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Three Reasons You Need a Lawyer When Injured. Insurance companies who dely, deny and don’t want to pay your claim

March 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

lies-and-truth-imagesWhen you are hurt in a car wreck, you will be facing an experienced and well-armed adversary in  the form of an adjuster who is backed by a large company.

An insurance adjuster whose sole goal is to find ways to deny your claim, delay your claim, and don’t pay your claim.

How does an insurance adjuster  make the most of the Three “D”s of  DENY, DELAY AND DON’T PAY?

Well, the easiest way is for an insurance adjuster to attack you under the guise of wanting to help you and be reasonable.

It may sound good, but beware.  It’s not true.   Do you really think the adjuster paid by the insurance company of the driver who just hit you, hurt you, and wreaked havoc on you, now wants to help you?

First, the adjuster owes a duty to help their insured, not to help  you.

Second, the adjuster wants to keep his job and paying too much to  you would  hurt him or her and worse yet for you,  paying too little scores points for him with his boss and saves money for the company and its shareholders.

Third, open claim files cost the insurance money so they want to settle it fast.  They know with time, things can change and they can lose control.  Heck, you might even gain a better understanding of your injury as time passes and you receive the medical treatment you need.

Fourth, the “mushroom” method works just fine for the insurance industy.  The longer you are kept in the dark and fed manure, then the less likely you will seek the help of a lawyer to represent you, know your legal rights, and get your medical bills paid.

The insurance company knows from their own studies over the years that knowledge is power, and their employees are well-trained in insurance law, medical issues, and the not so fine art of negotiation.  You are one person against a large company; a very, very, very large company with resources that you cannot even imagine at their disposal.

Did you know that the insurance companies share claims and medical information regarding those claims with each other through a commercially available service.   The fact that you were hurt before, may or may not be a factor in the value of your claim.  But if you are alone when you learn this, it can be quite a shock, and is intended to scare you.

You can balance the scales in YOUR FAVOR.

How?  By simply hiring an experienced personal injury attorney.  An attorney who knows the law, the courts, the medicine, and you.   A good injury lawyer can be  your “slingshot” against Goliath insurance company.

Now, for a tidbit of information that is crucial in deciding to hire a lawyer or try and save some money by going it alone.

Insurance companies do not want you to hire a lawyer.  Some adjusters even tell  you that you do not need a lawyer, telling you that paying a lawyer costs  you money so  you get less.

This is simply not true.

Worse yet, the insurance company knows it is not true.  Their own studies tell them it is not true.  Their own manuals years ago were written to keep you away from a lawyer.

There have been several studies as far back as 1999 which document the fact that insurance companies pay higher settlements to injured people who use an attorney than those who do not use  an attorney.

The insurance industry performed this study to find out if people who had accident claims received more money in settlement by using an attorney than those people who settled on their own.  According to this study conducted by the Insurance Research Council, a non-profit organization that is supported by leading property and casualty insurance companies across the United States, it was found that people who used an attorney received on average 3.5 times more money in settlement than those individuals who settled on their own.

If an insurance adjuster tells n accident victim they don’t need to hire a lawyer because they will receive less money in settlement, that would not be correct.  That would be a lie.  That would be a warning sign that the person on the other side is trying to take advantage of you and is not to be trusted

So.  Remember this truth.  Kentucky injury lawyers…… When you hurt.  We help!

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Hurt in a Car Wreck? Then you need to know the “Rest of the Story” and Know the Difference between PIP and Pain & Suffering

February 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

auto.insurance.policy.imagesHave you been hurt in a car wreck?  Then you need to know the “rest of the story”.

We all remember the Paul Harvey line of  “Now for the rest of the story”.    It was more than just a reporter’s by-line,  it was a reminder that a half-truth is not a truth at all.   A half-truth is a total lie because it  misleads, confuses, and worse – it can hurt people.

That is why I am posting today on Personal Injury Protection benefits or PIP and the rest of the story.

I frequently see promotions and advertisements where someone somewhere tells the public that they can get you Ten Thousand Dollars from your car accident.

Well,  that is a half truth.  Let me tell you the rest of the story.

Yes, when you have been hurt in a car accident in Kentucky, you are entitled by law to up to $10,000 in personal injury protection benefits.   This is sometimes called no-fault benefits or PIP benefits.

You are entitled to your personal injury protection benefits, regardless of who caused the accident or whether you are even at fault.   It is also a fact that PIP benefits are there to pay you quickly and to cover you for any lost wages or medical bills you have because of the car accident  and that you can claim PIP benefits while you are hurt and still  treating.

However, here is where you have to be careful because the half-truth can cause harm to others if you now mistakenly believe that someone has valued your entire  your case for $10,000, and that you can expect to recover $10,000 as the  amount for  your pain and suffering.

The $10,000 available to  you for PIP benefits are not payments for your pain and suffering or any permanent injury caused by the car collision.  You can only get paid for your pain and suffering from the other insurance company whose driver was at fault for causing the collision.  If anyone tells you differently or that you can get $10,000 for your injuries to include past and future pain and suffering,  medicals, and impairment to work, then you have not been told the whole story because:

  • PIP is NOT pain and suffering.
  • PIP does not pay anything unless  you have an actual wage loss or medical claim caused by a car accident.
  • PIP does not cover you for wages or medical bills unless AND until you miss the work or have the medical treatment.

Now, what is pain and suffering and how do you get paid by the insurance company for those damages?

You can get awarded pain and suffering – If you have a permanent injury or at least $1,000 in medical bills for injuries from the car accident, then you can make a claim for pain and suffering against the at fault driver’s insurance company.

However the at-fault driver’s insurance company does not represent you and is not there to help you.

The at-fault driver’s  liability insurance company will not roll over and pay you $10,000 as some might have  you believe because that is not how an insurance company makes money for its shareholders or how they protect their own insured drivers.

Worse yet for you, the liability insurer knows the lay of the land and is not required to pay you full value for your claim.   If the other insurance company can get away with it,  then they will try and settle your claim on the cheap.  Sometimes they even pay less than their own evaluation!

So, if you have been hurt in a car collision and wish to be paid for your pain and suffering from the other insurance company, then you will want to get all the money you deserve for  your pain and suffering.

That’s where a lawyer can help you.

That’s what injury lawyers do.   When you hurt, we help!

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