Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia
I suffered a personal injury at a well-known fast food restaurant and hired an attorney to represent me. After much negotiation, the restaurant's insurance company is willing to pay $20K to settle the matter before trial. No mention was made of confidentiality during discussions, but the written settlement agreement contains a confidentiality agreement. My attorney called the insurance company to negotiate consideration, but the insurance company only agreed to pay an extra $100. My attorney thinks the payment should be much higher but doesn't want to jeopardize the pending agreement. I realize that my attorney may prefer to settle now rather than seeing the case all the way to trial. Should I hold out for more than $100? Through research I also learned that the amount of any confidentiality consideration should be specified in the settlement agreement to help avoid the unnecessary taxation following an IRS-determined allocation of personal injury and confidentiality consideration income.
2 Answers from Attorneys
You do not give enough facts to gauge what that would be worth. For most cases, its not worth much if anything.
I agree with the general principle that if people want something more they have to pay you something more.
HOWEVER.... confidentiality is so common in any settlement agreement, that it is really assumed. They would expect that everyone understood that already.
Trying to negotiate for as much as you can get is a good thing. But I would not let that blow up the deal.
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