It is worth examining motor vehicle accident cases where insurance companies chose to make offers well below the amount ultimately recovered by the plaintiff at trial. These lawsuits show the factors that might come into consideration in the offer and the elements that might influence the ultimate result.

For example, consider a claim in which a bicyclist was injured. The driver in this situation was operating an SUV. As per the bicyclist, the driver was coming in the opposite direction when, without warning, he made a U-turn right in front of him causing the bicyclist to go over the SUV’s hood. The bicyclist suffered from a wrist injury in which his cartilage was torn. As a result of his injury he had problems when he returned to his job as a mechanic with a dealership of high-end motor vehicles. And a physician testified that the plaintiff's wrist will probably subsequently need to be fused and that this will probably end his career as a mechanic. As a result the plaintiff would probably not be able to make as much money in the future leading to a loss of earning capacity.

With this information the law firm was able to name the employer as a second defendant. Early on the insurance company for the driver made an offer to settle the case for $10,000. The week prior to trial they raised their offer to $30,000.

The law firm announced that they instead took the lawsuit to trial and the jury gave the bicyclist $550,000.

Here we have a situation where fault was not an issue. What was in dispute was the value of the victim’s injuries. The insurer probably perceived this claim as merely regarding a minor injury that resolved itself relatively fast. With this viewpoint an offer of $30,000 might appear appropriate.

The law firm that helped the plaintiff, however, realized that it was not that simple. This injury was one that was not resolved but instead one which left the bicyclist with a weakened wrist – a wrist that in time would require significant surgery after which the wrist would never be the same again. The law limited the amount of time the victim had to pursue a lawsuit so he could not wait until the wrist failed him as at the same time it would be too late. However the law did let him to recover now for long term consequences of the injury. This is how the law firm positioned the case for the victim and the jury agreed.