Frequently Asked Questions – Personal Injury Law – Attorneys in Wilmington, Delaware

» How can I tell if I have a personal injury case?
» How much is my personal injury case worth?
» Do insurance companies treat injured people fairly?

How can I tell if I have a personal injury case?

Whether one has a right to recover in a personal injury lawsuit is based on three elements. First, someone has to do something wrong. For example, an act of negligence or a broken promise. Second, one has to suffer injury, such as a broken leg in an auto accident. Finally, there has to be a fund or a pool of resources to collect for those damages.

In other words, for the personal injury attorneys at our Wilmington practice to successfully litigate a claim, it is not enough that someone simply went through a red light and scared you. Someone has to go through a red light, collide with your car, and cause injury to you. That individual must have insurance or some other source of funds or else no one will be able to collect for the injury. All of these things are necessary to successfully pursue a personal injury case.

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How much is my personal injury case worth?

A personal injury claim is evaluated based upon the seriousness of the injury. If someone causes a collision and injures you and as a result you miss relatively little time from work and only have a few weeks of physical therapy, then your personal injury case is worth relatively little. If on the other hand you are seriously injured, need surgery, have large medical bills, miss a great deal of time from work, or are unable to work again, your personal injury case is worth much more money. In Wilmington and across Delaware, for example, when someone injures a neck or back, unless surgery is required to repair the injury, or there are substantial lost wages, it is highly unlikely that a case will exceed $100,000. In a case where someone only received a few weeks of physical therapy and does not have a permanent injury, then a personal injury case may settle for as little as $3,000 or $5,000. The personal injury attorneys at our Wilmington, Delaware firm will not value your claim until we have had the opportunity to review all of your medical records, bills, and reports from the doctor. Also, the strength of your case must be factored into any valuation of a claim. Only at that time can our personal injury attorneys in Wilmington, Delaware evaluate your case and attempt a settlement.

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Do insurance companies treat injured people fairly?

Insurance companies are for profit organizations. Unfortunately, they have a long history of dealing unfairly with injured parties as well as their own customers. Insurance companies are heavily regulated by State Insurance Commissioners throughout the country, in part, because of their history of unfair dealing with consumers. Insurance companies are very sophisticated and have decades of experience in negotiating with consumers. It is very rare that an injured consumer can negotiate a fair resolution to a personal injury case with an insurance company. In one of my earliest personal injury cases, an insurance company had offered a young girl with a facial scar a settlement of $1,800. I was retained, and after I worked up the case and sent a demand letter, we received an offer of $5,000. I filed suit and received an offer for $15,000. The case finally settled for a total of $18,000. This is typical of how insurance companies will negotiate, and this is why it is important to contact one of the personal injury attorneys at our Wilmington firm if you or someone you know has been injured.

If you have further questions, please contact the personal injury attorneys at our Wilmington, Delaware practice.

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