Personal Injury Claims: Nuisance Value Settlements

If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence you may be eligible for compensation by way of a personal injury claim. Settlement values range from multi-million dollars to what is considered as a nuisance value settlements. This article will discuss what a nuisance value claim is and the ability to negotiate for a nuisance claim.

According to Insuranceopedia, “a nuisance claim is an insurance claim that an insurance adjuster has deemed not worth dealing with, either because the claim is misguided, involves wrong parties or does not involve an insurable event”. Insurance adjusters think some claims are worth nothing at all, however, there are a number of reasons that make a claim a nuisance claim. The reasons behind this type of claim, from the adjuster’s standpoint, include the following:

• The person making the claim was completely at fault
• The insured person was completely at fault for the accident
• The claimant’s injuries were not caused by the accident
• The claimant had no real injuries at all

In each of the above situations an insurance adjuster may first completely deny the injury process claim saying that the insurance company will not pay any compensation, however, in many cases the insurance adjuster’s initial refusal to make a settlement will eventually turn into an offer to settle the case for a small amount known as a nuisance value. The term nuisance value stems from the ‘insurance companies idea that it is better to pay a little bit of money than to have to deal with a nuisance of a claim that will not go away’. However, it must be noted that the insurance adjusters will not use the term nuisance value, but when they make a very low offer having no relation to the damages formula this is what they are doing, settling a nuisance claim.

It must be noted that there are no fixed amounts for a nuisance value settlement, where medical bills are under a thousand dollars in the claim, a nuisance value settlement is often equal to the amount of the medical bills or even half of the medical bills. The nuisance value settlement will have nothing for income loss, pain and suffering, general damages or anything else. In cases where the person filing the claim is not able to show any real injuries, where small medical bills and soft tissue injuries are not diagnosed by a doctor, an insurance adjuster will often make a nuisance value offer of $500 or $750. Conversely, if there are medical bills and lost income in the thousands of dollars and there are serious, painful or permanent injuries where the damages formula is likely to come up with an amount of between $10000 and $15000, a nuisance value settlement could be $2000 to $3000.

Despite the fact that your claim is a nuisance value compensation it is best to remember that any offer of settlement is negotiable. Therefore, you do not have to take the first amount offered for a nuisance value settlement. However, the value figures will not change too much. For legal advice contact Anchorage lawyers handling personal injury matters.