I’m a defense attorney who has been developing a PI practice on the side. I have a case where the at-fault driver is insured by State Farm. I’ve been told to “be careful” with State Farm bc they’re very difficult to work with. Is this true, and any advice on dealing with them to hopefully reach a settlement?

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Build a relationship with the adjuster. SF utilizes some crazy calculation system too—so make sure your demand is beefed up and dig on their insured. Bad driver? Criminal record? Calculate future treatment costs too. I’ve learned with the bigger ins comps that if you’re not willing to file suit against them, you better have a solid demand to present for a reasonable and fair offer/settlement.

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They can be difficult, but most of the large auto carriers are. Personally, I think they’re better than GEICO or Allstate.

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I love GEICO. I hate Allstate. LOL.

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I’m translating this to “State Farm is known for extending low settlement offers”, which is true for the most part. As long as you have a solid case, and you’re willing to file suit if you get a crappy offer, you’ll be fine.

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This last year, SF has been low balling cases in my state. They send 90% of cases involving minorities to SIU. If liability is clear and their first offer is unreasonable, I just file. The SF lawyers are overwhelmed and they end up recommending settlement after they go through some discovery and a depo or two.

If you file, push the case forward. Don’t back down. They’ll come around.

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Thanks! I don’t do a lot of PI work and mostly do defense litigation (med mal, commercial disputes) so I have no problem at all moving the case forward and litigating it. From a cost standpoint, it would just be nice to not have to do this.

Any resources I can look at to help me through this process? I’m the only one at my firm that takes PI cases and have no mentor. I’ve just been teaching myself. I mostly do defense litigation.

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