On each passing year, around one million Americans are getting injured in slip and fall accidents, as found out from the recent studies done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of fatal cases of such incidents amounts to 17,000. The law of the state provides relief to the victims when the other entity or individual is proven to be negligent.
Regarding the tort of negligence, an individual will be compelled to provide compensation to the victim for the suffered damages, if the negligence of a person had caused any harm. For those accidents occurring within the premises of one’s property, the whole responsibility of the preventable accidents will be on the owner of the property.
Structured Settlement
Those settlements that provide compensations to victims over a particular period of time are grouped as structured settlements. They are not paid in a lump- sum. As of the case with quarterly and monthly payment, these payments are done at the same interval and same amount. Generally, negotiated settlements lead to a structured settlement, in which the defendants or victims perceive that the lump sums are not as favorable as the structured payments.
At times, that confusion in between a structured settlement and lump sum payment always exist. When compared to the value of today’s money, the future value of the funds must be analyzed by the victim to solve this out. In order to figure out whether this arrangement will offer compensation the same as that of the lump sum, they can seek the help of any economists to understand this increased cost of living by the factor in inflation.
Out of Court Settlements
Settlements are labeled out of court when they have negotiated without the help of the court. So as to agree with a monetary award, the insurance company of the defendant, the attorney of the victim and victim themselves are conferred an out of the court settlement, on a usual basis. With the tossing of settlement among both the parties, the whole legal process will be delayed too often. With the intention of compensating the victim, several settlements will turn out to be lump-sum.
In most general cases, a large majority of insurance companies are shrewd enough of settling the claims with the lowest amount, aiming for a profit on their side. With the motive of resolving the claims in exchange for a low dollar amount, the insurance company will hire an insurance adjuster to represent the interest of the company. Even before hiring a lawyer by the victim, the insurance companies would do their best in every nuanced method to agree with a settlement with the victim.