What Is Prelitigation?

Prelitigation refers to everything that happens in a personal injury case before a formal lawsuit is filed in court. This includes the initial consultation with a Fort Myers personal injury attorney, the investigation of your accident, the gathering of medical records and other evidence, the sending of a demand letter to the insurance company, and the settlement negotiations that follow. The majority of personal injury cases are resolved during this phase without ever reaching a courtroom.

Whether you’ll need to go beyond prelitigation depends on the facts of your case and how the insurance company responds to your claim. However, as the work that happens during this stage lays the groundwork for everything that comes after, how it is handled can significantly affect the outcome of your case.

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The Investigation

Once you hire an attorney, the first thing they will do is begin investigating the circumstances of your accident. This is where the foundation of your case is built. Your lawyer will work to gather evidence that supports your claim, including:

• Police and/or incident reports from the scene
• Medical records documenting your injuries and treatment (MRIs, tests, etc…)
• Photographs and video footage of the accident scene
• Witness statements from anyone who saw what happened
• Relevant records from the at-fault party, such as maintenance logs 

Your attorney may also bring in outside experts during this stage if the case warrants it, such as accident reconstructionists, to help increase the value of your claim further.

Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement

Before your personal injury attorney sends a demand to the insurance company, they will typically wait until you have reached what is known as maximum medical improvement (MMI). This is the point at which your doctors determine that your condition has stabilized and further treatment is unlikely to produce significant change. 

Waiting until this stage allows your lawyer to calculate the full cost of your medical care, including any future treatment you may need, so that nothing is left out of the demand.

The Demand Letter and Settlement Negotiations

Once your attorney has a clear picture of your damages, they will send a formal demand letter to the at-fault party’s insurance company. This document outlines the facts of the case, the evidence supporting your claim, and the total amount of compensation being sought.

The insurance company will almost certainly not accept the initial demand. From there, negotiations begin in earnest. Your attorney and the insurer will go back and forth in a process that often results in a fair settlement agreement. If it does, the case is resolved without the need for litigation.

If the insurance company refuses to make a reasonable offer, however, your lawyer may recommend filing a lawsuit. At that point, the case moves from the prelitigation phase into formal litigation, which opens the door to pretrial discovery, depositions, and potentially a trial.

Contact Garvin Injury Law for Help With Your Claim

If you’ve been injured in an accident and aren’t sure where your case stands, setting up a free consultation with an attorney is one of the best decisions you can make.

Contact Garvin Injury Law today at (239) 277-0005 to get started. We’ve recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients to date and will work just as hard on your behalf from the moment you decide to hire us.