Can an Insurance Claim Be Reopened After a Settlement?

We just got an interesting call this week, and I thought it would make a great video because the question was one we do see often and it leaves us disappointed that this person didn't understand what was happening at the time, and there's nothing much we can do about it. Anyway, my name's Loyd Bourgeois, I'm a Louisiana personal injury lawyer with offices in Luling and Metairie Louisiana. And the question we received is, "Can I reopen my settled injury case?" And in this situation, this gentleman had been injured a number of years ago, and he resolved his claim about four years ago. And when we say resolved his claim, he got some money, he signed a release, and the matter was over. And he didn't have any further contact with an attorney or an insurance company about this matter for the past three years. And he wanted to know if he could reopen the claim because for two reasons: One, he was still in a lot of pain, and his injuries from his crash were affecting his daily life. And then two, he didn't believe he received enough money for his case. He wanted to know if he could reopen it since he was still hurt, and the money he received earlier on was not enough. And unfortunately, and after looking into it, we had to tell this gentleman was, "You signed a release, you gave away your rights to continue on with a claim in that case, in exchange for receiving money." And that's one of the things we want to talk about often throughout your case when you're a client of our firm is making sure that when we do agree to accept some money, some compensation for your injuries, and you sign a release, that's it, there are no more claims that can be brought as a result of that crash, that incident, it's gone forever. And so that's why we talk to your doctors, we talk to you. We make sure that the financial justice you are receiving is adequate in the circumstances, because you are not going to be having an opportunity to reopen that case later. So if you have a question about if a potential settlement is fair, if an insurance company or another party is offering you some money to release some claims against them as a result of a personal injury matter, please talk to an attorney. We'd love it if you talk to us. Give us a call at 985-240-9773. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Can an Insurance Claim Be Reopened After a Settlement?

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