The Dangers of Accepting a Personal Injury Settlement Without a Lawyer

You should expect a fair personal injury settlement to cover all current and future medical expenses based on the severity of your harm, impact on your future, and financial and emotional losses. However, not all accident victims receive fair offers. Often, they only realize it after they’ve signed.

If a proposed settlement seems acceptable, you may find yourself asking, “Why do I need a personal injury attorney to handle this?” Unfortunately, insurance adjusters and defense lawyers often take advantage of your financial stress or inexperience and offer less than you deserve.

If you don’t have a lawyer review your personal injury settlement, you may later discover that accepting it forfeited your legal rights and compensation. An experienced personal injury attorney can offer guidance on your settlement to protect you from these common risks:

Insurance companies use quick offers to minimize payouts, hoping a victim’s need for financial relief outweighs their patience. Car crash injuries can prevent you from working, and reduced income can make it challenging to pay your regular bills—especially if you’re covering extra co-pays from crash-related appointments. If you aren’t monitoring medical bills after an accident, you may hastily accept a personal injury settlement that doesn’t cover every service. Follow-up appointments, specialist visits, or additional tests could be missing from the insurer’s calculations.

A lawyer provides invaluable guidance for mediation and can evaluate a settlement against potential expenses so the offer you accept is fair. They can also explain the subrogation process for healthcare liens for medical bills to help you understand how this may affect your compensation.

Let’s say you’re injured by a dog bite and experience what you think is a minor laceration. If you accept an offer based on the care you received to date, it won’t account for an unforeseen infection or corrective surgery later. In this example, the claim you settled for $10,000 won’t cover the $50,000 in future medical needs. 

A lawyer reviewing your offer would likely have advised you to wait until your injuries were resolved to calculate damages you’re owed. When you understand the true cost of your harm, you can negotiate a personal injury settlement with a clear minimum in mind.

Gathering expert opinions on injury care plans can also help estimate future expenses. The law does not require an insurance company to pay for what might happen, only what a doctor says will happen or is likely to happen. When a lawyer assists with expert testimony, you’ll have extra support for your claim.

Many people don’t realize accepting an offer usually forfeits their rights to pursue future legal action, effectively resolving their complaint. Meeting with a lawyer first would give you the foresight to investigate the at-fault party, seek additional medical evaluations, and factor all elements of the case into your decision to settle.

In North Carolina, punitive damages cannot be assessed without court proceedings. They are only awarded by a judge or jury and are designed to discourage offenders from repeating certain behaviors. But if you discover the driver was reckless or over the legal limit after you’ve resolved your complaint, you’ve lost your grounds to take them to court or have these damages assessed.

A financial pitfall of accepting an offer without a lawyer’s review is that you may fail to account for healthcare liens, which can dramatically reduce your payout. If you receive $100,000 for a crash but must pay $40,000 back to your healthcare provider for treatment, you may not be left with enough to justify pain and suffering or future expenses. Lawyers can help structure personal injury settlements to reduce lien amounts and avoid unnecessary deductions.

Too often, people assume that they don’t have legal options for car wrecks, animal attacks, or slip and fall accidents that reinjure an existing condition. That’s a common misconception—one that benefits the insurance company. These situations are fact-specific and shouldn’t be decided before a lawyer reviews your case. Your health and personal finances could be on the line if you have to pay for costly medical procedures or forgo necessary care due to the expense.

Before you accept a low offer that refutes your injuries, discuss your options with an experienced personal injury attorney. North Carolina observes something called the “eggshell plaintiff rule” that allows damages even when a preexisting condition makes you more vulnerable to injury.

An injury claim often names one responsible party, such as the driver who struck you. Without legal guidance, you may not realize other parties may also have contributed. If you’re injured in a trucking accident or collision with a delivery driver, for example, their employer may also be liable.

The same goes for premises liability claims. If you’re seriously injured from falling down slippery apartment steps, you may have grounds to name multiple negligent parties. This could include the landlord who employs the maintenance staff, as well as the investment company that owns or operates the property.

In most cases, the answer is yes—especially if you want to protect your financial recovery. Miller Law Group’s experienced personal injury attorneys in Raleigh have the resources to investigate accidents, calculate damages, and help you get the compensation you deserve. Before speaking with an insurance adjuster, contact our team for a free case evaluation.