How do you negotiate a settlement with an insurance claims adjuster in a South Carolina accident injury case?

We can’t speak for how other firms work, but here’s the process once we accept your case. We limit our cases to the ones we can give the most value to our clients.

Not every injury case needs a lawyer; many cases can actually be settled without a lawyer, especially if medical care is minimal—like one ER visit and maybe a couple follow-ups with a few physical therapy sessions. For those cases, you don’t need the expense of a lawyer, and we can give you free pointers to help you on the way. So even if you don’t think you need an attorney for your accident, it never hurts to call us for free information—and, you never know:  you just might need a lawyer.

If you wonder if your South Carolina accident injury case needs a lawyer or just have some questions you need answered, don't suffer in silence. Get answers for FREE from an experienced Spartanburg personal injury attorney.  Call toll free at  888-230-1841 or fill out a Get Help Now form.

Our Six-Point Process for Handling Your South Carolina Accident Injury Case, Step by Step

Here’s our basic six-step process for most personal injury cases:

1. Investigate the facts to prove the accident's not your fault, or mostly not your fault.

We gain a thorough understanding of how the accident occurred by listening to you in our FREE, EASY strategy session . Then we gather other evidence, like:

• pictures of the accident scene, if it’s easily accessed and helpful. 
• where critical evidence is in the hands of the at-fault party, we send them a letter instructing them not to destroy it- because if we don't, they will. This includes store surveillance tapes for slip or trip can fall case.

We also track down witnesses and get their statements. 

Did you catch we find out if the accident's "mostly not your fault"? That's because in South Carolina, you can still get a settlement if you're partly to blame for the accident. It's called the defense of "comparative negligence." It's a critical defense that can keep you from a settlement in a South Carolina slip or trip and fall accident- if you don't know what you're doing. There's other defenses you've got to handle skillfully in South Carolina fall cases, which make them challenging. 

2. Obtain, analyze, and use medical evidence to help increase your settlement.

We contact all your providers to get your medical records and bills. This is a frustrating process, often requiring multiple follow-ups. It's so overwhelming I've got a paralegal whose primary job is just doing this.

Then we study the records for a clinical understanding of your injuries. Some lawyers just send the records and bills to the insurance company with a letter that says “pay me.” That doesn't help much. Insurance companies know what lawyers work their cases to prove a maximum settlement. We send medical records with summaries of treatment highlights to show we understand how medical evidence works, and we know how to use it to help you.

We may even meet with your doctors to get medical questionnaires answered. Those show in a brief, powerful way, how the injuries caused physical damage requiring major repair. It's also a preview of the doctor's testimony that could convince an insurance company settlement is wise.

3. Develop the impact of injuries on you

Many victims want to know how much to expect for pain and suffering in a South Carolina accident case.  Here's where I'm the little boy shouting the emperor has no clothes:  there is NO “pain and suffering” calculator. 

The truth is, everyone's different, and injuries affect all people differently.  A “pain and suffering” calculator is a gift for insurance companies to limit  expectations for a fair accident settlement.  Settlements are based on facts, and we get the facts on how the injuries affected your life in the past, present, and future. 

And let's stop limiting ourselves on what we're aiming for here. It’s not just “pain and suffering.” The law offers more that that.  That’s why we call it “human loss.” 

Because this is one of the biggest parts of your case, we work closely with you to develop the harm and loss you sustained.  It helps us understand what you went through, and how to prove it. It can lead us to other witnesses or other evidence.  We use methods we’ve developed to simply but powerfully present this aspect of your case convincingly to the insurance company to justify a maximum settlement.

We include your lost income.  We’ll get a statement from your employer to prove the income you lost. 

Your spouse has a case, too, and they can be a vital witness.  Serious injuries can seriously damage a marriage.  The law recognizes that.  We work with your spouse to help prove their case for damage to your marriage as a result of your injuries.  South Carolina law calls that “loss of consortium.” 

4. Evaluate and discuss settlement

In arriving at a critical decision- how much to ask for to settle your South Carolina acident injury case- we always remember the most important person in your case: you. After we’ve got all the evidence, we give you a written settlement evaluation in clear, realistic terms. It takes into account your cases's weaknesses, too. We're failing you if we don't tell you "the whole truth" about your case. Together, we set a goal and go for it!

5. Send a demand letter to the insurance company

Regardless how we deploy it, the demand letter summarizes why it’s a good idea to for insurance to pay instead of fight.

For severe injuries, this may be several letters as we get your bills and records in—we often send them to the insurance company adjuster with our analysis of your injuries and the current impact of them on you as time goes on. It sets us apart from some lawyers, who just throw medical records and bills at an insurance company without explanation, saying “pay me.”  What that actually says to the insurance company is, I don’t review the evidence, I don’t think about how much of a settlement my client should truly get, so just pay me a fast lowball settlement and I’ll go away. 

This is not who we are.  The insurance company will know we have evidence we can get admitted into court.  It'll know we've deeply considered what your case is worth. This is a key factor in increasing the value of your South Carolina accident case.

6. Negotiations and the next step

We keep you as up-to-date as you want as we negotiate your case with the insurance company. Hopefully, our discussions end with the satisfaction of a settlement. If not, we file suit to begin the litigation process. By then, we’ve got your case soundly developed so all we need to do is tell a judge or jury what we already know, which is what you’ve lived through.

Sound Like A Lot Of Work?

It is! But it’s our work as Spartanburg accident inury attorneys, so we’re happy to do it for folks like you. If you’ve been hurt, feel free to call toll free at  888-230-1841, fill out a Get Help Now form, or start a live chat to so we can strategize with you for free. You can also schedule a FREE, EASY strategy session to discuss your case in person, with no need to fear strong-armed sales tactics.