While it’s not unheard of for a personal injury claim to be decided through a verdict handed down in civil court by a judge or jury, it’s much more common for cases of this nature to end out of court with a private settlement agreement. Unlike court rulings, which can sometimes be appealed if they’re based on faulty interpretations of the law or unfair for some other reason, there’s generally no going back after formally accepting a settlement offer.
There are some unique circumstances under which your personal injury claim can be reopened after it’s settled. It’s worth knowing a little about those circumstances before getting too deep into the settlement process for your claim. It’s always better to get a fair and comprehensive settlement offer in the first place, and that’s always easier if you have support from a skilled personal injury lawyer who’s willing and able to fight effectively for your rights.
What Does It Mean to Sign a Release of Liability?
Settlement negotiations for a personal injury claim can drag on for months or sometimes even years. Once the parties involved agree on a settlement offer, they need to do something legally binding in order to officially end the claim and make sure everyone does what they’ve agreed to do. The most common way this is done is by adding a clause to the final settlement agreement called a release of liability, which frees the party making the settlement offer of all future liability for the injury once they’ve paid out the amount of money dictated by the terms of the settlement.
Once you sign a release of liability, you’ve made a legally binding promise to the insurance company that you’re fine with the amount of money they’re offering and won’t come back later to ask for more. Accordingly, trying to reopen a personal injury claim after it’s settled is like breaking a promise. You need to have a very good reason to do it for a court to allow it to happen.
Scenarios Where It May Be Possible to Reopen a Settled Personal Injury Claim
From the point of view of a civil court, the only good reason to reopen a personal injury claim after it’s been settled is if something about the original settlement agreement makes it legally unenforceable. For example, if someone involved in the settlement negotiation process engaged in criminal fraud to get better settlement terms or illegally pressured another party to sign off on an unfavorable agreement, the agreement is null and void even if a release of liability has been signed.
Likewise, you may be able to reopen a closed settlement if there was vital knowledge you didn’t have about your rights or recovery options while you were negotiating. In this context, vital knowledge generally isn’t something like not knowing exactly how bad your injuries were, but instead something like not knowing how much money you had a right to claim through the terms of your insurance policy.
In any event, no matter what reason you have for reopening personal injury settlement talks, you should think twice before trying to do it without experienced legal counsel on your side. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to learn how a personal injury lawyer can help with your unique case.
