In every insurance claim, you need to set forth your claim in the strongest and clearest possible language. Here is a sample settlement demand letter.

Dear Ms. Insurance Adjuster:

Elizabeth Hoffman, age 39, was severely injured on the above date when she slipped on ice that your insured failed to clear from its parking lot. I enclose a receipt showing a transaction at your insured’s business that morning shortly after the fall. Ms. Hoffman was a business invitee at the time, and thus entitled to the highest protections under the law. Your insured was under an affirmative duty to protect my client not only against dangers which its employees knew about, but also against those which with reasonable care one or more of its employees might have discovered. Ms. Hoffman slipped on an unsalted patch of ice as she exited her car. You are already in possession of a weather report showing that the last snow was two days earlier.

Ms. Hoffman broke her fall with her hands. She immediately felt a strong pull on the left side of her lower back and upper left leg along with pain on the right side of her neck and right arm. She got up slowly and went into the store , informing a female employee that she had fallen outside.

After my client went home, she applied ice, took Ibuprofen and rested. She began to feel pain in the arch of her left foot at that time. When she awoke the next morning, her entire lower back was hurting. As the day went on, her neck and right arm pain increased. On the morning of the 19th, the pain in her neck and arm had worsened. As the day continued, she remained in bed and found that her whole lower back was throbbing. She went to see her primary doctor, Dr. Wood, complaining at that time of pain in the left buttocks, left arch, right arm and right side of the neck. She had lower back pain and spasm with forward flexion. Dr. Wood prescribed physical therapy.

During the following week, Ms. Hoffman took medication but suffered from bouts of pain in her right arm and hand, right and left arches, and lower back. She began physical therapy on January 25, 2005 and was given home exercises. The most significant problems for the remainder of the month were her arches, right hip/pelvis, right arm and lower back. Through February, March and April, my client suffered pain and/or sensitivity in the lower back, right arm/shoulder, neck, left and right arches and right hip/leg. She experienced numbness and tingling in the right foot and leg. She also experienced great discomfort with sitting and lying down. Standing brought some relief. Ms. Hoffman received physical therapy from January 25 to March 21, 2005.

I will contact you shortly to discuss settlement.

By: Evan Aidman