Speaking with an experienced lawyer before you contact your insurance company to make a claim can help you avoid hurting your case when you communicate with experienced insurance representatives when you open a claim, he adds. “Remember this,” he adds.
Full Answer
“If you believe you have an insurance claim, it is always better to contact a lawyer before you speak with any insurance representative,” says Allen Patatanyan, co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles.
An experienced lawyer can see the claim from all sides and know if there is any chance of getting the insurance company to reverse its position. “Insurance companies are not afraid to deny a claim using shaky reasoning because an unrepresented claimant has no ability to seek a remedy in court.
They can avoid involvement if there is no coverage involved. They will send a lawyer and pay for his service if you need to go to court. All the legal expenses have to be approved by the insurance company. If the court’s decision is to reject your defense, the insurance company is not obliged to pay for any claim that is not covered by your policy.
If there is a plan to file a counter suit, the insurance company is no longer obligated to pay for lawyer’s fees. This falls under the clause in your insurance policy known as the “Duty to Defend.”
Intentionally lying to your insurance company is a form of fraud, and could result in fines, community service, or even jail time. If you lie to your insurance provider, you could be denied coverage, quoted higher rates, or face penalties like fines, community service, or even prison.
The best way to scare insurance carriers or adjusters is to have an attorney by your side to fight for you. You should not settle for less.
Writing a “demand letter” is one of the initial steps taken in the personal injury claims process. The demand letter is a document sent to the at-fault party's insurance company, explaining your side of the story, the losses you have incurred, and the total amount you are requesting as a settlement.
When an insurance company offers you a settlement, they are essentially acknowledging their client's fault in the accident. They want you to settle to avoid litigation or going to court. Insurance companies usually do not want to get legal help involved.
The claims assessor will in essence focus on the claim situation (what happened, where, when, how) and will determine whether it fits within the scope of cover and what the repair (or replacement) cost is. This assessor may also offer risk management advice post the claim.
While some insurance companies may avoid paying what your claim is worth, the majority of claims adjusters in California are honest and respectable insurance experts. Most car insurance companies in California settle claims quickly and fully.
After you send a demand letter, one of several things can happen: The insurance company accepts your demand, and the settlement goes forward. You'll receive the compensation you asked for and sign a release of liability in exchange.
within 30 daysIn general, the insurer must complete an investigation within 30 days of receiving your claim. If they cannot complete their investigation within 30 days, they will need to explain in writing why they need more time. The insurance company will need to send you a case update every 45 days after this initial letter.
The reasons a case can progress slowly can be summed up into three general points: Your case is slowed down by legal or factual problems. Your case involves a lot of damages and substantial compensation. You have not reached maximum medical improvement from your injuries (this will be explained below)
The negotiation process typically starts with your lawyer providing a written proposal for settlement to the insurance adjuster or the defendant's lawyer. The adjuster or lawyer will respond to your lawyer either in writing or over the phone.
Insurance companies are businesses. Settling a claim often means paying out more than they want to. Their goal is paying as little as possible and limiting their liability in the event of an accident. For this reason, insurers may refuse to settle because they want to try to lessen how much they pay, if anything.
Your health insurance company often has a right to take part of your auto accident settlement, depending on what you agreed to in your health insurance policy. Often, your health insurance company is entitled to recover everything it paid for your medical care, which is called subrogation.
After being involved in any type of accident, you’ll likely be overwhelmed by the chaos that ensues. The things you say and do immediately following an accident can significantly impact you and your claim later on. By retaining a lawyer, you can confidently move forward with personalized advice on what to do – and what not to do.
Remember: Even your own insurance company is not on your side the way your attorney will be. Insurance companies will always put profits first. When you hire an attorney, they have a duty to defend your rights and represent you to the best of their ability. Insurance companies rarely offer the maximum settlement that an injury victim deserves.
Have you recently been involved in an accident by no fault of your own? Are you suffering from an injury caused by someone else’s negligence? Eliot Reiner, APLC is here for you. Make our firm your first call in the aftermath of an accident.
The problem with insurance companies is that when you are the claimant in a car accident matter, they are not necessarily on your side. It is the nature of the business that their self-interest is rooted in maintaining profits, which means even when they are not acting in bad faith they could be offering you a lower settlement than you deserve. They could be more skeptical towards your side of the story, and they will urge you to jump through their hoops and use their repair shops to save money.
The time immediately after a car accident can be very chaotic — even more so if you suffered an injury of any kind. If you’ve never been in an accident before you will have to make a lot of decisions in a short amount of time, and those decisions can have a massive impact on how much of a settlement you get in the future. Your lawyer will be able to advise you on what you need to do, such as:
“Insurance companies are not afraid to deny a claim using shaky reasoning because an unrepresented claimant has no ability to seek a remedy in court.
