when your attorney advises waiting to file your claim until the true scope of your injuries and losses are understood.

Maine law provides a six-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. You must file within this period, or your claim is forever barred. Your attorney keeps track of these procedural deadlines, so you don’t have to worry about them.

Negotiate

Insurance companies may tempt you with initial settlement offers to deter you from filing a claim. You should never accept these initial offers as they usually fail to capture the value of your losses.

A skilled personal injury attorney works to understand the scope of your injuries and how they may impact your life in the long term.

Keep a Post-Accident Journal

Write down your thoughts surrounding what happened before, during, and following your accident. Maintaining a record on paper makes it easy for you to revisit these details with accuracy as your case progresses.

A journal also assists in detailing how the accident has impacted your life, including the difficulties you face daily and how your injuries affect your ability to work or spend time with your family.

What Damages You Can Recover

Determining how to get more money from a car accident settlement means understanding what damages you are entitled to recover in these types of cases.

Most personal injury cases are settled through negotiations and never go to trial. But don’t rely on that. Properly calculating the settlement value of a case is vital to successful negotiation discussions.

Maine permits injured victims to obtain compensatory damages through economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages represent calculable losses resulting from your injury and include the following:

  • Medical expenses,
  • Lost wages,
  • Loss of future earnings, and
  • Property damage.

Documentation proving these losses is crucial to recovering the total value of these damages. Retain copies of all receipts, invoices, pay stubs, and any other related evidence so your attorney can accurately calculate the total value of your economic losses.

Non-economic damages are subjective losses related to the pain and suffering of your injuries. These losses include the following:

  • Emotional distress,
  • Pain and suffering,
  • Loss of consortium,
  • Loss of enjoyment of life, and
  • Permanent disability or disfigurement.

Due to their subjective nature, recovering non-economic damages without the skill of a personal injury attorney could result in significantly less compensation.

What Is Comparative Fault?

Determining how to increase the value of a personal injury settlement also requires an understanding of Maine’s comparative fault rule.

Under the theory of comparative fault, you cannot recover compensatory damages if a jury determines you are equally at fault for your accident. In other words, you only recover damages from a liable party if a jury concludes that you were less than 49% at fault for the accident.

A skilled attorney anticipates strategies used by insurance companies and other attorneys to shift blame to the victim and avoid paying damages.

Contact Us

Mann Law is a firm run by women doing things differently. We are invested in your case and never treat you as just another number.

We understand your difficulties after such a traumatic experience. In addition to advocating fiercely to win your case, we support you every step of the way.

We get to know your needs and work tirelessly to achieve the best possible outcome. Our unique approach to representing our clients has garnered many favorable reviews.

Contact us today by phone or email for a risk-free, complimentary consultation and learn how Mann Law can help you!

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Christiana E. Mann Christiana “Chrissy” Mann has specialized in civil litigation for 21+ years as a savvy and creative litigator, and she’s regarded as a fair, compassionate, and zealous advocate on behalf of her clients.