What to Do if You’ve Been Served with a Personal Injury Lawsuit

If you find yourself served with a Personal Injury Lawsuit, chances are your insurance adjuster has made an unfair or unreasonable offer to the other party. When an initial claim is brought to the attention of your insurance company, your adjuster will make a settlement offer on your behalf to close the claim. In most cases, injury claims will settle before reaching the courtroom. However, if the insurance adjuster does not cooperate with the opposing side, it may require a trial to sort out the details and bring the case to a close.

The Difference Between a Trial and a Settlement

After an accident, a person has the legal right to collect compensation for any damages and injuries they have suffered due to negligence.

A settlement takes place when the defendant’s insurer and the plaintiff have agreed upon an amount for compensation.

Settlements can be made at any time during the claim, even before or after a trial has taken place. Trials tend to take a long time and cost a lot more fees. They can also be riskier and more stressful for both sides. That is why settlements tend to occur before a trial becomes necessary.

Duty to Defend

The first thing you should do after receiving serve papers is 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦. The next thing we recommend is to reach out to your insurance adjuster. Ask them why they have not come to a reasonable settlement for this accident claim.

Insurance companies legally have an “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” duty to their clients. If the insurance company fails to deal fairly with you or act in good faith, then you may have grounds for a bad faith insurance lawsuit. Bad faith lawsuits can be brought against insurance companies by defendants in personal injury cases. If the insurance company is obligated to defend their insured from a lawsuit and they fail to do so, or acted in “bad faith,” against their insured, then the policyholder may be able to file a bad faith insurance lawsuit against the insurance company.

At B&D Law Group, our priority is to help those who have been injured. When we file a claim on behalf of our clients, we expect that they receive a reasonable settlement for their injuries from the defendant’s insurance company. Our firm does not normally handle personal injury claims on behalf of defendants, but we recommend that you begin to document communications between you and your insurance company to gather evidence for your bad faith claim against your insurance.