Getting Through Your Divorce and on With Your Life

Why Is The Demand Letter So Important In An Injury Case?

10 January 2022

Celina Henry

When clients and their injury attorneys pursue cases, filing a demand letter is nearly always one of the central features of the process. If you're not familiar with the injury claims system, you might wonder how a letter could be so important. Let's look at three reasons why injury lawyers care so much about demand letters.

Meeting the Statutory Limit

The driest and simplest answer is that sending a demand to a defendant satisfies the statute of limitations. Claimants in most states have two years to inform defendants and make compensation demands. There are some situations where the limit may be shorter, such as when you file a claim against a government agency in some states. Likewise, a few states have longer or unlimited statutory structures for cases involving sexual abuse, environmental exposure to toxic materials, or repetitive stress injuries.

For you, the big takeaway is the letter stops the clock on the limit. By sending the demand in time, you get virtually unlimited time to negotiate or even sue if necessary.

Starting Point for Negotiations

While it's not impossible, injury attorneys will have a hard time pushing the compensation package above the amount in the demand letter. Absent a major discovery, such as learning a client with a back injury has suffered spinal damage, the demand letter likely sets the top-line possible number for the compensation package. In other words, if you start at a $150,000 demand, you're probably not going to get $250,000 later.

You want to set a high but justifiable target. As negotiations ensure, this will improve your chances of arriving at a number you can live with. That is a big deal if you're in a situation where you may need to live off the compensation money for several years.

Making the Point

Ultimately, injury lawyers have to make a point whenever they send a demand to an insurer or a defendant. They want an insurance claims adjuster to read the demand and conclude there's no way they want the case to go to trial. Consequently, the insurer will settle the case to save time and money. Likewise, they avoid the risk of a major judgment in court that might include bad publicity.

To accomplish this goal, injury attorneys often send packages of materials along with their clients' demand letters. A lawyer might include X-rays and testimony from experts explaining how severe a client's injuries are. Similarly, they will include numbers outlining the client's losses in terms of medical bills, wages, and pain and suffering.

For more information, visit a website like https://www.carterfultonlaw.com/.

Share

Search