Should You Accept a Settlement from a Cruise Line After Injury?
If you were injured as a cruise ship passenger and were subsequently offered a settlement, should you accept it? Would doing so limit your recovery or help you move on and heal?
As a general rule, victims shouldn’t accept the first settlement offer from a cruise line after suffering injuries, unless on the off chance that it actually covers all their damages. This is rare, as cruise ships might offer low amounts, at least initially. To know whether or not you should accept a settlement, our lawyers will spend time calculating your financial losses, quantifying your intangible damages, and reviewing the defendant’s conduct for possible gross negligence, which could qualify you for punitive damages. If settlement offers never improve, victims do not have to accept and can instead move forward with a trial to recover damages.
Contact Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind’s cruise ship injury lawyers for a free case assessment by calling (305) 204-5369 today.
Should You Accept the First Settlement Offer from a Cruise Line After an Injury?
Generally speaking, initial settlement offers from negligent parties, even cruise lines, are lower than victims’ actual damages. Because of this, be wary of accepting the first settlement offer sent to you after sustaining an injury and filing a lawsuit.
Following an accident, a cruise line might present a seemingly sufficient lump sum offer. Their goal may be to have you accept quickly, as signing a settlement agreement would end your case and likely prevent you from seeking additional damages in the future.
The first offer you get is just a starting point, not necessarily indicative of how much the cruise line is willing to pay to keep the case out of court. If the initial offer is poor, our attorneys will respond with counters supported by evidence of liability and proof of your damages. While victims can expect settlement negotiations to take some time, our attorneys will not let them drag on too long before proceeding with a trial.
How to Know Whether or Not to Accept a Settlement Offer from a Cruise Line After an Injury
In preparation for settlement negotiations and evaluating offers, our attorneys will calculate all economic damages incurred to date, as well as losses we expect you to suffer in the future. We will also quantify the mental and emotional toll injuries have had on your life when seeing if settlements properly cover your non-economic damages. Furthermore, if you were hurt by gross negligence, accepting a settlement might prevent you from getting punitive damages from a jury.
Know Your Current and Future Economic Damages
As settlement discussions commence, it is important to know your total damages from a cruise ship accident and injury. For example, during falls onto lower decks, victims might suffer debilitating back injuries requiring long-term treatment. In addition to factoring the cost of potential medical evacuation from the ship, subsequent doctor appointments, and lost wages incurred to date, our lawyers will also consider how your injuries will continue affecting you into the future. For example, a spinal cord injury could permanently lower your earning capacity, entitling you to compensation for future lost wages from the liable cruise line.
Estimate Your Non-Economic Damages
Many victims are unaware that their intangible losses from a cruise ship injury are compensable, such as the emotional distress or mental anguish they experience. To estimate your non-economic damages for relief requests, our cruise ship injury lawyers may ask you to give statements about your reduced quality of life, keep a journal to record your struggles, or confide in mental health experts. Such evidence can demonstrate your physical pain and mental suffering since a cruise ship accident, which our lawyers may use as leverage to get better offers during settlement discussions.
Evaluate Eligibility for Punitive Damages
In addition to compensatory damages, you may be eligible for punitive damages if you were injured by gross negligence. To get punitive damages, which are meant to punish defendants for their particularly egregious or reckless conduct, you must go to court. Punitive damages are unavailable in settlements, as defendants would not agree to pay extra on top of compensation for victims’ actual losses.
If, during our investigation, our attorneys uncover compelling evidence of gross negligence, we may leverage it to get better out-of-court settlements or advise you to go to trial so you can claim the most damages possible and hold a cruise line accountable for its conduct.
Do You Have to Accept a Settlement Offer from a Cruise Line After an Injury?
Cruise lines might pressure victims during settlement negotiations into accepting out-of-court offers that leave them on the hook for certain damages. Our attorneys can help victims assert their deserved compensation in these instances, taking their lawsuits to trial if necessary.
While many victims want to settle their cases to get damages quickly, you are under no obligation to accept a proposal from a liable cruise line. You can change your mind any time before signing the settlement agreement, but not after.
Even when faced with evidence of liability, cruise lines might attempt to strong-arm victims and take their chances at trial, expecting victims to accept lowball settlements to save time and resources. Our attorneys can prepare for such situations from the start of your case, building an injury lawsuit capable of meeting the standard of proof, even if it ultimately settles out of court. Sometimes, even the indication we want to proceed with a trial may be sufficient to get the cruise line to increase its offers to an amount you are comfortable with.
Even during a trial, the defense may propose settlements. Our attorneys can also evaluate these offers, but if they do not adequately cover your damages, we can continue with the trial to prove fault in court.
Call Our Injury Lawyers About Your Cruise Ship Accident Case
Call Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind’s Miami cruise ship injury lawyers at (305) 204-5369 for a free case analysis.
