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Settlement mill lawyers are experts at one thing – settling your case quickly to line their own pockets instead of fighting for the compensation that injured victims deserve. Settlement mill law offices are organized to benefit lawyers and insurance companies while the seriously injured can be left with much less than they need to recover and live with their injuries.
What's a Settlement Mill?
Settlement mills are law firms who represent clients without any intention of taking cases to trial. The easiest way to take their 33% from injured clients' compensation is to settle cases early and often.
If you encounter a firm that advertises quick and easy settlements and has no successful trial record, you are most likely dealing with a settlement mill. These lawyers are typically interested in soft tissue damage cases, such as whiplash, because they are easy to settle with the insurance company.
Who Benefits from a Settlement Mill?
Settlement mills are built to benefit the lawyers and the insurance companies. The lawyers like to settle quickly and get paid quickly. The insurance companies like that these settlement lawyers are predictable.
In a recent article, "Run of the Mill Justice" by Nora Freeman Engstrom of Stanford Law School, the author identified, after surveying settlement mill lawyers and their staffs, that cooperation between the lawyers and insurance companies is profitable for both sides. The insurance companies, like the lawyers, enjoy the predictability of what they will be asked to pay out for injuries.
Additionally the insurance companies can get "an attractive discount" on larger claims for catastrophic injuries that would cost much more if taken to trial. By settling cooperatively and consistently on smaller claims, the insurance company can really save money when it comes to paying out for the bigger claims.
Who Suffers from Settlement Mill Law?
Severely injured accident victims suffer when they hire settlement mill lawyers. Instead of getting the personal attention and dedication that your case needs, you become just another number in a file, and your case will settle for much less than it's worth.
Clients with catastrophic injuries fall victim to the settlement mill system and can be left without the resources they need to aid their family in recovery and the necessary life-long care that their injuries so often require.
If you have been seriously injured in an accident, you need a real personal injury attorney with the experience and skill to take your case as far as it needs to go to get the compensation you deserve.
Don't settle for a settlement mill. Hire an attorney you can trust to fight against the insurance company not work with them. You deserve real compensation for your injuries. You are worth more than an insurance company will offer to make a settlement lawyer content to close your case.
As an injured victim, you deserve justice and a lawyer willing to fight for it.
