Unliquidated Damages

Are trying to handle your own personal injury case? Are you reading everything on the internet to try to figure out what is going wrong? Haven't found it? Well, this legal article may be just what you need to get the ball moving again.

What I am talking about is the unliquidated damages law in Georgia. Most states have a similar law for reasons that will be explained.

Let us say that you were in a small car accident. You are now well. You have no lasting injuries, but $5,000.00 in medical bills and some lost wages because of the accident. The insurance company is not even offering the medical bills.

You have written letters. You have talked to the claims handler. You are still getting no where. You are ready to get this over with. You reduce your offer, but the car insurance company doesn't budge. They might not have even made you an offer. Do you quit? No.

That brings us to the main topic of the article. Use your state's unliquidated damages law to your advantage. This is a provision in the state law that forces the insurance company to pay you interest on the claim as they stall.

In the above example, let's say you were requesting $8,000.00 to settle the case. However, this time you send the demand letter with the unliquidated clause. If and when your case ever sees a court date, and you were to get a verdict for over $8,000.00, then the insurance company would owe you the interest on that money from the date you sent the letter.

Now, I know you are not thinking of going to trial, but the insurance company will be. They will wonder how you know about unliquidated damages. They will worry. Use this to your advantage to see if you can speed things up.

Extra Tip: Tell the insurance company that you don't need the money. You are doing this because it is the right thing to do. Then, tell the claims handler the one thing they don't want to hear. "I will negotiate this case for almost two years, then hire a lawyer. We will be great friends before this is all over."

As a personal injury lawyer, I understand that Insurance companies like to move files off of their desk. Knowing that file will sit there and require attention might just be the extra push you need to help them want to resolve your personal injury claim.

The Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer, Joseph P. McClelland, represents clients all of the state of Georgia. Mr. McClelland has represented clients before the United Nations Committee on Human Rights, International Court of Justice, Georgia Supreme Court, Georgia Court of Appeals, United States Federal Courts, Superior Courts