Can a Denver Bike Accident Attorney Negotiate With Insurers and Take My Case to Trial?

Yes. Any Colorado attorney licensed to practice can negotiate directly with an insurance company and take your case to trial if the insurer won't offer a fair number. The part people miss is the paperwork: your fee agreement has to say the attorney is handling both negotiation and litigation, not just negotiation. If it only mentions settlement, ask before you sign.

What your fee agreement needs to say

Colorado requires contingent fee agreements to be in writing, signed by you, and clear about how the fee is calculated. That's not optional. A vague agreement that just says "we'll handle your case" leaves room for disagreement later about whether trial work is included or billed separately. Read the scope section before you sign. If it doesn't explicitly cover litigation and trial, ask the attorney to add it.

Five questions to ask before you hire anyone

1. Does your fee agreement cover trial, or just settlement negotiation?
2. Have you taken a bike injury case to trial before, and what happened?
3. Who actually handles the insurance negotiation, you or a case manager?
4. What happens to the fee percentage if we go to trial instead of settling?
5. How do you decide when a settlement offer is too low to accept?

The answers tell you more than a firm's website ever will. An attorney who's actually been to trial answers question two with specifics: a case type, a rough timeline, an outcome. An attorney who's never tried a bike case tends to talk in generalities about "aggressive representation" instead.

How this plays out at Bike Brain Law

We negotiate every case as if it might go to trial, because insurers price offers differently when they believe you're prepared to actually litigate. Our fee agreements name trial representation explicitly, so there's no gap between what we said we'd do and what we're contracted to do. If an insurer's offer doesn't reflect the real value of a bicycle injury claim, including long-term treatment and lost income, we take it to court.

If you're evaluating attorneys after a Denver bike accident, ask the five questions above before you sign anything. Then call us at 303.831.1116 for a free consultation and we'll walk through your specific case.

Have a question about your case?

Attorney Dan D'Angelo offers free consultations for brain injury and cycling accident victims throughout Colorado.

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