How Important Is the Demand in an Auto Accident Case Represented by My Tampa Car Accident Attorney?

You got into an auto accident or motorcycle accident in the Tampa area. Your auto accident attorney advises you that once you've reached maximum medical improvement (MM I), your case will be ready for demand. You may ask yourself how important is the demand submitted by my personal injury attorney in pursuing a claim for injuries that result from motor vehicle accidents?

This is an excellent question. First understand that maximum medical improvement means that your medical condition is not expected to change substantially over the next 12 months. It is important that your car accident attorney waits until you reach MMI in order to submit the demand for two reasons. First, before that time your Tampa car accident injury attorney cannot be sure that he is requesting reimbursement for the full amount of damages that were incurred as a result of the Tampa car accident. In addition, the insurance company cannot be sure that you won't have a better recovery once you complete your treatment. For both those reasons, it is generally important to wait until you reach MMI before submitting your demand. You should realize though that just because the demand has been submitted, doesn't mean that you cannot receive additional medical treatment.

The demand is very important as a starting point for negotiations with the at fault party's insurance company. In order to prepare your auto accident demand appropriately, all of your medical records will have been requested from your medical providers that treated you since your car accident. These medical records will include any diagnostic tests such as the results of x‐rays and MRIs. Most of the time, one of your medical providers will provide a final report that summarizes the injuries, how the auto accident caused the injuries, and what lingering issues remain for you as result of the car accident.

In addition to the medical records, the demand will also contain information with regard to the at fault parties’ liability for causing those injuries. Finally, the demand package will contain the amount of medical bills that have been incurred to date, the medical bills that are expected to be incurred in the future, the amount of lost wages incurred to date and the amount of lost wages expected to be incurred in the future.

The demand is important as a way to make a positive first impression when presenting the entirety of your claim to an insurance company. The insurance adjuster is likely to judge the quality of the firm based on the quality of the demand package. Whether or not the insurance company feels that they need to offer the maximum amount of compensation may be in part determined by the quality of the demand. Certainly, the law firm will have had conversations with the adjuster before that time, but the demand is the first time that they would likely have seen a written presentation of all that has happened to you as a result of the auto accident. It will be the first time the insurance company’s adjuster will have had a chance to review the case in its entirety. A strong first impression can bode well for future negotiations and may help prevent the need for a lawsuit to be filed in order to maximize and obtain the appropriate amount of compensation for your injuries.

Although all this makes the demand very important in the process of obtaining just results for our clients, it is only one step in a process. Often our auto accident clients place too much emphasis on the insurance company’s response to the demand. That response may include a request for more information or clarification. The adjuster may also make an initial first offer and personal injury attorneys with experience will tell their clients that this first offer amount is not relevant to the outcome of the negotiations. It is likely that the adjuster will start with a very low number knowing full well that they are prepared to offer significantly more monies in order to get the case resolved. The important thing is that your law firm stands ready to fight for you in the event the insurance company does not provide adequate compensation. That way your Tampa personal injury attorney is not likely to attempt to convince you to take what you find to be an unreasonably low offer from the insurance company. An excellent attorney will give you the objective advice you need so you can make the best decisions for yourself with regard to an appropriate amount to settle your claim for. Unfortunately, many personal injury law firms will become more like advocates for the adjuster's point of view or offer just so they can close the case without having to potentially go to court and fight for what's right.

At our law firm, we believe that everything that involves your personal injury claim is important. We place emphasis on all aspects of the claims process. This means that your demand is given the same rigorous review as everything else that is sent out from our firm. The demand is not sent to the adjuster until it meets our high standard for excellence. We believe that this is important so that insurance companies recognize that our firm is devoted to serving each of our clients and that we will not accept anything less than what our clients feel is an appropriate settlement amount. If you'd like to learn more about our mission statement and our commitment to excellence, please contact us.