The demand is the document that starts the real negotiation. It tells the insurer what happened, why their insured is responsible, what the injuries are, what they cost, and what it will take to resolve the claim without a lawsuit. A thin demand gets a thin offer. This is where our firm spends an unusual amount of effort, and it is why.
What goes in a demand
Liability. The crash report, photographs, witness statements, and anything else that establishes fault, laid out so that an adjuster can reach the right conclusion without working for it.
Medical chronology. Every provider, every visit, in order, with what was found and what was done. Not a stack of records; a narrative with the records attached, cited by page.
Causation. The part insurers attack. We address the gaps, the prior conditions, and the degenerative findings on imaging before the adjuster raises them, with the treating providers’ own words where possible. An unaddressed pre-existing condition is a discount; an explained one is not.
Damages, separated. Medical expenses billed and paid, with the lien picture. Lost wages, documented. Future medical care, supported by a provider’s opinion where the case justifies it. Then the non-economic loss: the daily record, the limitations, the things you can no longer do, written so that a reader who has never met you understands what this cost.
The number. A demand with a basis, not a number pulled from the air.
How the adjuster values it
The adjuster is not deciding what your pain is worth. They are predicting what a jury in your county would award, discounting for the risk that it would be less, and subtracting the cost of fighting. Their inputs are the same ones in the demand: the strength of liability, the medical specials, the credibility of the treatment, the permanence of the injury, the available policy limits, and the quality of the lawyer across the table. Firms that try cases get higher offers from the same adjuster on the same facts, because the adjuster’s risk calculation changes.
Policy limits
Every claim has a ceiling: the at-fault driver’s liability limit, plus any UIM coverage of your own. Indiana’s minimum is $25,000 per person. When injuries clearly exceed the limits, the demand is a limits demand, and the insurer’s refusal to pay its limits when it should can expose it to liability beyond the policy. When injuries are modest, the limits may be irrelevant. Knowing the limits early shapes the whole strategy, and we find out in the first weeks.
The negotiation
The first offer will be low; it always is. What follows is a series of exchanges, each supported by something, until the numbers converge or they do not. Most claims settle here. When they do not, it is usually for one of three reasons: the insurer disputes liability, the insurer disputes causation, or the insurer simply will not pay fair value until a lawsuit forces the issue.
Your decision
Every offer is yours to accept or reject. We give you our honest assessment of what the case is worth, what a jury is likely to do, and what litigation would cost in time and money. Then you decide. Nobody settles your case but you.
Next: Part 9, filing the lawsuit, and what the next twelve to twenty-four months look like.
This article is general information about Indiana law, not legal advice about your situation. Laws change and every case is different. Talk to a lawyer about the facts of your case.