5 INSURANCE COMPANY DECEPTIONS
1. A big insurance company deception is their absurd argument that since you didn’t have surgery right after it was recommended or even discussed by a doctor, that your injury could not possibly be as bad as you are claiming. This is a statement that has zero reflection of reality. First, nobody WANTS to have surgery (especially to body parts often injured in incidents, like your SPINE). There are significant risks to undergoing such serious surgical procedures. Surgery truly is a last resort. Instead its more common to try intensive physical therapy and other types of treatment, and when those don’t work then its time for the surgery. This does not mean that you won’t have surgery in the future when the therapy is not working. In fact, your decision to wait for surgery and go through months of physical therapy first, only shows the serious magnitude of your injuries. So again, when you hear this deception from an insurance company do not be discouraged by it! Call a lawyer who you trust and is not afraid to stand up to the insurance companies. Follow through with your claim. 2. This Insurance Company deception is one for those who have actually caused the accident (not the victim of the incident). Even though these people are the DEFENDANT in an injury lawsuit (and we represent the PLAINTIFF, who was the victim) it is still very important for EVERYONE to be aware of. When people are served with a lawsuit they typically turn it over to their insurance carrier and forget about. They hope the insurance company will settle the case and that will be the end of it. The problem is that we are fools to think the Insurance Companies are looking after OUR interest and not THEIR OWN interest. They love their money and they want to keep it. So when lawyers like myself try to negotiate a FAIR settlement on injury cases, they will more often than not low-ball us and fail to settle the claim. The problem with this is when a plaintiff obtains a verdict that is MORE than the limits on your insurance policy, YOU will have to pay that excess amount, NOT the insurance carrier. We call this BAD FAITH – where the insurance company puts their interests ahead of their insured. And its more the rule than the exception, sadly. So if you are ever sued, you need to keep communication with your carrier ongoing and ask them if they received any settlement demands or made any offers to try to resolve the case for a fair amount. You DO NOT want to be on the hook for an excess verdict amount! 3. This is probably the most common deception insurance companies will say. In a car accident case, they will tell you that because there was a low impact or there is little to no physical damage to the car, that the accident could not have caused your injuries. Well, without even getting into how strong cars are built these days – here is why this is a total deception. With most injuries […]
Continue ReadingWhat EVERYONE needs to know about injury lawsuits and the famous “no fee promise”
I am still so surprised to hear that MOST people do not really know the basics behind a personal injury action, and even more surprising, they ARE NOT PURSUING VALID CASES because of the worst misconception out there – that they cannot afford to pay for a lawyer. This post is a reminder that everybody needs to pay attention to. It is still shocking that a vast majority of people still do not understand that if you are hurt or seriously injured as a result of the actions of another person or a company, like a car accident or construction accident, and you need to hire an attorney to represent you then there will be absolutely no out of pocket costs for your initial consultation and even for the handling of the entire case. This also includes all of the costs and expenses of the law suit which the lawyer will pay out of pocket, not the client. THIS is what is commonly called “the no fee promise”. And not knowing this is not anybody’s fault because most of us grow up with the idea that if you need a lawyer it is going to be an expensive proposition. But I think no matter how many times someone unfamiliar with this legal world hears about “the no fee promise”, even if its genuinely conveyed by an attorney such as myself, it’s hard for most people to understand or grasp, and it’s because they don’t know the reason why. In this post I want to explain to you why this exists so that you understand it and you can explain it to other people who are hesitant to go forward with an injury lawsuit because they do not think they can afford the cost of their lawyer. So, the reason that there is no out of pocket costs in pursuing a personal injury lawsuit is because generally speaking us lawyers and all the lawyers that have come before us have worked on basically all types of cases that can come our way. So we essentially know when we can typically expect to win a case based on the law and we also generally know based on: the injuries, the insurance policy at play, and certain other variables, what the general monetary value of the case is. Now that’s not say each case is not unique, because they are, I am talking very generally about types of cases. Especially here at Segal law firm even if it’s a new type of case we will do all the research necessary to make sure that if we take on a case it is a viable winnable case under the law. And so that is the reason that we can advance the costs of a litigation such as all the filing fees and expert fees which can often be in the 10s of thousands of dollars for a case. And that is why we’re all so comfortable by taking what’s called a contingency fee, which means we will not get paid unless we recover for our client – again, because we know the law and […]
Continue ReadingHow long do injury claims take to settle
Probably the most frequently asked question every injury attorney gets is “how long do injury claims take to resolve?” The answer to this question is always a very lawyerly response “it depends”. As with most complex matters there are certain case-specific variables that come into play when discussing how long an injury claim will take settle or get to a trial verdict. Some of the most important and obvious factors include: 1. what is the insurance policy at play? – how much in coverage do the at-fault parties have? 2. what is the liability scenario? – is it clear whose fault it was? 3. what are the injuries and medical treatment involved? 4. what are the economic damages like lost earnings and medical expenses? So for example, if you have a hit in the rear car accident where liability is clear, you suffered horrific injuries requiring numerous surgeries and the driver only had a small insurance policy – then that’s a case that should able to settle very quickly. But on the other hand if you have a question of lights case where liability is contested, the other driver had a very large policy, and your injuries are causing you pain but they’re not obvious injuries for others to see especially if you’ve avoided surgery – then in that case the insurance companies very likely will contest this case for a long time…. because as everybody knows they love their money and they want to hold on to it for as long as they can. And of course there is one very important external factor which is – what is the specific client’s goal. What is their ideal outcome? THIS IS THE CRITICAL ASPECT THAT A LOT FIRMS DON’T DISCUSS – Instead they make these decision off of THEIR BUSINESS MODEL. If your goal is to avoid a lengthy litigation and get a settlement from the insurance company quickly then most attorneys would likely be able to achieve that. But if your goal is to maximize the value of your case which to me means to recover for your losses as much as possible so that you’re as close as possible to the position you were prior to the incident, then you’re going to want a lawyer who will fight for every aspect of damages and is not afraid to go to trial, which is actually more rare than you might think. So as you see the time to resolve a case, depends on many factors.
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