Tag: Settlement

12 Things to Consider When Seuing Your Own Insurance Company

1. Even if their slogan says they are on your side, they truly are not when you are asking for a settlement.

2. Insurance companies are financially able to hire the best of the best legal counsel, but this should not intimidate the honest people who are truly deserving of a fair settlement offer.

3. Suing on your own is probably not the best idea if you want to be taken seriously.

4. Going up against a large corporation may take a lot of time to get a settlement. The longer they keep their funds, the better off they are with their financial investments.

5. Your insurance premiums may go up even though they are not supposed to.

6. You might need to look for different insurance coverage due to them having the right to drop you as a customer.

7. They may have you go to an independent medical representative to consider if your injuries are real or not.

8. If you do not have an official police report saying the fault was an uninsured motorist they may attempt to find you at fault.

9. Be assured they will attempt to limit your medical coverage at all cost. However, you do have the right to see whichever doctor you prefer even if this includes a chiropractor.

10. It is always a good idea to make sure you see an MD as part of your initial treatment as they are viewed as more reputable by the insurance companies.

11. They may even refuse to pay certain bills without you knowing, which results in damaging your credit due to being turned over to a bill collector.

12. Insurance companies are professionals when it comes to dealing with being sued and they do not easily admit fault. They will use whatever bad fair tactic to get what they want including low balling, intimidation not to pay bills, false threats, delay of communication, etc.

What to Do When Accepting a Car Settlement

This is NOT your first concern right after the wreck – your health and pain is – and the insurance knows this very well. They use this state of you being in shock to their advantage. So, they want to throw you off your game and sidetrack you with a much smaller issue like the condition of your car. They will present it as an urgent time-limited matter (which is not the truth) in hopes that you are not thinking straightly to make a reasonable judgment.

When you come to think about it, however, settling for the vehicle is a big deal, because living in most places in the United States, you will NOT be able to get around for treatment or work without a vehicle, and most importantly you will not be able to able to continue your fight with the insurance. This is especially true for some new insurance policies where FULL-COVERAGE does not include a rental. Continue reading What to Do When Accepting a Car Settlement

Will I Get a Larger Settlement If I Go To Court?

The answer to this is of course unknown.  There are so many variables and unknowns to consider. If you have a trial by your peers, the case is worth whatever they say it is worth and if you have a crummy lawyer whom does not present properly your case you could go backwards in your settlement amount. Yet, you do get the satisfaction of your day in court.

Regardless, for us, personally being faced with no other option, we did receive more by going to court.  But what your lawyer is not going to specifically point out is that when you go to court whatever medical bills the insurance company has paid this amount will come out of your final settlement and this is not before he/she gets there percentage.

So basically it will look like:

Court awards $30,000

Minus – Lawyer fee of $10,000
Minus – Medical covered by insurance of $5,000
Minus – Court fees and expenses of $5,000

AND YOUR TOTAL = $10,000

So consider if you are willing to take a chance with the court system.  Do you have a winnable case?  Do you have a good lawyer?  Is the insurance company leaving you with no choice?

3 Reasons not to Take Medication after an Auto Accident?

FORWARD: You should always follow your doctor’s orders and the following advice is just that, advice, and not to be considered over any doctor recommendation.

If you go to the ER after a car wreck, they will probably give you some type of minor anti-inflammatory/pain reliever such as an IB Profen or Aleve. They will also send you home with some if you say you do not have any at home (of course they will charge you about $10 per pill). The reason why it is so important to take this initial medication is to relax your muscles so that your body can properly heal. (This is direct advice from ER physician). Since your body is in stress mode after the shock of an auto accident, then your muscles are tense and this tension interferes with the proper recovery of soft-tissue damage.

If your pain persists and you seek further treatment then the attending doctor will more than likely prescribe a stronger pain medication. However the following are some very important facts to be aware of concerning taking or not taking these:

1.Be advised that simply because your doctor says they are giving you a “PAIN” medication, they may   perhaps be giving you an “ANTIDEPRESSENT”. Today, it is common practice to use anti-depressants as a pain medication; however this is dangerous because of the associated side effects.

2.If you do not follow your doctor’s orders and refuse to take stronger medications, then your doctor will put in his/her report that “patient refused to follow doctor’s recommendation.” They could even label you as hostile or defiant and this could be used against you when seeking a settlement offer.

3. If you chose not to take pain medications with a reasonable explanation and have sought alternatives treatments provided by your doctor, the insurance company may make the argument that you were not really in pain if you were not taking pain medication.

What You Need to Know About “New Money”

One thing that was quite confusing to me personally was why everybody (lawyer and insurance company) kept on saying this word “New Money”. And even when our lawyer explained what this concept, it took a little while to figure out what it really meant.

Basically ‘New Money” means that the offered amount is what you will get. If a settlement offer is made of $20,000 you will get $20,000 from the opposing side. However, you still have to deduct from this amount your lawyer fees and expenses. So, the insurance company is saying I will not ask for the cost of medical bills or any other expenses they have already paid. Basically, if they have paid $5,000 of medical you will not get only $15,000 ($20,000-$5,000) like you would if you went to trial and received a court decision.

SO BE AWARE: IF YOU GO TO COURT YOU DO NOT GET “NEW MONEY.”

But honestly I think this terminology is just another tactic to confuse the honest, innocent, common people.

Tactics Your Lawyer May Use To Get You to Settle

Remember that lawyers much prefer out of court settlements because this goes as a win on their record as opposed to rolling the dice and possibly having a loss in court.

 They may scare you will possible future fees of court, depositions, mediation, travel expenses etc, etc so that you will take the settlement. This is true especially if your lawyer knows your financial situation.

 If your lawyer is aware of financial struggles, they may attempt to use a settlement offer as an incentive for you to be able to pay your expensive and incurred medical bills so that you are not turned over to collectors and therefore having much greater expenses.

 Your lawyer may try to tell you that your case is not worth more than the settlement amount and you should quickly take the first offer. Remember, the quicker you take the offer, the quicker the lawyer gets paid and can move to their next victim.

 Time is money for a lawyer and they will most definitely attempt to convince you that if you do not take an out-of-court settlement then your case could possible draw out for years.

 After further review of your case and closer examination of your doctors’ reports it is their opinion that the opposing counseling has a better argument for a jury, so you should take the settlement offer.

 If your lawyer tells you they will go pro bono just to get you to settle, this is a big red flag that something is not right. Lawyers just don’t give up the opportunity to get paid.

 And if your lawyer says they are going to quite on you if you don’t settle this is an even bigger red flag and grounds for disbarment.

 Again your lawyer may use another type of scare tactic that there is a Statue of Limitations coming up and we will need to settle. Of course this is not true, but if you are not aware of the law, then you are overly trusting of your lawyer.

 They pay play the trust card in which they say I’m doing what’s in your best interest and just trust me because I have done this for “x” amount of years. So I’m telling you to settle.

 Or they may use their excessive knowledge and experience to point out that you don’t know what you are talking about and should take their advice. In a polite way, they are calling you an idiot.

If you feel that your lawyer is working against you and constantly trying to get you to settle, there is probably a reason. Perhaps they are incompetent and need to be fired, or they may be in a type of dual relationship with the apposing counseling. But regardless of the excuse, don’t be blinding by these overly used tactics. Only settle if you feel that it is in your best interest.