How To Calculate the Knee Replacement Lawsuit Settlements Amounts?
Knee replacement surgeries are extremely costly. Therefore, if you suffered a knee injury due to someone else’s fault, you need to claim the knee replacement lawsuit settlements amounts as soon as possible. This claim amount will help you pay for the medical bills and physical treatments that you need to recover from the accident.
With the right legal help, you can easily calculate the average settlement for slip and fall knee injury. The following steps will help you calculate the knee replacement lawsuit amount with a fair amount of accuracy.
The 14 Steps To Calculate The Knee Replacement Lawsuit Settlements Amounts Accurately?
Step 1: Hire the Right Legal Help
When you get admitted into the hospital, you should first hire the necessary legal help. A reliable lawyer will ensure that you do not sign any release forms when you are admitted into the hospital after the accident.
Release Form: The release form says that you let go of the right to sue anyone for the accident and take complete responsibility for it.
With the right legal help, you can start preparing your case from day one. You can also hire the legal case a couple of days later when you realize that you can file a case against the party at fault. However, in such cases, the defense will try and leverage this delay as negligence on your party and offer a smaller settlement amount.
Step 2: Start Preparation for the Trial
The right lawyer will help you start preparing for the trial from day one. In such situations, you can either prepare for a trial or aim for a high settlement amount. Studies show that the people who typically prepare for the trial after the accident have a higher chance of winning the case with a bigger settlement offer. Under such situations, these people are willing to take the risk and not settle at an early stage.
The people who start preparing their minds for the trial will most likely negotiate for a longer period and get a better settlement offer than the ones who settle on the first meeting. The best lawyers will help you prepare for the trial and practice the cross-questioning sessions with you. They will simulate the conditions of pressure that you will face during the negotiation and trial phases to ensure that you stay prepared for the worst-case scenarios.
Step 3: Use the Online Knee Injury Settlement Calculators
The people who are willing to go beyond their call of duty with a legal case will have a higher chance of winning it. It is completely alright to leave the case fully in the hands of a capable and reliable lawyer. However, this does not mean that you should stop learning about the case. A proactive approach towards learning more about the case will help you prepare better.
You can use the online knee injury settlement calculators to get a rough estimate on the settlement amount that you deserve from the accident. Having this rough estimate in place will help you have a better open-floor discussion with your lawyer for the claims process.
Step 4: Collect Evidence Against the Defendant
Your lawyer will need all the help that you can give him/her to collect the evidence against the defendant in the case. Ideally, you should start the evidence collection process in the accident from the moment you first go through it. Collection of the pertinent evidence will help you fortify the case against the defending party.
The top lawyers will use everything in their power and leverage the position to collect evidence from all the sources. He/she will look for CCTV footage, statements of the nearby witnesses, medical reports from the doctor, etc. to collect the relevant evidence against the defendant.
Step 5: Collate the Medical Invoices
The total amount of money that you spend on medical treatment is one of the major deciding factors for the settlement amount that you will receive from the insurance agency of the defendant. The top lawyers will collect the necessary invoices from the doctors. He/she will collect the invoices for both the medical tests as well as treatments to file it in the correct order.
After collection of the necessary invoices, the lawyer will collate it so that it looks presentable for the jury. Organization of your documents is a must in complicated cases. Such organization simplifies that entire trial and settlement process by a significant amount.
Step 6: Collate the Physical Therapy Invoices
Most knee injury cases require more than just the necessary medical treatment. They require the right amount of physical therapy treatment from a certified physician too. These physical therapy treatments can cost a significant amount over a long period. The top lawyers can help you recover the cost of such physical therapy treatments from the settlement amounts.
The lawyer will collate the physical therapy invoices just like the invoices for the medical treatments in an organized fashion for filing purposes.
Step 7: Assess the Pain and Suffering Damage
The best lawyers can blow the pain and suffering component of the settlement claim amount out of proportion to fetch you the best deal on paper. They can quantify the emotional damage that occurs due to such critical injuries to get you an excellent deal from the insurance agency of the defendants. No online calculators can assess the pain and suffering damage to such accidents correctly. This is where you must rely on the expert opinion of an experienced lawyer.
By quantifying the pain and suffering damage from the accident, the lawyer can help you fetch a huge settlement amount before the trial.
