Question About Auto Injury Settlement

Q: I will try to make this brief. Auto accident with injuries, no broken bones but about 12 months of recovery from various joint and ligament damage. 100% other drivers fault. State=Oregon, insurance=Progressive Insurance company initially offered $2000 to settle. I sent an itemized list detailing missed opportunities, time off from work, mileage to physical therapy, and so on.... My son was in the vehicle but was hardly injuried at all and they gave us $1000 so I figure my injuries are worth 5-10k. 6 weeks later they call and say they won't budge from the 2k amount. I am at a loss to understand this system. I had assumed that I would be able to argue up from the low ball number but they didn't even flinch. Is it possible to negotiate with these people without a lawyer? If so what can I use as leverage? Why is it so difficult to get through this process? There seems to be no information available for people in my situation. Is this by design to force me to get a lawyer?

A: Its not hard to understand. It also isn't very complicated. The prospective plaintiff makes a claim. If it wants, the insurer then makes an offer of settlement. The claimant can ask for more and, if it wants, the insurer can say it refuses to budge - something the insurer can do if the number from which it won't budge is an offer of $0 or an offer of $2000. If the claimant does not want to accept what the insurer offers, s/he can then become a plaintiff if s/he wants. There isn't any one size fits let alone "magic bullet" form of leverage, especially not when, as here, the claimant, by choosing to try to represent himself but without experience or acquiring knowledge of what the dollar range of settlements and also of what recoveries in litigated cases with comparable facts in the area communicates a lack of credibility to the insurer. What exactly do you mean by "no information available"?Have

you gone to the various courts in your and surrounding counties and verified what sums cases like yours have settled for? Have you gone to the law library to verify what the reported cases in your state say about cases like yours? Have you communicated in a comparatively active way with insurance company adjusters and lawyers to learn from them, as part of your experience, what the dollar range of settlements are in the area and what standards they use to arrive at sums they have paid and would be willing to pay? And have you used Google or Yahoo or the MSN or like search engines with search terms like . . . well, how about . . . "oregon personal injury lawyer"?