Unlike an adjuster, the lawyer representing an accident victim does not use a formula to place a value on a victim’s injury claim. Still, the Personal Injury Lawyer in Georgetown does have to think in terms of the three points. After all, the lawyer’s presentation of the victim’s claim might be likened to a presentation. The three determinants of a claim’s value would be resting on that same tray. Hence, a lawyer cannot do a good job of presenting a case in which the three determinants of its value differ greatly in size.
What are the three determinants of a case’s value?
The first is liability. A lawyer will not have much of a case if no one can be held liable for a given client’s injury. Of course, lawyers do not want the insurance company to suggest that the victim bears some of the responsibility. For that reason, good lawyers will caution their clients against providing the insurance company with a taped record of their account of the injury-causing accident.
The second determinant is the resulting damages. If there were no damages, then that particular determinant will not add any value to the claim. It will be like the light object on a tray, the one that does not balance out the heavier ones. It will force the lawyer to handle a lop-sided tray.
If the accident did result in damages, then the lawyer must work on determining how the damaged item might be fixed. The lawyer has to calculate how much money must be spent on repairing what has been damaged. Still, even evidence of extensive damage does not provide the lawyer with the certainty that the calculated compensation is sure to be awarded to that same deserving victim.
Lawyers must take the evidence of liability and the figures calculated for damages and combine them with proof that the client’s injuries were caused the accident that has pushed the client to make a claim. Then, when that claim has been recognized, the lawyer’s attention must focus on something called coverage. That is really the third determinant of a case’s value. In turn, the value or the available coverage depends on the existence of both liability and damages.
Can a lawyer’s client help with collection of the three things that determine a case’s value?
The client can be careful about saying something that might suggest some liability on the part of the same client. On the other hand, clients have no control over their medical history. If that history contains mention of a pre-existing condition, then that might be used to suggest that the accident did not cause the client’s present injury.