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Personal Injury Attorneys at
the Tampa office of Brooks Law Group, know that it can be tough
to set a dollar amount on injuries you suffer in an accident.
There are so many things to consider: doctor's bills, time lost
from work, medical costs for ongoing injuries, pain and suffering,
and so on. Insurance companies take all of them into account
when deciding how much to offer and ultimately pay out for a
personal injury claim. The information listed on this website
is intended to help give you a basic understanding of personal
injury claim facts and procedures that you might need to know,
as well as how insurance companies determine the value of a claim.
To receive a free
consultation to evaluate your potential personal injury case
and discuss its merits and value, please feel free to contact
The Brooks Law Group at 863-299-1962.
How Much Is Your
Personal Injury Claim Worth?
Insurance Companies' Formula
For Determining Value Of Personal Injury Claims
Figuring out how much your accident
injuries are worth is a critical aspect of any accident claim.
And it is the part of a claim about which it is most difficult
to generalize; the amount depends on your very particular circumstances.
What an Insurance Company Must
Compensate
To determine what your claim
is worth, you must first know the things for which you are entitled
to compensation. Usually, when a person is deemed liable for
an accident, his or her liability insurance company must pay
an injured person for:
- medical care and related expenses
- income lost because of the accident,
because of time spent unable to work or undergoing treatment
for injuries
- permanent physical disability
or disfigurement
- loss of family, social, and
educational experiences, including missed school or training,
vacation or recreation, or a special event
- emotional damages, such as stress,
embarrassment, depression, or strains on family relationships;
for example, the inability to take care of children, anxiety
over the effects of an accident on an unborn child, or interference
with sexual relations, and
- damaged property.
The Insurance Company's Damages
Formula
When determining compensation,
it is usually simple to add up the money spent and money lost,
but there is no precise way to put a dollar figure on pain and
suffering or on missed experiences and lost opportunities. That's
where an insurance company's damages formula comes in.
At the beginning of claim negotiations,
an insurance adjuster adds up the total medical expenses related
to the injury. These expenses are referred to as "medical
special damages" or simply "specials." That's
the base figure the adjuster uses to figure out how much to pay
the injured person for pain, suffering, and other non monetary
losses, which are called "general" damages.
When the injuries are relatively
minor, the adjuster multiplies the amount of special damages
by 1.5 or 2. When the injuries are particularly painful, serious,
or long-lasting, the adjuster multiplies the amount of special
damages by up to 5. (The multiplier may be as great as 10 in
extreme cases.)
The adjuster then adds on any
income lost as a result of the injuries.
That's all there is to the formula.
However, this figure, medical specials multiplied by a number
between 1.5 and 5, then added to lost income, is not a final
compensation amount but only the number from which negotiations
begin.
Percentage of Fault
The extent each person is at
fault is the most important factor affecting how much the insurance
company is likely to pay. The "damages" formula gives
you a range of how much your injuries might be worth, but only
after you figure in the question of fault do you know the actual
compensation value of your claim, that is, how much an insurance
company will pay you.
Determining fault for an accident
is not an exact science. But, in most claims, both you and the
insurance adjuster will at least have a good idea whether the
insured person was entirely at fault, or if you were a little
at fault, or if you were a lot at fault. Whatever that rough
percentage of your comparative fault might be, 10%, 50%, 75%,
is the amount by which the damages formula total will be reduced
to arrive at a final figure. For a more extensive discussion
of determining the value of your claim, call the Personal
Injury Attorneys at the Tampa office of Brooks Law Group.
Any initial consultation with the Brooks Law Group is free. For
more information, contact them at 863-299-1962, or by e-mail
Rights and obligations: yours
and theirs
If we were to go into details
and subtleties here you would probably lose all interest in proceeding
further, so let's try to keep this simple. To begin with, you
have the obligation to prove who is responsible for your personal
injury. Because this is a "comparative negligence"
state, you also have to prove that you were not guilty of any
negligence that may have contributed to you having sustained
a personal injury. Then you have the obligation to "mitigate"
(minimize) your damages and you have to prove your damages. Are
you beginning to see a pattern here?
Just within the scope of what
is discussed here, there are a few questions that could arise:
- What constitutes "comparative
negligence"?
- How is negligence apportioned?
- What is "reasonable mitigation"?
- What constitutes proof of my
damages?
These details and subtleties
will not be discussed here, because we are trying to keep this
simple. Suffice it to say, if any of these questions become a
part of your claim, get professional help!
