Telling a believable story is the top priority if your goal is to increase your personal injury payout. Building credibility and offering a clear, organized presentation of the facts is the main way to maximize your settlement award. Insurance companies and attorneys for liable parties are excellent at picking apart a liar’s fabrication and exposing fraud. Juries are also usually very adept at detecting dishonest behavior versus a person who clearly and consistently tells the truth.
Ultimately, a judge or jury may decide if you receive an award and how much the payout may be in a personal injury lawsuit. For that reason, this process is governed by what they would be most likely to consider. The impression you make on the insurer, liable party, judge, jurors, and others involved could also bear significant weight when it comes time to recover damages in your case.
What Options Do I Have to Boost My Personal Injury Settlement?
It is essential to recognize that not all personal injury cases require suing the liable party, and even fewer go to trial. Most settle without ever taking these steps. Still, many of the same principles apply. Some of the best ways to increase an out-of-court settlement include the following:
- Work with a personal injury attorney who can build a case and negotiate a fair settlement.
- Document your economic and non-economic losses and expenses.
- Identify strong evidence to prove negligence and liability.
- Understand the value of your case.
- Do not accept an offer until your law firm reviews it.
- Do not settle for less than your case deserves.
- Remember and pursue all related expenses.
First and foremost, the best thing you can do for yourself, your stress levels, and your legal case may be to enlist the help of a trusted law firm. Our attorneys will use their own knowledge, experience, and resources to build your case and seek the compensation you need to pay your bills and cover any losses.
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How to Get More Money from Insurance Settlement
Personal injury cases are complex, and while courts go to great lengths to use objective standards in calculating settlements, there are steps you can take early on to make sure you get a fair settlement or award. These include:
- Saving medical bills and receipts
- Saving any related invoices
- Organizing doctor’s office notes
- Keeping related auto mechanic paperwork
- Including any therapy documentation
- Keeping a diary of your experiences
Among other factors, it is vital to keep a personal journal or diary of your experiences from the date of your injury throughout the healing process. This helps your mind remain clear and cogent about what happened.
What to Include in Your Written Account
Establishing a journal for your case can make it easier to speak about your experience without fumbling words or otherwise giving the appearance of lying. Jurors may think a victim is not upholding their sworn oath when they stumble on their words or have trouble keeping their story straight during court testimony or deposition. Your diary should contain:
- Dates
- Days of the week
- Activities you could and could not participate in
- Doctor’s appointments and treatments
- Other key details can help you memorize essential data
Being able to recall relevant data builds credibility in depositions and court. However, the pressure of a court appearance can also cause anxiety or nervousness. This makes having a written version of your account even more vital.
Having the necessary evidence to prove your damages and a recorded version of events will help you seek and hopefully recover as much compensation as possible based on your losses. With this said, there are other ways to increase your potential recovery.
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You Can Talk to a Lawyer Early on in the Process
The single best step one may take to ensure the value of their case is to get a trusted legal team involved early. The legal process can be stressfully slow. However, some physical evidence in the field has an expiration date. This date may be much sooner than the statute of limitations, which is generally one year in Louisiana (CC Art. 3492).
When you work with our law firm, we can begin gathering evidence and developing a case quickly. Our team may be able to reach a fair and just out-of-court settlement and avoid going to trial in the first place.
Following the action items our team recommends can be another key to recovering a just payout. We speak from years of knowledge and experience. Following the advice of our legal professionals could help you avoid costly and common mistakes that would otherwise jeopardize your settlement or verdict.
Will Surgery Increase My Settlement?
Let’s say you suffered injuries in a car accident due to another driver’s negligence. Your potential settlement may increase based on the severity of your injuries and subsequent pain and suffering. For example, if you fractured your leg in the accident and required surgery and weeks of physical therapy, that could increase your settlement amount.
A car accident attorney from our firm would include compensation for your medical bills, rehabilitation, lost income, and more in a demand letter to the at-fault party’s insurance company. Your lawyer will know how to negotiate to get more money from a car accident settlement to ensure your total damages are covered, and you can focus on healing.
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More Difficult Ways to Increase Your Settlement or Court Award
There are some other methods that can increase the value of your personal injury case. However, these strategies may be more challenging or not applicable in your case.
How Child Support Affects Personal Injury Compensation
When people who owe back child support receive personal injury compensation, the settlement or award may go to cover these payments. If you owe child support and want to increase the amount you receive from your case, you will want to get as current as possible with your payments first.
Bankruptcy and Personal Injury Claims
If you filed for bankruptcy recently or are still going through the process, it could bear relevance to any personal injury lawsuits you file. For individuals still in bankruptcy, their personal injury case proceeds could benefit bankruptcy trustees first. This may significantly affect your personal injury financial award.
To avoid this, you may want to consider putting off filing bankruptcy until your case settles, when possible. This may allow you to avoid bankruptcy entirely. Your lawyer may have advice on what to tell bill collectors who want payment for your accident injuries and other related expenses.
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Talk to a Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers Team Member Now
If you are looking for help with your personal injury case, call Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers. We can review the case for free and present you with options for seeking a fair payout. We represent our clients based on contingency, so you will not need to pay us anything today.
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