If you are negotiating compensation for a personal injury, you should be on the lookout for signs that mean your negotiations are not headed anywhere. Below are some of these signs.

Ignored Communications

A good flow of communication means that you are still on the right track. If the adjuster is picking your phone calls, answering your emails, and meeting with you, then it means there is still room for further negotiations. You need to get worried, however, if the adjuster is becoming harder and harder to reach. Say the adjuster has been ignoring you for the past few weeks and you have a feeling that their actions are intentional. In such a case, you need to get an official final offer from the insurance company to help you decide how to move forward.

Unreasonableness

All insurance adjusters are expected to be professional when dealing with injury victims, but this is not always the case. The insurance representatives are, after all, human beings who are prone to error. An unreasonable adjustor might be rude to you, request documents that they already have, or ask you for information that has nothing to do with the case. Settlement negotiations cannot continue under such circumstances.

Persistent Lowball Offers

A typical settlement negotiation process begins with a high demand from an injury victim followed by a low counteroffer from the insurance company. In a good case, the injury victim and the adjustor reach a reasonable agreement after some back-and-forth negotiations. However, you should be worried if the adjustor has failed to budge from the initial low offer or has only offered a negligible improvement even after lengthy negotiations.

Dilly Dallying

Settlement negotiations take time. The adjustor must get all the information they need. They also typically deal with multiple claims at any time. However, the negotiations cannot continue forever. You need your settlement money and you also have the statute of limitations to worry about.  Therefore, you should be worried if the negotiations have been going on for months and you are nowhere near an agreement.

Denial of Liability or Coverage

The most obvious sign that the negotiations cannot continue is if the adjustor has denied coverage or liability. An example is if the insurance company does not want to compensate you for pain and suffering or if they are denying that their client is responsible for your property damages.

Failed negotiations don't mean that you can't get your money; it just means that you need a different approach. In many cases, this means filing a lawsuit. If your injury negotiations have failed, consult an injury lawyer to help you take the next step. 

For more information on injury settlements, contact companies like Law Office of Daniel E Goodman, LLC.

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