What Happens After You Send Your Personal Injury Demand Letter?

When you're making a personal injury claim after any kind of accident, it can be tricky to understand the settlement process. A key step is often the demand letter, and the insurance company's response to it. Let's look at what might happen after you send a personal injury demand letter, and your best strategy for dealing with the insurance company's response.

When Do I Send a Demand Letter?

A demand letter is usually sent by the injured person (often through an attorney) to the company that insures the person or business who seems to be responsible for the underlying incident, whether it's a car accident, a slip and fall, or something else. It's usually sent once the nature and extent of the claimant's injuries are fully understood, and there's a complete picture of all injury-related losses ("damages" in the language of the law).

The demand letter lays out a number of details, especially presenting the injured person's side of the case—how the injuries happened and what those injuries are, including specifics of medical treatment and how the injuries have impacted the claimant's life. The letter also makes a specific "demand," a dollar amount that the injured person will accept in order to resolve the case and release the other side from liability.

Get tips on writing your personal injury demand letter.

When Does the Insurance Company Have to Respond to Your Demand Letter?

In most situations, you'll get a timely response to the demand letter, usually from the insurance adjuster who is handling your claim. After all, most insurance companies are interested in resolving an injury claim as quickly and economically as possible. That’s not to say the insurance company will respond by cutting a check for the amount you’ve asked for, but you can at least expect a counter-offer or some other indication that the insurer is ready and willing to negotiate a settlement of your personal injury claim.

Insurance Companies Aren't Required to Respond to a Demand Letter

A response is likely, but there's no law requiring the other side’s insurance company to respond to your injury demand letter. Insurance companies are free to take their sweet time in responding to your letter, and they can even ignore it (and you) altogether. But it’s not necessarily a good business practice, and it doesn’t happen often.

What Might the Insurance Company's Demand Letter Response Look Like?

After you send a demand letter, one of several things can happen:

The insurance company accepts your demand, and the settlement goes forward.

It's rare, but you could receive the compensation you asked for and sign a release of liability in exchange.

The insurance company makes a counter-offer.

There's bound to be at least some negotiation on the part of the insurance company. If they come back to you with a settlement offer of their own (often for significantly less than what you asked for in your demand letter), you'll have to decide if you want to accept the counter-offer, or if you want to continue to negotiate or file a personal injury lawsuit. This is usually how things go after a demand letter is sent: it triggers a back-and-forth process where the injured person starts with an inflated demand amount, the insurance company comes in with a much lower offer, and the two parties meet somewhere in the middle. (Get tips on responding to an insurance company's too-low settlement offer.)

The insurance company denies your claim and refuses to pay you anything.

An insurance company denial of an injury claim is a rare occurrence, since most insurance companies want to settle a claim (a sure thing) before courts get involved (an unpredictable process). Denials usually only occur when the claim is clearly unsupported by evidence (the "injured" person has no medical bills or records of treatment) or there is a procedural problem with the claim itself.

Learn more about the timeline of a typical personal injury claim.

What If The Insurance Company Doesn’t Respond to the Demand Letter?

If your demand letter goes unanswered, one thing you can do is follow up with the insurance company to make sure they received your letter. You may have included some incorrect contact or identifying information (the policy number, the name of the insured, the date of the accident, etc.) Don’t send another letter. Start by calling the insurance company and asking to speak to the claims division or a claims representative. Or check the insurance company's website to see if there's an easy way to email or "chat" with a representative.

If you still get no response, you'll have to think hard about your options.

Should You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

If you’re not getting a response to your demand letter, you may need to escalate things by filing a filing a personal injury lawsuit in court.

When you file a lawsuit, the insurance company is served paperwork that legally requires them to answer and begin the litigation process. Even if the court isn't involved any further, getting the civil lawsuit process started may be necessary to get the insurance company to take your case seriously, so that you can get a fair outcome.

One crucial concern at this point is the statute of limitations in your state. This is a law that sets a deadline on your right to file a personal injury lawsuit in court. You want to keep this option in play, so if your case is coming up against the filing deadline, get your lawsuit filed and preserve your legal right to have the matter heard in court.

Do I Need to Hire a Lawyer?

If your injuries are significant, and so far you've been representing yourself, it may be time to think about hiring a personal injury attorney Not only will this ensure that your case is in experienced hands if things move on to the lawsuit stage, but hiring a lawyer is a sure way to get the insurance company to start taking your claim seriously. Learn more about finding the right injury lawyer for you and your case.