Are Your Best Interests Served By A Settlement?
If you've been injured and the responsible party accepts fault, you may be offered a cash settlement to end the issue before an official court date and decision. In some cases, the settlement may be enough to handle your medical issues and some personal finances. Some lucky victims may even consider it a life-improving windfall. Unfortunately, the science behind selecting a settlement can be tricky enough to keep you distracted while ignoring bigger problems that may pop up later in life. Before signing anything, consider a few issues that could make any "big" settlement almost useless.
Medical Expenses Are Complicated
If you're offered a payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions, you should be wary. Unless you were hit by a car driven by a very frightened rich person, there may be more at stake than just being afraid of appearing in court.
Medical expenses manifest in strange ways. If you're exposed to certain substances and the guilty party knows what you've been exposed to, your medical future may involve blood tests, medication, and complex medical procedures to counteract the exposure. This is especially true with carcinogenic (potentially cancer-causing) substance.
Injuries unrelated to substance exposure can still be complicated. If you were hit hard enough by an impact or suffer an especially hazardous fall, you may not heal as quickly as expected. The same goes for certain stabs, slashes, or bruises that put you in the hospital for more than a day. Your recovery may seem swift, but there could be side effects, such as persistent limps or wounds, that never truly heal.
Because of these risks, it's hard to plan exactly how expensive your medical repair can be. Can you truly put a price on never fully recovered? Can any estimate made on your own be enough? You'll likely need an attorney on your side, but one thing is for certain; you can't let your legal opponent decide the amount. It may not be enough, no matter how big the price tag is.
Flexible, Realistic Settlement Terms
Worst case scenarios are the most important planning point, but realistically speaking, there are times when it's better to take the money and run. Still, you need to be wise about how the money is delivered.
Instead of taking a lump sum payment and refusing to talk about the issue again, you may want legal terms in place to allow evaluation later in life. Medical professionals can be chosen by a neutral party or agreed upon by both you and the guilty party to evaluate your condition for future medical and financial need.
This means that if the injury or condition persists, gets worse, or has complications that split off into different issues, you can request more compensation. It also means that if nothing is wrong in later evaluations, the original settlement was fine.
Your compensation is more than just medical bills. The famous pain and suffering covers medical costs and costs associated with losing a comfortable way of living, such as missing life events or being unable to enjoy your life as you normally would because of the injury.
Lost wages can be covered as well, even if it's potential costs for contractors without consistent workflow. Just be sure to speak with a personal injury attorney to iron out the details for a successful injury settlement that covers all of your concerns--as well as issues you may not have considered.
Contact a company like http://www.putnamlieb.com for more information and assistance.
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