Can a plaintiff and defendant try to negotiate a settlement without their lawyers?

Consult with your lawyer!!!

Consult with your attorney. That's why you are paying him or her!

To answer your question, yes. HOWEVER, I agree with the response above. CONSULT WITH YOUR ATTORNEY!! Your attorney will understand the case better from a legal prospective and may be able to obtain a larger settlement offer. Furthermore, any communications you have with the opposing side may significantly damage your case, especial if your attorney does not have knowledge!

I'm sorry, but your question is confusing. In your question, you talk about having lawyers, but in your answer you say that you are pro se. To be clear, pro se means you don't have a lawyer. So it's confusing as to whether you have a lawyer or not. Generally in a personal injury case the defendant will have a lawyer since an insurance company is most likely involved and the insurance company will appoint one. Assuming that you are actually pro se and the defendant has a lawyer (since that is the most common scenario), you can absolutely negotiate your own settlement and have the insurance company draft a release to settle. However, you need to be careful about whether you are signing a general or limited release. At least having a lawyer review the release before you sign is highly recommended. Going pro se in a personal injury case is a tough decision. I compare it to doing a for sale by owner when selling your house. Any realtor will tell you that the money you lose by paying them a commission will be made up by the fact that a good realtor will get you more for your house than you could on your own and the realtor can protect you from being taken advantage of by the other side. I feel as though a personal injury case is the same. If you hire a good personal injury attorney, he will make sure that you maximize your recovery. Your attorney can also make sure that you don't unknowingly get taken advantage of by the insurance company. Remember, the insurance company is not there to help you. Until you get an attorney, you alone are dealing with an insurance company that knows a lot more than you do. If you do decide to remain pro se, be careful. If not, call me at 678-7575LAW.

It is almost always a disaster to circumvent lawyers, and if you have a case without a lawyer and the other side has one, you are likely to have a worse outcome than with a lawyer. Since you haven't told us what kind of case you have, why you proceeded without a lawyer, and why you want to settle, there's no way to fully answer you except to say that you probably have made a big mistake.