Mission Viejo accident lawyer John P. Burns tells the story of Linda D. You should read this story because it will show you how important patience is in getting a good settlement for your case. Just imagine you are Linda D. and the following is what is happening to you.
The collision
You are riding in your family car and your husband Greg D is driving. Your car is rear ended at approximately seventy miles per hour by another driver. Both you and your husband are injured. Your injuries include a partial tear of your right shoulder rotator cuff.
Insurance company settlement offers
Months later, the insurance company adjuster offers to pay your husband Greg its insurance policy limits of $50,000.00. Although there is another $50,000.00 available for your case, the insurance company offers you only $21,000.00.
Rotator cuff tear
You are told that the insurance company does not believe that your rotator cuff was actually torn. This does not make sense to you. You had an MRI of your right shoulder.The MRI report clearly states that you had sustained a partial tear of the of your shoulder rotator cuff. You begin to get angry and think about filing a lawsuit. Before doing so you decide to work with your Mission Viejo accident lawyer to see if you can get your case settled without having to file a lawsuit.
Review of MRI films by orthopedic surgeon
You have your lawyer ask the insurance adjuster if he will agree to have your MRI films looked at by an orthopedic surgeon. Your purpose is to show the adjuster that your rotator cuff is actually torn. You also ask that the fee for the orthopedic surgeon be paid for by the insurance company. The adjuster agrees to both of your requests.
Your attorney asks the insurance adjuster to give you the name of the orthopedic surgeon the insurance adjuster plans to use. Your attorney finds out that the orthopedic surgeon is one who is generally fair and reasonable. For this reason you agree to allow that doctor to look at your MRI films and give his opinion.
You also do the following:
- You have your lawyer continue negotiating with the insurance adjuster because you might be able to change the adjuster’s mind.
- You have your lawyer give the adjuster time to obtain a report from the orthopedic surgeon because the doctor may say you do have a rotator cuff tear.
- You tell your lawyer to only file the lawsuit if the orthopedic surgeon’s report contradicts the MRI report which said that your rotator cuff has a tear.
Patience
You have to wait for the orthopedic surgeon to look at the MRI films. For the first month the doctor is too busy to look at the MRI films. In the next month the orthopedic surgeon is on pre-scheduled vacation. You are starting to lose your patience and want to file a lawsuit to get this all over with. Instead you decide to stay patient and instruct your lawyer to keep talking with the adjuster.
Insurance company policy limits paid
After several months you are told that a settlement offer will be made to you soon. Finally the insurance adjuster calls your lawyer and tells your lawyer that he is offering you the $50,000.00 policy limits on your case.
When your lawyer asks why it has taken so much time the insurance adjuster tells him that the adjuster settled a different person’s bigger case during the previous month. Due to this your lawyer suspects that the adjuster didn’t want to have too much money paid out in claims in one month. It is possible that is why the insurance adjuster delayed paying the policy limits on your claim by an extra month.
You are pretty upset with what the insurance company has done. Since the insurance company is finally paying its policy limits, however, you accept the policy limits settlement.
Conclusion
What you have just imagined happening to you is what happened to Linda D. The attorney working for Linda on her case was Mission Viejo accident lawyer John P. Burns. Attorney John Burns believes that Linda D. obtained a settlement of the full $50,000.00 policy limits because she was willing to be patient and let Mr. Burns keep negotiating her case. If Linda had lost her patience and instructed Mr. Burns to file suit she still would have eventually gotten her $50,000.00. The only problem is that it would have taken an extra year and involved extra expense.
Although it was hard to keep negotiating, the extra work and patience which Linda demonstrated paid off for her. The total settlement negotiated by Mr. Burns, for both Greg and Linda, was in the amount of $100,000.00. Linda’s husband Greg D. had previously given attorney John Burns a written testimonial about his case settlement. Greg D. then also made a video testimonial about Mr. Burns and how satisfied he was with his case results.
Linda was so pleased with the results on her case that she also gave Mr. Burns a written testimonial. If you are even in this situation, you may want to remember the story of Linda D. In the long run staying patient and continuing to negotiate may the best thing for you and your case.