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1959 Ins. L.J. 639 (1959)
Evaluation and Settlement of Personal Injury Claims

handle is hein.journals/inslj21 and id is 637 raw text is: Evaluation and Settlement of Personal Injury Claims By RAOUL D. MAGANA In approaching a settlement agreement with a client, let the set- tlement idea be his idea-but most important, the author points out, reduce the authority to settle for anything in excess of a specific minimum sum to writing. Mr. Magana, a Los Angeles attorney, delivered this speech before the Section on Insurance, Negligence and Compensation Law of the American Bar Association. rHE REASONABLE MAN adapts himself to the world. The Iunreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Progress depends upon the unreasonable man. (Shaw.) Reasonableness, however, is of the essence of settlement negotia- tions. A settlement can be a frustrating experience, not only for the attorneys but for the principals. In this world where the neuroses have achieved a position of importance and where pediatrics has created many curious frustrations, the parties who are involved are often left, after a settlement, with the question in mind: Was it the lady or the tiger? One hears clich6s-A good settlement is better than a good law- suit-and it is not difficult to visualize the sardonic grin of a success- ful horse trader, negotiator and advocate as this profound truism is repeated with mock profundity. There are, of course, many cases where the most salubrious thing for the principals and the attorneys involved is the termination of either prospective or existing litigation. Certainly settlement negotiations can rarely do much harm, unless the disclosure of material is premature and permits the adversary to take advantage of weaknesses that appear early in the litigation. One thing is certain-a settlement cannot be looked upon with the detached interest that one gives to benign, heavenly, philosophical discourse. Of necessity, a settlement is brutally realistic because it is the amalgam of opposing contradictory emotional forces. The approach, whether subtle or crude, gentle or harsh, always has underlying it the fact that it is still an adversary proceeding and, as such, it is cold, hard business. Let me pose an elementary question: Would you expect a broker to dispose of a listed stock for one half or one third of its rated price? Can a man who is settling a lawsuit, whether for the defendant or the plaintiff, ever fail to recognize that neither side will willingly dispose of any thing for nothing? It is as that great prenuclear sage, Lucretius, once said: Nothing is begotten of nothing. Settlements, therefore, have as their predicate reasonableness, but what is reason- able becomes the real question. Settlement of Claims

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