What role does the insurance company play in a personal injury lawsuit?

When you are involved in an accident that results in injury to you, whether it be from a car accident or a slip and fall on another person’s property, your first step in making a claim for your injuries always starts with an insurance company.

It is not uncommon for an insurance company to contact you rather quickly following an accident in which you were involved. If you don’t hear from the insurance company right away, you should make contact with the person who caused your injuries, and/or the appropriate insurance company in order to let them know that you are making a claim for your injuries.

An insurance company is initially represented by a claims adjuster, or a person who is responsible for processing and handling your claim.

Remember these points:

• A claims adjuster does not represent your interests
• A claims adjuster represents the insurance company
• Keeping costs low is the adjusters real goal
• You are looking for the best settlement possible

You’ll also want to remember that you should not give detailed information to the claims adjuster about the accident or your injuries. If you give the claims adjuster these details, you might adversely affect your ability to get resolution of a claim. For instance, if you tell the claims adjuster a detail that puts you at fault for the accident, the insurance company then may not be willing to settle your claim at all.

With that said, there is no reason not to speak with a claims adjuster, particularly if you have suffered only minor injuries and/or damages. The claims adjuster typically will want copies of any medical bills related to your injuries, as well as estimates to repair any damages, such as damages to your vehicle in the case of a car accident.

At some point, the claims adjuster may offer you a settlement. Once you accept a settlement offer in writing, you must also sign a legal document that releases the person who caused your injuries, as well as his or her insurance company, from all further claims related to your accident. This means that once you have settled your claim, you can’t go back later and claim more medical expenses or damages arising from the accident. Therefore, if you think you will have future medical expenses as a result of the accident, then you should probably wait before settling your claim.  

You should carefully consider any settlement offer. Take into account :

• All injuries you have suffered
• All your medical bills
• Lost wages for lost work time
• Property damage
• Your pain & suffering

Also, keep in mind that if your own health insurance company paid all or part of your medical bills, then it may require you to reimburse them for those costs out of any settlement that you receive.

The bottom line is that you need to think of your claim in terms of the total amount of damages that you have suffered, and come up with some sort of figure that you can live with. Hopefully, your figure will be close enough to the settlement offer that you will be able to resolve your claim without filing a lawsuit.
I take a personal approach, listening carefully to the details of your case so that I can tailor your representation to get the results you seek. 

For a Free Consultation call me at 727-475-6854.

I hope you found this information helpful. About every 2 weeks or so I’ll provide additional

meaningful articles regarding personal injury issues and related legalities.

Until then, Be Careful Out There!

All My Best- Bill Schneikart 

Personal Injury Lawyer