Jury award PI greater than policy limits.

[emm74]

Defense attorneys do not have authority to settle cases unless they are given it by the insurance company. I'm quite surprised that they would have said they agreed that the case should be settled for splitting the difference if they didn't have authority to do so, that's very unprofessional. And insurance adjusters are very expert in knowing how much a case is worth, they do not hire a defense attorney to give them that information.

But in any case, the insurer has determined that they do not feel it's worth that. Perhaps this isn't the first time they increased the offer in an attempt to split the difference and they aren't inclined to do it again.

And yes, now it goes to discovery and depositions and court ordered mediation, which may or may not happen according to the calendar assigned when the complaint was filed - continuations and date changes are quite common. You may as well buckle in and get prepared for a long ride, because it does not sound like the offer is going to be increased any time soon.

[howard555]

Originally Posted by emm74

Defense attorneys do not have authority to settle cases unless they are given it by the insurance company. I'm quite surprised that they would have said they agreed that the case should be settled for splitting the difference.

Perhaps this isn't the first time they increased the offer in an attempt to split the difference and they aren't inclined to do it again.

And yes, now it goes to discovery and depositions and court ordered mediation, which may or may not happen according to the calendar assigned when the complaint was filed.

I only said (meant) that the defense attorney said it was ----- for the company to not meet in the middle vs. spending many thousands. One side has raised four times but none of them were to split the difference and the other side has come down six times to reach this 5K standoff. Interesting that the third attorney for one at fault driver was quite concerned and quickly settled at the policy limits of their driver. So with one driver out the %'s change. Any increase is now a larger % of the one policy than it was when the "total" was used for calculations.

I'm told that the only deposition that can occur before mediation is deposition of the plaintiff. The order would be get medical records, depose the claimant, attend mediation, then decide whether to depose doctors.