Florida Personal Injury Lawyer: Can Mercury Insurance Company Settle a Claim Fairly?
Ask a Board Certified Lawyer Who Handles Only Accident/Injury Cases
Mercury Insurance Company doesn't like to pay very much money for injury claims. Ask any lawyer who specializes in car accident and injury cases.
Expect to be ‘nickel and dimed’ when dealing with Mercury. Every claim that we have had with them that was not an obvious policy limits case, we had to fight "tooth and nail" to obtain a reasonable settlement offer. Many times, that necessitates a lawsuit. The same unfortunately applies to insurance companies such as Progressive, State Farm, and Allstate.
Even if you have had surgery, broken bones, or sustained other serious injuries, expect Mercury Insurance Company to offer you less money than your claim is worth. More often than not, their offer is substantially less for your injury case than what the case value is.
Many times we have to go back and forth in settlement negotiations numerous times. If it is a serious case, it is highly likely that in order to get Mercury to pay their money and not be in their typical bad faith claims handling mode, a lawsuit will be necessitated.
If your case is large enough, we will be willing to file a lawsuit for you, and potentially take that case to trial, if their offer ultimately right before trial does not represent what we think is true value. In almost any case that we file a lawsuit on, we do a jury simulation. We get at least a dozen persons from the jury pool, put them together in one room, let them hear the facts of the case, separate them out into two different groups, hear them deliberate, and reach a verdict. All this is videotaped by us. We then study it to see how we can improve the result.
The cost to take the case to trial increases substantially every year. Now Florida has adopted or at least the legislature has enacted an evidentiary standard called Daubert, which will make it even more expensive to take many cases to trial. Probably the average cost that we incur to take a case to trial now in an automobile accident case is $25,000, but we have spent less than that in some cases. However, we have expended more than $200,000 in costs to take cases to trial. Most law firms not only will not spend the latter sum on a personal injury case, they may not even have the money. Make sure that the law firm you hire has unlimited resources to take on the resources of the insurance company.
If we accept your injury case, and you need help with your property damage on your vehicle, we will assist you in negotiating your property damage claim, and advise you on whether you are entitled to a car rental. Most times when renting a car, if you already have car insurance on your own vehicle, you should not take out any additional insurance coverage, as your regular car insurance, if still in effect, will cover it. Rental car companies make much of their money and profit on selling you insurance, and for most people, it's simply unnecessary and a waste of money. In addition, if your car will be in the shop for a long period of time, get a weekly rate if it’s less expensive than a daily rate. Then, if you need to return your rented vehicle earlier, and if it's done quicker than anticipated, you can usually pay the daily rate, which is cheaper.
Are legal fees preventing you from hiring a personal injury attorney? Well, we have good news! Our firm does not charge you anything unless we can get money for you. If you are not compensated, neither are we! Call our office now at (954) 833-1440 for a free consultation. Our attorneys are dedicated to fighting insurance companies and we want to do the same for you.