Step 8: File the Legal Case Against the Individual/Company
Now that you have completed the pre-assessment process for the trial, it is time to file a legal case against the defense counsel. Usually, you need to fill in a lot of paperwork for such cases. Even minor consistencies in the judicial paperwork can give the defendant leverage against you in the trial room. Therefore, you should always let your lawyer handle all the important paperwork for the trial and settlement process.
Once you have filed the case against the defendant, he/she will receive a notice from the court to appear for the trial on a particular date and time.
Step 9: Approach the Defense Counsel
Ideally, you should not approach the defense counsel. When the defendant receives the legal notice, he/she will most likely react promptly and contact the insurance agency for the necessary financial and legal help. The legal counsel from the insurance company will directly approach you from their end. However, in special cases where the defense counsel does not approach from its end, you need to make a move from yours.
Ideally, you should always talk to the defendant and the defense counsel in the presence of your lawyer. Your lawyer will act as a moderator for the entire conversation and make sure that you do not say anything that can give the defense counsel leverage against you during the trial.
Step 10: Ask for the Initial Offer
After initiating the conversation with the defense counsel, your lawyer will ask for the initial settlement offer. Most insurance companies realize that the victim of the accident has huge leverage over them in the courtroom. Therefore, these companies will try and settle the case out of the court in the first place. However, the top defense counsel can form a solid case against the victim by rightly manipulating certain key aspects of the accident.
If the defense counsel does not have a case against you, it will try and settle the case outside the courtroom by offering you a settlement amount. Ideally, you should never accept the first settlement offer since this is the worst one that you can get.
Step 11: Negotiate the Initial Offer
After receiving the initial offer, have an open discussion with your lawyer in the absence of the defense counsel. Maintain a poker face in front of the defense counsel when you receive the initial offer. Upon discussion, you should listen to your lawyer and settle if he/she thinks that this is the best offer that you are going to get. However, you should also try and push for a better offer. If your lawyer thinks that he/she can push for a better offer without taking a huge risk, you can get an exponentially higher settlement amount.
The top lawyers have the knack for calculating the best settlement offer that you can get from the accident. They will always try and get this amount for you in the trial.
Step 12: Go Through Multiple Rounds of Negotiation
Do not put a cap on your requirements. Never reveal the exact amount that you think you deserve in the settlement offer. Instead, ask the defense counsel to simply put a better offer in place. Ideally, you should go through multiple rounds of negotiation before settling on the best offer from the defense.
When you put a cap on your requirements, the defense counsel will have a number that they can break down and work downwards from. However, when you do not do so, they will realize that you are not going to settle on a smaller amount. They will have no upper limit on which they can ask for a bargain.
Step 13: Sign the Final Paperwork for Settlement
Once you and the defense counsel have mutually agreed on the final settlement offer, it is time to sign the dotted line. Think twice and have an open-hearted conversation with your lawyer before signing the dotted line to ensure that you are getting the best offer. Once you sign the line, you cannot re-negotiate the terms of the agreement anymore.
Ask your lawyer to read the documentation for the settlement offer carefully before you sign the agreement. Smart insurance companies will try and find loopholes in the agreement at a later stage to get out of paying the settlement amount. In such cases, even though you won the case, you might end up walking out of the court empty-handed.
If you think that you can get a better offer by fighting the case, it is time to take the defense counsel to the court. In such cases, your preparation for the trial will help you significantly.
Step 14: Get the Final Settlement Amount from the Insurance Company
Reliable lawyers will stay with you and provide the necessary support until you get the necessary amount from the insurance company. They will ensure that you get the deserved amount from the insurance company as soon as possible.
The legal fee for the top legal firms comes from the settlement amount itself. Therefore, they will not charge a single penny until you get the necessary settlement amount from the insurance agency in the first place. The best lawyers will consistently ping the insurance agency and have the power to take the company to court in case it refuses or delays the payment.
Conclusion
A knee replacement surgery can ruin your entire life’s savings in an instant. It is an extremely complicated and costly procedure. Therefore, you should get the necessary help from a legal firm in fighting a battle against the person-at-fault. In case of the severe accidents, you should always approach a reliable legal firm for the necessary support to fight the battle against the insurance company of the defendant.
The reliable lawyers will charge a tiny legal fee to take care of the entire case for you. They will negotiate with the defense counsel to find the best settlement offer. They will also do all the heavy-lifting required for the case and give you undivided attention while fighting it. If you do not have any experience in fighting such complicated cases, you must always approach a legal firm to help you with it. Even if you are planning on fighting the case without a lawyer help, do consider taking the necessary legal counsel from a reliable lawyer friend.
