Far too often insurance companies destroy injury victim's rights to recovery. While insurance companies pose as friends, their interests are rarely, if ever, aligned with the injury victims'. Whether it's your insurance company or the insurance company of the one who has caused you to be injured, insurance companies are looking to limit their exposure at your expense. To ensure this does not happen to you, be sure to steer clear of the following traps.
1. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!
It may seem totally harmless, but you should never, ever, sign anything without consulting an attorney. Recently, we had a client who was injured in a slip and fall accident at the housing authority at which she was a tenant. At the same time, she was also behind in her rent. She was sued for the overdue rent and appeared in Court, by herself. She knew she owed the money and was prepared to enter into a payment plan to make the overdue payments. What she didn't know, and what was not explained to her, was that part of her payment plan agreement was a release in which she promised not to sue the Housing Authority for anything - ANYTHING - even issues completely unrelated to her overdue rent.
When she did sue the housing authority, the first thing that their attorney did was try to dismiss the case based on the Release that she had signed as part of the resolution to her overdue rent issue. Fortunately, the attorneys at Stone & Associates, P.C. were able to have the Court declare that the Release she signed did not apply to her injury, and her case was allowed to go on.
It is also common for the insurance company to appear at your doorstep within days of the incident. The insurance adjuster is not bound by any ethical rules and is free to lie to you. Just today I heard the story of an injury victim who was told by the insurance adjuster for the at-fault vehicle that there was a $5,000 cap to her injuries, meaning the most she could recover was $5,000. This was simply untrue, but the victim signed the Release and was precluded from receiving fair compensation for her very serious injuries.
Don't be a victim twice. Don't sign anything without allowing an attorney to review it. It should not cost you anything to have an attorney do so, and it could save you from jeopardizing your right to recover for your injuries.
2. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE RECORDED!
Within minutes of reporting the accident to the insurance company, whether it is your insurance or the at-fault party's, the insurance company will look to record your version of the incident. This is never a good idea.
At Stone & Associates, P.C., we do not trust the insurance companies we deal with. We never expect a reasonable settlement offer, and we expect every case to be fought tooth and nail by the insurance company to try to limit the amount you get in your pocket. When we receive a fair offer, we are happy, but we approach every case expecting to fight for our clients. In order to effectively do that, we limit the amount of statements that our clients give. For instance, when a lawsuit is filed, the other side can insist that you answer questions, under oath, in a deposition. The attorney will ask you questions and, in the presence of an attorney, you will answer them. There is little that can damage your case more than inconsistencies between what you say at your deposition and what you said in a prior statement. These inconsistencies, no matter how irrelevant they seem, and how unimportant they are in the overall picture, can make you look like a liar and hurt your chances to recover for your injuries.
Insurance companies will often tell you that you are required to give a statement, that it is part of the claims process, and that your case will suffer if you fail to do so. This is false. Insurance adjusters and the investigators they hire are trained to read off a script and put words into your mouth. They ask leading questions, which are questions that suggest the answer they are looking for. For instance, "you didn't feel pain at the accident scene, correct?" is a leading question. You are inclined to answer yes, in order to appear agreeable, even though it may not be true.
Having an attorney with you when you provide a statement will help. More importantly, only providing a statement when it is absolutely required, like in a deposition, is the best way to be sure your words and honest mistakes are not taken out of context and used against you in the future.
3. BE CAREFUL, THEY COULD BE WATCHING YOU
Surveillance is one of the easiest ways for insurance companies to make you look like a liar. The adjuster will hire an investigator to park outside of your house or work and take video of you. They will sit and sit until they find something that would be inconsistent with your claimed injury. For instance, if you are claiming you hurt your back, they may try to videotape you carrying groceries. While there is nothing in the video that shows what is in the bag you are carrying, and it may only weigh 5 pounds, once the video is shot, it will be incumbent upon you to disprove the pictures. It is a lot harder to explain why the video is not telling the truth.
I recently saw a video of a client helping, along with 4 other people, push a truck that was stuck in the snow. This certainly hurt her credibility. While she was able to explain that she was not really pushing too hard, and that she felt like she needed to help this person because he was stuck, it certainly made the insurance company feel like it would win at trial.
My advice is to pull down the shades in your home. Ask for help doing the little things that cause you pain, even if you are imposing on someone else. Even more importantly, don’t exaggerate your injuries. If you claim to have difficulty walking long distances, don’t go for a walk along the lake on a nice summer day. Be consistent, and there should not be a problem.
4. DOCUMENT YOUR DAMAGES!
Insurance Companies like to make you believe that you are helping prove your case by telling them of your injuries, be them economic or physical. That is false.
Complaining to the insurance company that you are in pain, that you are missing time from work, that you have been unable to complete a big project for which you had to hire someone to perform for you, or anything else, does not help your case. You need proof. While insurance adjusters may appear sympathetic, they rely on medical records, payroll records, and receipts in order to make the decision to compensate you for your damages. Without proof of damages, you will not get compensated.
It may be difficult to motivate to maintain records of your losses. You need to. From the first day, make a folder, on the computer or an actual folder, and put everything in it. Even if you think its not important, let an attorney tell you what is compensable and what is not. It will save you difficulties in the future.
Equally important is to document your physical and emotional injuries. You need to have medical records document what it is that you are experiencing. The human mind is a wonderful thing in that it allows you to forget the bad times and remember the good ones. You will forget that you couldn’t dance at someone’s wedding because of your ankle pain, that you had to pull your car over every hour during a long drive to rest your neck or stretch your back, or even that fastening your bra took the assistance of a family member because your shoulder pain prevented you from reaching that far back.
You can keep a journal, but you should also make sure to tell your doctor or therapist about your limitations. These limitations are for what you receive compensation. Make sure all of your difficulties are well documented.
5. DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT MAKING A CLAIM
On so many occasions I hear new clients say to me that they are not the kind of person to make a claim. The media has made people feel bad seeking compensation for injuries caused by the negligence of someone else. I tell all clients that, in the ideal world, we would be able to go into our time machines and make it so the incident never happened. But, since we can’t, we have in place a system in which people receive compensation through money damages. It would be barbaric to seek an eye for an eye, so all that can be done is to seek compensation for the injuries in the form of money.
I think it is clear that we have insurance to protect us against mistakes we make that cause others to be injured. If injuries didn’t happen, insurance companies would be out of business. Making claims does not increase the insurance rates. Please, look to see which insurance companies lost money and had no profits in the past 10 years. I would be surprised if there were more than 5. Insurance companies know that they exist to provide compensation for injury victims. They also seek to make a profit and make the claimants feel bad for using their services.
If your claim is real, if you were really hurt because someone else was acting unreasonably, then you are entitled, under the law, to be compensated. It is not bad, and does not make you a bad person. You are not to be blamed for being a victim of someone else’s carelessness. The blame should be placed on the person who injured you, not you for seeking to be put in the same position you were in five minutes before the incident happened.
6. CONCLUSION
Insurance companies spend millions of dollars per year trying to convince the public that they are the victims of unnecessary lawsuits. What insurance companies do not disclose is how much money they have in profits each year that they collect premiums from their customers. Insurance companies do not disclose how they convince people not to bring claims or how they manipulate victims into signing releases for far less than the value of their claims. These companies do not explain the law, do not explain your rights, and only seek to maximize their profits.
Be aware of your rights. Do not get trapped.
CALL JASON STONE INJURY LAWYERS AT 617-523-4357 NOW TO HAVE PROFESSIONALS PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS! YOU GET THE NO FEE GUARANTEE, SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND EVERYTHING TO GAIN!
