Most Accident Claims Settle Out of Court (2024)

After an accident someone else caused, you can seek compensation in one of two ways: through a personal injury insurance settlement or a civil lawsuit in court. Most of the time, insurance companies will try to settle accident claims outside of court. Lawsuits are lengthy and expensive. An insurance company knows it’s likely to pay less by settling outside of court.

After you file a claim, the insurance company might respond quickly. However, the first offer is nearly always a lowball amount. So, although the insurance company might be willing to settle fast, it’s not necessarily the best for you. You will probably need to enter a settlement negotiation with the insurance company to fight for what you deserve.

How the Insurance Company Decides to Offer a Settlement

In Georgia, the negligent party in an accident is responsible for the damages. Negligence is a legal term for carelessness, according to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) §51-1-2.

Most of the time, the at-fault party’s insurance company covers the damages. For example, the insurance company of the responsible driver in an accident pays for the accident costs like:

Medical treatment costs
Lost wages and lost earning capacity
Property damage
Pain and suffering

Slip and falls, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents are also instances where insurance comes into play. So, if someone causes your injuries, you can probably file a claim with their insurance policy.

Fair Settlements Aren’t Easy

Insurance companies care most about their costs. So when an insurer gets an accident claim, they will look for ways to reduce what they pay. They’ll also do what they can to avoid a court case. This is why most insurers will try to settle before going to court.

Getting a fair settlement offer might be difficult. The first offer will likely be much lower than you request in your claim. You and the insurer will need to negotiate and hopefully come to a fair agreement.

How to Know When to Settle a Claim

An insurance company will start with a lowball claim. They know that many accident victims do not have experience with personal injury cases. The insurer hopes you’ll take the first offer, which means closing your case. Once you accept money, you won’t be able to fight for more. The goal for most injury victims is to:

Negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company, and
Not have to go to court

How a Lawyer Can Help

How do you know what a fair settlement looks like? By knowing your total damages and understanding your full rights. A personal injury accident can examine all of your accident damages. Your lawyer will also:

Determine who is at fault for your accident, including any partial fault
Consider all future damages, such as ongoing medical care
Account for pain and suffering damages that don’t have a set dollar amount
Prepare for the possibility of trial, just in case you need to file a lawsuit
Keep in mind how soon you want to settle your case

It’s hard to know what you deserve without a lawyer. But, unfortunately, we find that most accident victims drastically underestimate their damages after an accident. This can lead to a too-low settlement, leaving victims to pay out-of-pocket for many costs.

Fighting for Full Compensation for Your Injuries

As stated above, insurance companies don’t like to deal with court cases. For that reason, an insurer is more likely to negotiate a claim.

Always Hire a Lawyer to Help You

You may wonder why hiring a lawyer is necessary if your case won’t go to court. Aside from the reasons listed above, one of the most important things about hiring a lawyer is balancing the terms of negotiation with the insurance company.

Insurance companies often have lots of legal resources and a strong team of experts and lawyers on their side. However, if you know little or nothing about personal injury law, an insurance company can easily bully you into accepting a settlement far below what your damages truly are.

This happens to many personal injury victims in Georgia and throughout the country. Don’t find yourself fighting an uphill battle alone. In many cases, just hiring a lawyer is more than enough to get the insurance company to settle for what your damages are actually worth.

For a free legal consultation, call

404-400-4000

The Statute of Limitations for Accident Claims

Whether you go to court or not, all claims that involve an accident and personal injury have a statute of limitations of two years under OCGA §9-3-33. If you let the statute of limitations expire, you no longer have the right to file a claim and pursue financial compensation. So don’t forfeit your ability to win a settlement by sitting on your claim.

You do yourself a disservice with inaction. The insurance company wants you to either take their lowball settlement or sit on your claim. The longer you wait to take action, the easier it is for an insurance company to fight against the claim you eventually file. Always get help from a lawyer and take the necessary steps to secure your settlement.

Talk to an Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Today

has been helping accident victims for over 20 years. We have grown to become one of Georgia’s largest law firms with a reputation as the “Strong Arm” against insurance companies.

We do not get paid unless we win your case. And every case is personal for us because we fight tirelessly for our clients. To learn more during a free consultation, call or contact us online.

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404-400-4000 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form

FAQs

Most Accident Claims Settle Out of Court? ›

Insurance companies care most about their costs. So when an insurer gets an accident claim, they will look for ways to reduce what they pay. They'll also do what they can to avoid a court case. This is why most insurers will try to settle before going to court.

What percent of cases settle out of court? ›

Kiser, principal analyst at DecisionSet, states, “The vast majority of cases do settle — from 80 to 92 percent by some estimates.” Other sources even claim that this number is closer to 97 percent. However, not all cases are created equally.

How long do most accident settlements take? ›

Complexity of case

Complexity of case	Length of Time to Settle
Simple	Approximately: 1 – 6 months
Moderate	Approximately: 6 – 12 months
High	Approximately: 12 – 24 months+

Dec 7, 2023

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How much are most personal injury settlements? ›

Here are the average settlement amounts for some of the more common types of personal injury claims in California:

Workers' Compensation Settlement: $5,000 – $20,000.
Car Accident Settlement: $20,000 – $30,000.
Motorcycle Accident Settlement: $50,000 -$150,000.
Pedestrian Accident Settlement: $40,000 – $100,000.

More items...

May 10, 2024

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Is settlement better than going to court? ›

Settlements are significantly faster than a personal injury trial. On average, a settlement will take three to six months to complete. On the other hand, a trial takes twice as long to complete. Settlements are usually quicker, more efficient, less expensive, and less stressful than going to court.

Learn More Now ›

At what point do most cases settle? ›

On average only 5% of our cases go to trial and that is because most cases do settle at some point before trial. Cases may settle very early in the case, at a settlement conference, at mediation, at the eve of trial, or even in the middle of trial. Deciding whether to settle is a calculated risk.

Keep Reading ›

What is a good settlement figure? ›

It comes down to math. Very roughly, if you think that you have a 50% chance of winning at trial, and that a jury is likely to award you something in the vicinity of $100,000, you might want to try to settle the case for about $50,000.

Tell Me More ›

What is considered a good settlement? ›

In general, if you can get close to judgment value of the case in settlement, then it should be considered a very good settlement. One of the first considerations that attorneys and clients should factor in is the chance of prevailing on the issue of liability.

How much money should I ask for in a settlement? ›

Ask for more than what you think you'll get

There's no precise formula, but it's generally recommended that personal injury plaintiffs ask for about 75% to 100% more than what they hope to receive. In other words, if you think your lawsuit might be worth $10,000, ask for $17,500 to $20,000.

Tell Me More ›

What is a fair settlement? ›

At The Glenn Armentor Law Corporation, our motto is, “A Fair Settlement Is No Accident.” People ask us all the time – what exactly is a fair settlement? In the context of what we do as a personal injury law firm, a fair settlement means ensuring that everything the client has lost due to their injury is recovered.

Why do lawyers prefer to settle? ›

The main reason that most cases settle out of court is because the outcome is either guaranteed or predictable. However, unlike a trial, settling out of court means that the settlement is not up to a jury or judge to decide. Both parties can come to a mutual agreement without other parties being involved.