If liability is clear (other
party struck you from the rear while you were legally stopped
in traffic and there is a police report to verify these circumstances
and the other driver was cited and you received no citation and
you were wearing your seat belt at the time of the accident)
. . . if your injuries were obvious at the accident scene and
the police accident report notes that you were injured . . .
if the insurance company for the other party quickly commits
to paying for your damaged vehicle and puts you into a rental
vehicle at no cost to you and acknowledges they may have to pay
you for any reduction in resale value of your vehicle after it
has been repaired . . . if the adjuster advises you of the insurance
policy coverage limits up-front . . . if those limits are sufficient
to cover your expected damages (vehicle damage + diminished resale
+ rental car costs + medical expenses + lost wages + projected
future medical expenses + "pain & sufferance" compensation
with no expected residual disability) . . . and you are comfortable
dealing with the insurance adjuster yourself, then you may feel
that you do not need professional help. After all, some
Personal Injury Claims actually are simple and some insurance
companies will actually step-up, treat you with respect and pay
what they owe. However, if your situation does not meet all of
the criteria specified above, we suggest you consider getting
professional help.
Now that we have discussed your
obligations, let us review the obligations of the insurance company.
This part is simple. Once you have proven their insured is 100%
liable for you damages and you have proven your damages, then
the other party's insurance company has an obligation to protect
the interests of their insured by paying for your damages.
Did you notice that? THE OTHER PARTY'S INSURANCE
COMPANY HAS NO OBLIGATION TO YOU!
Their obligation is to their own insured.
Go back
to the top.
Understanding adjusting techniques
In the opening text we touched
on a form of "perverted logic" that occasionally seems
to be an underlying factor when consumers are involved in dealings
with the other party's insurance company. That perverted logic
manifests itself when the other party's insurance company is
rude and indifferent to you . . . almost as though they are trying
to drive you to an attorney. Well guess what . . . they are!
Let us take a stab at trying to explain why. First of all, if
you take this abuse you will wind up settling cheap and the insurance
company saves money. If you go to an unqualified attorney, there
is a better than average chance they will be able to force a
cheap settlement on you through that attorney. Again, the insurance
company saves money. If you get a qualified attorney they will
have to pay full value to settle your claim. Even then, there
is benefit for the insurance company and the insurance industry
in general. Every couple of years the insurance industry tries
to push some type of Insurance Reform Bill through the Legislature.
When they do, they point out how many consumers hire attorneys
to help them resolve their claims and it is these "greedy"
attorneys that are driving up the cost of auto insurance. The
insurance industry points their collective finger at personal
injury attorneys as being the reason why insurance companies
keep raising their auto insurance premium rates. Have you ever
the old adage that says when you are pointing your finger (your
index finger) at somebody else . . . you have at least three
(3) more fingers pointing right back at you! Well, the same rule
holds true when insurance companies try to blame rising auto
insurance premiums on personal injury attorneys.
When insurance industry lobbyists
fund campaigns, vacations and employment opportunities, they
can usually find legislators to listen. Then, when the insurance
industry tells their story, Bills start getting submitted to
the Legislature. That's when consumers, like you and I, have
a problem! When the insurance industry is pushing for Insurance
Reform Legislation, you can bet they're not doing it to benefit
consumers.
Now, do you see the logic in
having insurance companies "drive" consumers to seek
the help of an attorney? We could go on and on discussing the
uncontrolled and unwarranted increases in auto insurance premiums
and the ways in which the auto insurance industry manipulates
the truth in an effort to deprive consumers of their rights,
but then, that is a separate matter.
The recorded statement: Most insurance companies have
now gone to the practice of having their adjusters tape record
their phone conversations with you. By rights, the adjuster should
let you know when your conversation is being recorded. There
are multiple reasons for recording these conversations:
- The Adjuster needs to make a
record of the facts related to how the loss occurred. This will
become a permanent part of their claim file. You will be asked
to provide self-identifying information, such as your full name,
date-of-birth, place of birth, Driver's License # and Social
Security #. With this information, the insurance company will
probably order a C.L.U.E. (Claims Loss Underwriting Experience)
Report and/or an Index Report. The C.L.U.E. Report will tell
the insurance company of any claims you may have submitted to
your own insurance company(s) in the past. The Index Report will
reveal any prior claims you may have submitted for a Personal
Injury Claim. The insurance company wants to know about your
prior insurance claims experiences which could impugn your honesty.
- By asking key questions about
the circumstances of the loss, you may admit to something that
would allow the insurance company to either deny your claim or
substantially reduce the benefits you receive.
- The insurance company will want
you to be as detailed as possible in the recorded statement.
Months later, when your memory may have faded, you may be called
upon to once again answer the same set of questions. If you do
not answer these questions exactly as you did in the recorded
statement, the insurance company may try to make you look dishonest.
