The Injury Claims Process, Settlements & Lawsuits
Accident Injury Lawyer serving Mesa, Gilbert, Apache Junction, Queen Creek, Chandler, Tempe and the Phoenix Area
The Injury Claim Process:
Many injury claims reach settlement with the insurer without need for extensive litigation or even a lawsuit:
While you are obtaining your active accident-related medical and/or physical therapy care, we will periodically update the insurance carrier with your updated medical records and bills, sometimes including pre-accident medical records if and as pertinent (if the accident involves aggravation of pre-existing condition; or to show that your accident injuries did not bother you prior to the accident). Pre-accident medical conditions may sometimes substantially add or detract from case settlement value. We will work with you and your doctor to ensure that you timely obtain competent referrals as necessary for diagnostic, physical therapy and medical specialist. We will copy you on correspondence sent regarding your claim on an ongoing basis. Generally, once you have completed your active medical care and treatment, we will obtain closing medical records and reports from your treating doctors.
Then we will prepare a comprehensive settlement demand, which involves discussing the circumstances of accident, liability, medical bills, pre-existing medical condition if and as pertinent, assigning diagnostic injury codes to all injuries and symptoms noted in medical records, lost wages/income past and future as applicable, future medical and other expenses as applicable, permanent impairment or disability as applicable, etc. We will obtain your authority for the amount that we demand (which will be higher than the claim’s value for purposes of settlement negotiations) and your bottom line authority re the claim’s reasonable value, and of course we will do our very best to obtain the best settlement for you.
In most cases, the adverse insurance carrier will evaluate your claim and make their settlement offer(s) from within a few weeks to perhaps one or two months, sometimes more, depending on case complexity, the amount of the settlement demand, and their caseload and time of year. We will inform you of each offer that the adverse insurance carrier makes, and we will advise you as to whether or not negotiations should continue or the offer should be accepted. Please remember that the final decision is yours, but we would hope that you would accept our professional advice based upon our experience in handling these claims. We will not accept an offer without your consent. Once the insurer has made its best pre-litigation offer, we will recommend whether to accept that offer or file a law suit, but whether to proceed further is your decision.
When you are ready to accept a settlement offer, we will have checked with your medical care providers and lien holders, and we will then be able to advise you regarding settlement distribution – total settlement amount, payments from your settlement to cover our attorney’s fees and costs and medical bill balances and liens, and the amount remaining for you. You will have to approve all of this in writing.
Attorney Steven J. Bruzonsky has been in practice for more than thirty years (since 1978) and has devoted his career towards protecting and taking care of victims of personal injury, serious injuries and wrongful death cases. He is peer review rated by LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell, which means that other attorneys vouch for his legal ability and ethical standards. Attorney Bruzonsky has written extensive legal publications and regularly speaks at trial lawyer seminars on how to minimize medical and lien claims so injured clients get more from their injury settlements. Lien or reimbursement claims against your settlement funds may be made by health insurers, employer benefit plans, AHCCCS/Medicaid (state provided medical benefits), Medicare, auto insurance medical payments, and health care providers who file timely statutory (ARS § 33-931 et seq) liens or have written liens signed by patient and/or attorney. The law is very complex and ever changing regarding Liens and reimbursement claims. In many cases, Attorney Bruzonsky is able to avoid paying or negotiate substantial reductions in such claims, thus ensuring that you receive the most money from your injury settlement. Also, if you have available health insurance or auto medical payments coverage, Attorney Bruzonsky will work to ensure that these medical coverages pay the maximum benefits on your behalf.
Some injury claims, especially more complex ones, may require extensive litigation:
Please note that once a lawsuit is filed, the parties commence discovery, take depositions the parties and of lay and expert witnesses, subpoena records, etc. Most cases even if extensively litigated are settled prior to trial. Arizona law and Court rules encourage settlement by the parties, by the awarding of costs as follows (existing law as of May 2009):
(1) Costs awarded at trial: If a case goes to trial and verdict, the prevailing party in a negligence/tort action is awarded taxable costs. Per A.R.S. §12-332, taxable costs include fees of officers and witnesses, costs of taking depositions, compensation of referees, costs of certified copies of papers or records, jury fees, surety bond cost, and other costs if agreed by the parties. Note that generally the most expensive of plaintiff’s costs – expert witness fees and attorney’s fees – are not recoverable as taxable costs.
(2) Costs awarded at mandatory Arbitration: However, per Rule 77(f), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, if a case is certified as qualifying for mandatory Arbitration (when plaintiff seeks award of $50,000 or less for Maricopa County cases), then “If the judgment on the trial de novo is not more favorable by at least twenty-three percent (23%) than the ”Arbitration award, then Court will order that the party appealing the Arbitration award pay not only taxable costs (see A.R.S. §12-332 above), but also reasonable attorney’s fees necessitated by the appeal, reasonable expert witness fees, and the arbitrator’s compensation.
(3) Costs awarded for Offer of Judgment: Rule 68, Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure (ARCP) provides for Offer of Judgment. A party can make an Offer of Judgment for a monetary amount. The rule provides that “If the offeree rejects an offer and does not later obtain a more favorable judgment other than pursuant to this Rule, the offeree must pay, as a sanction, reasonable expert witness fess and double the taxable costs - - -.’
