Long story short--hubby fell off work truck 2 yrs ago, had back surgery, has already given statement to all parties involved at a courthouseMonday we are to meet again to discuss a monetary value. The lawyer called this morning said "sit tight, I will call you this afternoon as Monday may not happen"We have been told by both lawyers in the firm that insurance companies ( hint--this is the largest company in the world) will often come down to the wire and make an offer as they really do not want to go to court if we can not come up with a settlement on Monday. Is this often the case? My lawyer has given a figure that we was starting at a half a mil knowing they will counter offer. Is there a good possibility that this is the down to the wire day and it will be finished today?regarding gross negligence. They were hubby was injured 8 months prior to to the date the insurance company put on its claim form, waited 8 months for comp payments , on year later we get a letter from comp with the exact date of injury on it. Nor have they paid a cent towards the surgery!Also he had 3 witnesses to the fall which the lawyer just threw at them last month, kept it under his hat for a push come to shove situation.

If your employer had workman's comp. insurance, then your claim should settle pretty rapidly. These claims are much easier to prove than a normal personal injury claim because the guidelines are statutory. The Workman's Comp. Comission in your state should be the agency overseeing your case. Basically, the insurer is liable if there was any nexus between the injury and the worker's employment. What insurers will do is try to put off paying until you are really broke and desperate. Then they will offer you a fraction of the value of the claim hoping that you will take it to keep from losing your house etc. Your attorney is correct. If the claim has gone on this long then the insurer WILL settle without going to Court. The reason why is because in this type fo claim, the insurer knows that they will have to pay. They already know probably within a variable amounting to a few dollars exactly how much they will have to pay. Your attorney should know this too. The insurer will not risk going to Court over this case because they know the Court or the Commission will award bad faith damages. The answer is, I would be very surprised if your case made it all the way to the Courthouse door.EDIT: Negligence is not part of a workman's Comp case. Whether you can get 500,000 dollars depends on whether your husband has 500,000 dollars worth of damages under the Workman's Comp guidelines. Your only shot at punitive damage recovery is not because of gross negligence. You can get extra damages beyond compensatory damages by suing the insurance company for bad faith failure to pay the claim. If this is a Workman's Comp. case, you are GUARANTEED RECOVERY if there is even a slight relationship between the injury and the and the employment.

The chances of you getting $500,000 in a settlement are slim to none.Not unless gross negligence was involved.No insurance company is going to settle for that amount out of court.

If both parties are reasonable about their expectations and can work together to be fair then it can be done soon. If it gets confrontational and one party or the other is unrealistic in their demands then it will take longer.