Why Don’t Insurance Companies Settle?

This is probably the oldest and most oft repeated question I get in my law office.  The answer is simple, the insurance companies care more about their bottom line, than you.  I often give the example of the insurance adjuster who is trained to deny every claim, no matter what the case is about.

But, once a personal injury attorney is hired, the insurance company generally takes the case more seriously.  However, there are still many insurance companies and individual insurance adjusters, who still deny claims without any reasonable reason.

In the Las Vegas personal injury arena, there are some insurance companies, as a whole, who categorically deny all claims that come before them.  It is unfortunate that some insurance companies behave in such a reckless manner, raking in premiums from unsuspecting honest people.  When you come into my office, I can tell you which insurance companies those are.

Other insurance companies have made a financial decision to offer only very low amounts to injured persons.  Those insurance companies believe that it is in their best interests to take every case to trial and let a jury possibly award nothing.  When the economy was doing poorly, the men and women who sat on juries, adjusted their awards to fit the changing economic landscape.  Now that the economy is picking up steam, it is still the proverbial crap shoot when it comes to what type of jurors will be sitting in judgment on your case and hence what type of verdict they are going to award.

Another reason why insurance companies don’t offer any money to settle, is if they believe that liability is at issue.  Sometimes personal injury attorneys think they are the only ones who deal with unreasonable insurance companies, but we are not alone.  I had a colleague who related a story, where the insurance company denied liability, after his client had a 40,000 pound cargo container dropped on the vehicle he was driving!  So, when the insurance company denies liability in a rear-end car accident, don’t feel bad, the depths of the insurance company’s unreasonableness, has no boundaries.

Next time we will talk about property damage and how it impacts your case.