Personal Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles, CA - Tony M. Seyfi - Should I attempt to settle my own claim?

Should I attempt to settle my own claim?

The answer to this question can be best illustrated by one of our recent automobile cases. One of our clients suffered injuries while a passenger in her car, driven by her husband. Her husband was backing out of a parking space of a retail store. The tortfeasor driver, driving a friend's car, was racing through the parking lot and sideswiped our client's vehicle. The investigation revealed that the tortfeasor driver was operating the friend's vehicle without a license - it had been revoked because of the number of accidents he had caused. The owner of the vehicle carried bodily liability insurance and under the law in Florida, pursuant to the dangerous instrumentality doctrine, was liable for the damage caused by the friend. Prior to hiring our firm, and after much work and frustration on her behalf, the insurance company offered our client only $500.00 to settle the claim. After asking us to represent her, we were able to obtain a settlement for her that was 20 times the amount she was offered prior to representation, just months later. Even after calculating attorneys fees and costs, our client still recovered many times over the original offer from the tortfeasor's insurance company to settle.