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Our LocationsIn most cases, no. Signing a release ends your claim against that driver and their insurer, and Ohio courts enforce it. But settling the property damage on your car does not close your injury claim, and fraud, a defective settlement, or a claim against a different party can still leave a door open.
Many are tempted (understandably) to settle claims quickly with the at-fault driver’s insurance company after an Ohio car accident. But once your case is settled, your case is effectively over. You might even give up the right to pursue legal action against those responsible.
However, there are circumstances where it’s possible to sue after you accept a settlement. And while we’ll break down your legal options if you settled with insurance, it’s best to consult an experienced, nearby personal injury lawyer if you still have remaining damages.
Settling with the insurance company is one way to recover compensation after a car accident. Ohio is an at-fault state. That means you file your claim with the insurer of the driver who caused the crash, rather than with your own carrier the way drivers do in no-fault states.
Settlement agreements resolve legal disputes and provide compensation for a victim. But when you settle with the insurance company, you must sign a release of liability. What you are agreeing to when signing a medical or property damage release is that the claim is over, and the document is written to end it for good.
Suppose you settle for $20,000. But then your condition worsens, and you need further medical attention, like expensive surgery. The insurance company will not be obligated to cover these additional costs, as you have already settled your case.
The release of liability clause prevents any further legal action against the liable party. That is what a release is designed to do, and it is why the scope of the clause matters more than almost anything else in the paperwork. Read it before you sign, and if the wording is broader than the claim you meant to settle, say so while you still have leverage.
Say you suffered debilitating spinal cord injuries. If the release the insurer sent you covers all claims arising from the crash, the time to have a lawyer negotiate the terms is before you sign it, not after. With an injury like that there is a strong likelihood you will need ongoing medical attention or support.
After a crash you usually have two claims running at once: one for your vehicle and one for your injuries. Insurers handle them on separate tracks, with separate adjusters and separate paperwork, and the property damage claim usually finishes first because a repair estimate is easy to price and a healing spine is not.
That timing is where people get hurt. A check arrives for the car, a release comes with it, and it gets signed without much thought because the amount matches the body shop estimate. Most of the time that release covers property damage only and your injury claim is untouched. Sometimes it does not. A release written to cover all claims arising from the accident does exactly that, and the fact that the number was calculated from a body shop estimate has no bearing on what you gave up.
Read the release before you sign it. If it mentions bodily injury, personal injury, or all claims, stop and have a lawyer read it. If you only want to settle the car, ask for a property damage release that says so in writing. There is more worth knowing about how to make a property damage claim without putting the rest of your case at risk.
Generally, you cannot pursue legal action against the insurance company after your settlement has been reached, signed, and executed if there is a release of liability clause. However, there are some exceptions.
If the insurance company or liable party acted coercively or fraudulently in handling your claim, your release of liability clause and insurance settlement might be considered invalid. Your lawyer will gather evidence to prove the liable party or insurer was engaging in fraud. This may include communications exchanges, financial records, and other valuable documentation.
If your settlement agreement does not comply with Ohio’s legal requirements or does not have the necessary signatures, it may not be legally binding. Without a legally binding release of liability clause or settlement, you still have the right to pursue legal action against the liable party and their insurer.
Two further exceptions are large enough to need their own sections below: a claim on your own policy, and a claim against a party the release never covered.
A settlement with the other driver’s liability insurer and a claim against your own policy are two different things. If you bought uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, which is optional in Ohio, that claim is separate from the liability claim, but it is not automatically preserved. Most Ohio policies contain a consent-to-settle clause: if you accept the at-fault driver’s limits and sign a release without your own insurer’s written consent, you can lose the UM or UIM benefit entirely, because the release destroys your insurer’s right to recover from the at-fault driver. Get that consent in writing before you sign anything. Ohio law also generally bars an insurer from raising your premium because of an accident that was not your fault, so the fear of a rate increase is usually not a reason to leave that coverage unused. How those claims work is the subject of uninsured and underinsured motorist accidents.
If other parties were involved in the accident and share blame for your damages, even if you enter a settlement arrangement with a release of liability clause with one liable party, you can still pursue legal action against other parties who contributed to your injuries.
The parties worth checking for include the employer of a driver who was working at the time, the owner of the vehicle if that is someone other than the driver, a bar or restaurant that overserved an obviously intoxicated driver, a vehicle or parts manufacturer when a defect contributed, and a city or county responsible for a road hazard. Ohio’s dram shop claims in particular have their own proof requirements, and claims against public entities have their own rules.
