Behind the Scenes with the Settlements Department- Zanes Law Personal Injury Attorneys

June 11, 2015

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If you’ve been following the Zanes Law Blog lately, you know we have a mini behind the scenes series happening with all of our departments!

Yesterday we touched base with the Case Management Department.

Here is an overview of the Case Management Department! Go check it out!

And if you are really behind… Really?! You may have missed our tour with the Intake Department! Go check it out!

We’ve arrived at the Settlement Department, the money makin’ department… The department that claims… well…that they keep the lights on around Zanes…

We hear snickering coming from the other departments…

But really lights on or off, the settlement department marks the beginning of the end of a case.

“But don’t be fooled” says one settlement coordinator. “It is a long process of making sure our client gets every dollar they deserve in their pocket.”

Once a case manager has confirmed that a client has completed treatment with their medical provider, they help bridge them into a smooth transition with their settlement coordinator.

“I think sometimes the client finds this transition a little hard because they’ve been communicating with their case managers for so long – sometimes 6 or more months,” notes one settlement coordinator.

“We try to pick up the relationship exactly where it left off with the case manager by knowing everything we can about the client, who they are as a person and all the details of their case.”

The settlement coordinators, like their intake coordinator counterparts, are designated in a section of the Zanes headquarters where they have formed their own… er…money and document flow amongst their paper covered desks.

The process of receiving a settlement check and completing the legal process of one’s case can take a minimum of 45 days with the client’s attorney negotiating for the best settlement offer for the case.

Each coordinator dives deep into the finances of each case to request reductions from health providers and other entities involved.

“Clients mistaken this phase of the case to be a simple cutting of a check but there’s so much to settle – that’s why there is a whole department dedicated to dealing with the health insurance world and the mess that can become,” comments one settlement coordinator.

Throughout this phase of the case and before, your personal injury attorney is working on negotiating the best settlement offer for you. But it’s important to note that no settlement amount can be agreed upon without the client’s consent.

Once all balances are verified, a check and a release form is mailed out to the firm. Once those items are received, the client is informed of the arrival of the check and asked to come in to pick it up!

A release is signed by the client and the money is either given to the client in the form of a check or disbursed into a designated bank account.

BAM! You’ve got money!

Listen to our podcast about the settlements department!

Check out the blog tomorrow for the last post in our behind the scenes series!