Case Weaknesses

Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2015 by Chris Thayer

Some adjusters may overlook potential weaknesses in cases that are later discovered by a personal injury lawyer Seattle WA. This is because lawyers are able to gather more information through the formal discovery process.

Settlement with Insurance Adjusters

When a personal injury attorney is only going through an adjuster, he or she can often determine the amount and type of information that is shared. This is in stark contrast to the process that is entailed when there is more than one Seattle injury attorney involved in a case.

Types of Discovery Requests

After a lawsuit is filed, the defendant’s lawyer may start to bombard the plaintiff with a variety of discovery requests, including independent medical examination orders, requests for medical releases, depositions, requests for production of documents and interrogatories.

Potential Weaknesses

Through these requests, the defendant’s attorney may learn about several different weaknesses in your case, including prior injuries that were not caused by the accident, any alcohol consumption near the time of the accident, having a criminal record and not reporting injuries until days after the accident.

Effect on Your Case

This often means that a plaintiff’s case gets weaker after he or she files a lawsuit. In turn, this means that the best time to settle the case may be before a lawsuit is filed when the insurance adjuster is not made aware of these potential weaknesses. Any such weaknesses that are uncovered may serve to decrease the value of your case. In some instances, the settlement value of a case may drop significantly. Additionally, the existence of several weaknesses on your case may also impact the likelihood of winning a jury verdict.

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