Overview
About this firm
When an auto insurance company makes a low or unreasonable offer during pre-litigation, filing a lawsuit is often necessary to protect the full value of your claim. Insurance companies are profit-driven and their early offers are typically designed to close cases cheaply, avoid paying full pain-and-suffering damages, and discount future medical care or permanent injuries. Until a lawsuit is filed, the insurer has little incentive to act reasonably because there is no external enforcement mechanism. Litigation fundamentally changes the insurer’s risk. Once suit is filed, the carrier incurs defense costs, faces the possibility of an excess verdict, and must increase its internal financial reserves. The defendant driver also faces personal exposure above policy limits. This new legal and financial risk often causes insurers to substantially increase their settlement offers. Filing suit also forces the disclosure of evidence through formal discovery. Depositions, documents, vehicle data, and expert testimony frequently undermine liability defenses and “minor impact” arguments. Litigation allows medical, biomechanical, and economic experts to formally prove causation, permanency, future care, and lost earning capacity.