The important point is procedural. A release of one party does not automatically release everyone, but a release written broadly enough can. Before you settle with any one defendant, know who else may be responsible, because the language you sign may decide whether those claims survive.
Soft-tissue injuries, disc injuries, and concussions often look minor in the first weeks and serious months later. Adrenaline hides pain at the scene, inflammation builds over days, and a symptom that started as neck stiffness can turn into numbness in the hand that sends you for an MRI.
Insurers have seen this timeline many more times than any individual claimant has, which is why the first offer often arrives early, before anyone knows what the injury is. Accepting it transfers every dollar of future treatment to you. There is no mechanism for reopening a settled claim because the injury got worse, and future medical costs have to be inside the settlement or they are not compensated at all.
The protection is patience. Wait until your doctors reach maximum medical improvement, the point where they can say what your long-term condition will be, and settle on the basis of that opinion rather than on the basis of the bills that happen to have arrived. If a low first offer is putting pressure on you, learn to recognize the lowball settlement offer for what it is.
If an insurer has already sent you a release and you are not certain what it covers, call 1-800-HURT-NOW or send us the details for a free review before you sign.
A settlement for an injured child is not something a parent can simply sign. Ohio generally requires probate court involvement, and the court reviews the terms, approves the attorney fees and expenses, and directs how the money is held until the child reaches eighteen. A settlement signed without that approval can be unenforceable, which cuts both ways: the insurer does not get the finality it paid for, and the family does not get a settlement it can rely on.
The other thing families should know is that a child’s filing deadline is not always the same as an adult’s, which occasionally leaves more time than people assume. That is a question worth confirming rather than guessing at, because the deadline for a minor injured in a car accident has its own rules.
Most insurance settlements will be legally binding once the documents have the proper signatures. When you accept your settlement money, you agree to no more legal action with the insurance company. These documents are legally enforceable. That means you may be unable to sue for additional damages once a settlement is reached.
Review the contract with your personal injury attorney before you sign it, not after.
Before you accept a settlement offer from the insurance company, make sure you review your offer with an experienced attorney who’s focused on your long-term interests. This way, you will understand your settlement’s total value, whether it is appropriate, and the implications of accepting an offer.
Your attorney will consider the longstanding consequences of accepting a settlement offer with a release of liability clause. They can help protect your rights as you negotiate with the insurance company.
Most of the situations on this page are avoidable. The checklist is short:
Almost never. A settlement is a contract, and the release you sign in exchange for the money ends your claim against that driver and their insurer, including for injuries that get worse later. The narrow exceptions are a release obtained by fraud or misrepresentation, a settlement that was never validly executed, and a claim against a party the release did not cover. Courts enforce valid releases, so the time to get this right is before you sign.
It should not, but read what you sign. Property damage and bodily injury are separate claims, and insurers usually handle them separately with separate releases. The problem is that some releases are written broadly enough to cover all claims arising from the accident. If a document you are handed for your car repair mentions bodily injury or uses language like all claims, do not sign it until a lawyer has looked at it.
Then you are almost certainly responsible for the additional treatment. That is the risk a release transfers to you, and it is the reason lawyers push clients to wait for maximum medical improvement before settling. Symptoms that seem minor at first can turn into a herniated disc or a surgical recommendation months later, and the settlement figure will not change to match.
Usually no. A release signed as part of an insurance settlement almost always releases the driver personally as well as the insurer, because that is what the insurer is paying for. A claim against the driver for the amount above their policy limits survives only if the release was deliberately limited to those limits and said so. There is a separate avenue worth knowing about: if the driver’s limits were too low and you carry underinsured motorist coverage, that claim is against your own insurer, and it requires your insurer’s written consent before you settle with the liability carrier.
Generally yes. Ohio law lets a settlement of a minor’s claim be approved through probate without appointing a full guardian when the net proceeds are modest, currently up to $25,000 after fees and expenses; larger settlements bring more probate involvement. Either way the court, not the parent, has the last word on the terms. Build the extra time into your expectations rather than trying to work around it.
More ground is covered in this FAQ about personal injury settlements.
Although settling may be the end of the line for your insurance claim, there may be opportunities to pursue civil action against those responsible for the damages caused by a car crash. Pursuing a lawsuit may be in your best interests if you hope to avoid having to cover the costs of your future medical expenses and any other losses the insurance company refuses to cover.
At Kisling, Nestico & Redick, we’ll pursue every avenue to recover the maximum possible compensation for your losses. Learn more when you contact KNR for a no-cost, risk-free consultation. Call 1-800-HURT-NOW today.