Another good strategy for a large claim is hiring a public insurance adjuster. For example, after extensive home damage a public adjuster can work with you to get paperwork done, meet deadlines and advocate for you.
Those include asking innocent sounding questions to gather information that ultimately hurts the person’s case, or closing the claim long before all medical bills, and necessary medical treatment, or lost wages, or pain and suffering, are even known.”.
And that’s when he and his wife decided to lawyer up. Which was easy for November because he is a lawyer. November asked the insurance company to replace the adjuster, which it did. The new adjuster, a fellow Clevelander, understood the extent of the damage to November’s home and helped him get the full claim approved.
Small run-of-the-mill claims usually settle without trouble. But in cases where there’s more at stake—for both you and the insurance company—there may be a higher chance for dispute. This could include: Claims where you and the insurance adjuster don’t agree early on. Expensive or complex claims.
There is another clause in insurance policies called the “ Duty to Indemnify .”. If the court finds you liable for damages, the insurance company will pay the amount that the court has assessed as just.
All the legal expenses have to be approved by the insurance company. If the court’s decision is to reject your defense, the insurance company is not obliged to pay for any claim that is not covered by your policy.
The insurance company has an obligation to defend you if you are sued provided you have liability insurance. They can avoid involvement if there is no coverage involved. They will send a lawyer and pay for his service if you need to go to court. All the legal expenses have to be approved by the insurance company.
If there is a plan to file a counter suit, the insurance company is no longer obligated to pay for lawyer’s fees. This falls under the clause in your insurance policy known as the “Duty to Defend.”. You should look up the specific terms under your liability insurance.
When speaking with your insurance company after an accident, you should be honest about what happened. The more documentation of the accident that you have, like pictures of the damage or scene of the accident, the more straightforward your claims process will be. When speaking to another driver’s insurance company after an accident, ...
When speaking to another driver’s insurance company after an accident, make sure you’re direct and stick to the facts — you don’t want to speculate about what happened or leave anything open to interpretation. You may also want to talk to your insurer first as they may handle the correspondence with the other carrier directly.
When you file a claim, your insurance adjuster will begin looking into the accident to determine who was at fault and what damage will be covered. The other party’s insurance may be doing the same thing, and it’s possible that the other driver’s provider will reach out to you and ask for a recorded statement.
If you are not at fault for the car accident, your rates probably won’ t go up , although they still might. If the other driver is at fault for the accident, you’ll file a third party claim and their insurance will cover the damage.
After you’ve called 911, follow these simple steps to help you stay safe and begin the claims process. Collect information and call your insurance company.
If your car or property is damaged by another driver and they’re at fault, you’ll need to file what’s called a third-party claim. This requires working directly with the other party’s insurance. Before you file a third-party claim with the other driver’s insurance, you’ll want to have any relevant information at the ready, much like you would if you were filing a claim through your own insurance. Make sure you have: 1 The other driver’s full name and insurance policy number. 2 A copy of the police report about the accident. 3 Any photos you took of damage to your vehicle and the scene of the accident. 4 Records of any injuries you or your passengers sustained, including medical bills, doctor contact information, dates and times of appointments, and X-rays.
After you’ve followed all the most important initial steps after an accident, you’ ll start the claims process. If it’s not immediately clear who was at fault in the accident, or if you were the at-fault driver, you should aim to do most of the communicating with your own insurance company.
“If you want to improve your chances of securing the best lawyer to take your case, you need to prepare before you meet them,” advises attorney Stephen Babcock. “Get your story, facts, and proof together well before your first meeting.” This not only ensures that you understand your own needs, but it helps a good lawyer to ascertain whether he or she can actually help you. “We want the best clients too. Proving you’re organized and reliable helps us.”
“ Winning cases can be lost because of a client who lies or exaggerates just as easily as because of a lawyer who tells the client what the client wants to hear instead of what is true.” So when dealing with attorneys, don’t just look for honesty—be honest.
On reading a demand letter, the other person will often say, “this isn’t worth the trouble” and they quickly settle. But here’s a secret from Knight: You don’t need a lawyer to write a demand letter. You can do it yourself. Just make it look as formal as possible, and you may find your dispute goes away—no charge to you.
In fact, a lawyer should try to stay out of court. “In my experience, a good lawyer always finds every opportunity to keep a case from being decided by a judge, and only relents on trying a case before the bench when all alternatives have been exhausted,” attorney, Jason Cruz says.