After suffering injuries in a car accident, you may be wondering how much you should ask for in a car accident settlement. The compensation you demand should reflect the severity of your damages, the strength of your case, the skill of your lawyer, and the financial resources of parties with liability.

Here’s an overview of the car accident settlement process and why you should trust an experienced Cape Girardeau car accident lawyer to handle the evaluation, negotiation, litigation, and settlement of your injury claim.

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Introduction to Car Accident Settlements

A settlement is an agreement to resolve a legal matter such as a claim for damages after a car accident. Most—but not all—car accident claims get resolved through settlements. In the typical car accident settlement, the injured crash victim receives money from an at-fault party, that party’s liability insurance company, or the victim’s own insurance company. In exchange, the victim releases the paying parties from further liability and drops any pending lawsuits against them.

A car accident claim can involve just one settlement against a single at-fault party or insurer, or multiple settlements against several individuals, businesses, or entities who owe payment for the victim’s damages. For example, receiving money from your auto insurance company after a crash may not prevent you from seeking additional compensation from an at-fault party or that party’s insurer for losses your insurance didn’t pay.

A settlement typically ends your claim against the party who pays you. It’s virtually impossible to re-open a settlement once you have agreed to it and received money. Accordingly, the goal of any settlement is to achieve the maximum payment available from the party paying you.

Settlement Negotiations Balance Rights vs. Reality

The parties involved in a car accident case—usually the injured victim, the at-fault party, insurance companies, and their lawyers—usually arrive at settlements through negotiation. In the simplest terms, the injured party asks for as much money as possible, the at-fault party or insurer wants to pay the least amount possible, and they go back and forth until they find a middle ground acceptable to everyone.

But that doesn’t mean a settlement happens merely by splitting the difference between the two sides. The ultimate value of payment depends on where the parties start their negotiation and how they perceive the strengths and weaknesses of each other’s cases. Frequently, the give and take of a settlement negotiation reflect a delicate balance between how much the victim has a right to receive and what an at-fault party or insurer can realistically pay.

Your Rights to Compensation

As the victim of a car accident caused by someone else’s wrongful conduct, you may recover compensation for all of your physical, emotional, and financial harm. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll receive payment for those losses. But your rights set the baseline for how much you could receive.

A skilled lawyer can review your case and evaluate your damages. Accident victims frequently express surprise at the amount of compensation a lawyer concludes they could claim.

Damages for car accidents routinely include:

• Past and future medical expenses related to treating injuries suffered in the accident and any resulting health complications.
• The costs of repairing or replacing a damaged vehicle or other personal property.
• Other expenses victims have as a result of getting into a car accident or dealing with a crash-related injury.
• Lost income and job benefits from missing work, including the value of paid time off used.
• Diminished future earning potential due to a temporary or permanent disability.
• Physical pain from an injury or medical treatments.
• Emotional distress resulting from the trauma of the accident or living with injuries.
• Daily inconvenience and diminished quality of life due to crash-related injuries or mental health struggles.
• The challenges of living with scarring, disfigurement, or loss of bodily function.

In addition to these compensatory damages, you may also have the right to receive additional payments. For example, a court may award you punitive damages if the at-fault party engaged in extreme or intentional misconduct. A statute might also require the at-fault party or an insurer to pay you a minimum amount.

One of the most critical jobs a car accident lawyer performs involves evaluating your situation and calculating the maximum damages the lawyer could prove in court (if necessary). That figure typically represents the highest amount you could theoretically win from a jury or demand as a settlement payment.

Settlement Realities

Having a legal right to receive damages, however, does not guarantee their payment. At-fault parties and insurance companies rarely offer to pay the maximum amount you could claim. That’s because numerous factors can potentially limit the value of your claim and shrink the amount you can realistically expect to receive as compensation.

The Availability and Strength of the Evidence to Support Your Claim

Your car accident claim has value only because your lawyer could, if necessary, prove it to a judge and jury in court. The type, amount, and persuasiveness of evidence available to support your case thus play a critical role in determining how much money you can expect as a settlement. Cases supported by robust and voluminous evidence tend to have higher settlement values than those that rest on weak evidentiary foundations.

The strength of the evidence in your case can depend on numerous variables. For example, video evidence showing that the at-fault party caused the crash can bolster a case, whereas an eyewitness’s fading memory can weaken it. You can’t necessarily control the type of evidence available to support your claim. But the sooner you hire an experienced lawyer to handle it, the better the chances of locating, preserving, and using whatever evidence may exist.

The Skill and Resources of Your Lawyer

All lawyers are not created equal. The quality of yours can affect the value of your car accident claim.

