Why the first number is rarely the real number
Insurance adjusters routinely open negotiations with a conservative figure, expecting a counteroffer. Accepting that first offer typically closes the claim permanently — there's generally no going back to ask for more later, even if additional injuries or costs surface afterward.
A bar that arrives before fault is even discussed
Ohio treats the open-and-obvious doctrine as a complete bar to recovery operating at the duty-of-care stage, not as a factor weighed under comparative fault. If a hazard was open and obvious, a property owner may owe no duty to warn about it at all — which means the claim can end before any percentage-of-fault discussion ever begins. This puts Ohio in the minority of states that treat the doctrine this way.
A related rule for snow and ice
A closely related doctrine, the natural accumulation rule, generally holds that a property owner has no duty to remove snow and ice that accumulated naturally. Like the open-and-obvious doctrine, this operates as a no-duty finding — a separate, earlier gate than the comparative fault analysis that governs most other Ohio injury claims.
Why this distinction matters at the negotiating table
If an adjuster raises either doctrine, they're not simply arguing for a reduced settlement the way an ordinary fault dispute would — they're arguing the claim has no legal basis to begin with. That's a categorically different conversation, and it's worth confirming directly whether the facts genuinely support a no-duty argument before treating any resulting low offer as a fair starting point.
The baseline still applies
None of this changes the ordinary approach to a first offer: compare it against a complete, well-documented account of your actual damages before deciding whether to accept or counter, since the decision is generally final once made.