Does the settlement include…?

My wife and I went to look at a house.

The person who owned the house loved rhododendrons. It seemed like there were 100 rhododendron bushes.

My wife hates rhododendrons.

Had we made an offer I can imagine the owner asking the realtor whether the offer included the rhododendrons.

Maybe the rhododendrons move the needle. Maybe they don't. Ultimately it's about the bottom line.

There's a difference in personal injury cases between the damages you're entitled to seek and what is included in the offer.

In personal injury cases, you can seek economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages include things like medical expenses and wage loss.

Non-economic damages include things like pain and reduced quality of life.

But when you receive an offer, it's not really for the damages you've suffered. It's the price the insurance company is willing to pay to buy a release of your claims.

So, in some ways, everything is included. And in other ways, nothing is included because that's not the nature of the transaction.

The damages you are going to be able to blackboard at trial are one of the considerations that go into the amount of a settlement offer. But they're not the only consideration. Other considerations include liability issues and insurance limits.

So when someone asks whether their parking expenses, new mattress, or those prepaid tickets for the trip to Venezuela they couldn't take are included in the offer, I'm going to share this newsletter with them because it's a fairly nuanced answer.