The right lawyer to handle your case should have:

• Years of experience representing car accident victims like you.
• An impressive track record of results in car accident cases.
• A team of smart, sophisticated lawyers and support staff.
• A sterling reputation among former clients and fellow lawyers.

In addition, and although it may sound obvious, the lawyer most likely to get you a top-dollar car accident settlement usually knows how to win cases like yours at trial. If at-fault parties, defense lawyers, or insurance companies think your lawyer shies away from the courtroom, they’ll assume you need to settle at all costs and will reduce their offer accordingly. By hiring a lawyer who’s ready, willing, and able to go to court to prove your case, you signal that you mean business and won’t be bullied into settling for less than your claim is worth.

The Funds Available for Payment

Every car accident claim may also bump up against the reality that an at-fault party has limited funds to pay damages, and insurance companies only have to pay up to the limit of the policies they issued. Those constraints may cap the value of your claim. For example, if you have the legal right to $300,000 in damages, but the at-fault party’s insurance limit is $200,000, the value of your claim might max out at $200,000 since that’s all the at-fault party can pay.

Experienced car accident lawyers explore every potential avenue of payment for their clients. Multiple parties might owe compensation for your crash-related damages. The more of them a lawyer can identify and pursue, the greater the odds of negotiating settlements for the full amount of your losses.

Who Decides Whether to Take a Settlement?

As the victim of a car accident, you get to decide whether to accept a settlement offer made by an at-fault party or insurance company. Your lawyer can negotiate the settlement on your behalf and advise you whether an offer treats you fairly. But the ultimate decision whether to agree to it is yours alone. A lawyer can only commit you to a settlement with your permission.

Should You Agree to a Settlement the Insurance Company Directly Offers You?

It’s risky to agree to a settlement made to you directly by an insurance company, defense lawyer, or at-fault party. Those sorts of offers—which typically happen before you’ve hired an attorney—almost always fall far short of the amount you deserve to receive.

Agreeing to them could leave significant amounts of money on the table. The wisest course of action is usually to decline to respond to any settlement made to you directly and immediately consult with a car accident lawyer about what to do next.

What Happens Once You Agree to a Settlement?

Once you agree to a settlement your lawyer negotiated with the insurance company, the lawyers will put it in writing, and you and the paying party will sign it. Then, both parties must make good on the promises reflected in the settlement agreement. As discussed above, an at-fault party or insurance company must pay the agreed amount, and you must release those parties from liability and drop any pending lawsuits.

Settlement payments can be instantaneous or take a few weeks to arrive, depending on who’s paying and how much they must send. The paying party usually sends the funds to your lawyer’s client trust account. From those funds, the lawyer will usually deduct their fee and any expense reimbursements (see below) and send you the remainder or disburse it according to your instructions.

What Happens if a Car Accident Claim Doesn’t Settle?

As discussed above, most car accident claims settle out of court before trial. Sometimes, lawyers don’t even need to file a lawsuit to achieve a settlement—submitting an insurance claim or simply demanding money from the at-fault party is enough to kickstart settlement discussions.

But some car accident claims don’t settle. It can happen for various reasons. The parties might have irreconcilable disagreements about core issues like liability or the amount of your damages. Or someone might have personal or business reasons for not wanting to settle.

Whatever the reason for a car accident case not settling, you need a lawyer with a backup plan. That’s why it pays to hire a lawyer ready and willing to go to court to present your case. With a skilled trial lawyer in your corner, you’re prepared to overcome any challenge that might stand in the way of getting compensated for your losses.

What Does It Cost to Have a Lawyer Handle Your Car Accident Case?

Crash victims don’t need to worry about the cost of hiring a lawyer to handle their settlement. Car accident lawyers offer free case evaluations for potential clients like you. And the lawyer you decide to hire will almost certainly agree to handle your case on a contingent fee basis. The lawyer’s fee and reimbursement for any costs the lawyer advances come out of the money the lawyer recovers for you. You don’t have to pay an upfront fee or hourly rates for the lawyer’s services. The lawyer only receives payment by getting results for you.

Lawyers handle car accident cases on contingency because they know crash victims like you frequently face financial difficulties. Working for a contingent fee makes a lawyer’s services accessible to anyone who needs them. And it gives lawyers a powerful incentive to get you the largest settlement possible since they share in your claim’s success.

Contact an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer Today

The potential value of your car accident claim can depend on a wide variety of factors. But no matter what the circumstances of your car accident injury, the most reliable way to get a fair settlement is to hire an experienced a Cape Girardeau personal injury lawyer to handle your claim.

Want to learn more about how much you could receive through a settlement of your car accident claim? Contact an experienced car accident lawyer in Missouri today for a free case evaluation.