It is simply not practical to
assume you will be able to avoid providing a statement to the
insurance company. If you are dealing with your own insurance
company, your cooperation is required by the policy. If you are
dealing with the other party's insurance company, the Rules of
Civil Procedure give them the right to interview and Examine
you.
Since you are probably not going
to be able to avoid giving a statement, the next best thing is
to be prepared for the statement. If you are dealing with the
other party's insurance company, as with a Personal Injury Claim,
we strongly suggest to provide your statement in the company
of (and with the guidance of) your own attorney. If you are providing
your statement without counsel, we suggest you review the following
guidelines:
- Answer the questions asked as
briefly as possible without going into extemporaneous detail.
- Unless you are 100% sure of
the exactness of your answer, qualify you answer(s) with terms
like "about", "approximately", or "as
best as I can recall", etc. Or, if you do not know the answer
to a questions . . . simply say so!
- Avoid being specific as it relates
to speed, time and distance. It is a simple matter of mathematics
to take two of these factors and calculate the third. If you
are specific in any of these two factors and you are wrong, then
a wrong conclusion could be reached which could work against
you. Believe us when we say, insurance companies have "helped"
other people shoot themselves in their own foot before. You would
not be the first. Even honest people can become entrapped into
a compromising position. If your insurance claim involves a "significant
loss" - seek professional
counsel before giving a statement!
The Wage and Medical Authorization: If you have a Personal Injury
Claim pending with either the other party's insurance company
or your own insurance company (Un-Insured Motorist, Under-Insured
Motorist or Med-Pay Coverage), you will probably be asked to
sign a "Wage and Medical Authorization" form. As nobody
is supposed to be able to access your medical and/or employment
records without your permission, it seems reasonable to sign
this form. WARNING: By signing this form, you are usually
allowing the insurance company to go on a "fishing expedition"
in search of any reason to not pay all or any part of your claim.
If your claim is with your own insurance company you have an
"obligation to cooperate", as specified in your Insurance
Policy Contract. However, cooperation can be achieved without
giving carte blanche to your insurance company. It is usually
better to provide an authorization with limitations as to scope
of access. A good personal
injury attorney will know how to limit this authorization,
so as to protect your rights and limit what records your insurance
company can access. If your claim is against the other party's
insurance company, you have no obligation to provide a wage and
medical authorization to them. You will have to provide them
with legitimate information upon which they can base their evaluation
of your Personal Injury Claim. However, by having that information
come through you and/or your personal
injury attorney, you are able to address any potential problems
before they can be distorted and used against you. It is always
best to be able to work with the insurance company. It is never
prudent to surrender control of your claim to the insurance company.
As is often the case, we recommend that you seek professional
counsel before giving an authorization!
This portion of "Understanding
Adjusting Techniques" primarily addresses Personal Injury
Claims. After all, that is the topic of this page. Other adjusting
techniques involving Auto Damage, Rental Reimbursement and Medical
Claims are also discussed within this page. Only good things
can come from being an informed consumer!
Go back
to the top.
Resolving your auto damage claim
Information that we feel is important
enough to be posted here has to do with the Post-Repair Reduction
in Resale Value of your damaged vehicle (Diminished Resale).
It is usually in your best interests if you have your own Auto
Insurance Collision Coverage cover the repairs and/or total loss
settlement of your damaged vehicle. We say this for two (2) primary
reasons:
- In the event your vehicle is
a Total Loss, your own policy provides you the right to challenge
the settlement proposed by your insurance company in a timely
and cost effective manner. This procedure is outlined in the
Appraisal Clause of your own policy. In most states, your auto
insurance premiums can not be increased for claims which do not
involve your own negligence, so you don't have to worry about
preserving your future auto insurance premium rates.
- If your vehicle damage is economically
reparable, the other insurance company may well pay you for that
expense with a draft (or check) which includes "release"
verbiage which could compromise your right to pursue a Post-Repair
Diminished Resale Claim. Also, if the other insurance company
has low limits of coverage available for your Auto Damage Claim,
payment for the repair of your damaged vehicle may exhaust those
coverage limits leaving nothing left to cover your Post-Repair
Diminished Resale Claim.
Regardless of your will to be
paying to repair your auto damage, you may have to deal with
some unscrupulous adjusting techniques. Insurance companies in
general seem to like saving money by requiring the repair shop
to use either used parts or after-market parts (non-factory imitation
[non-OEM] parts). While the insurance company does have the right
to use LKQ Parts (Like Kind & Quality), there are reasonable
limitations to that right.
Go back
to the top.
Resolving your rental car claim
If your vehicle is rendered inoperable
because of the accident, your first concern (after the health
and well- being of you and your passengers) will probably be
finding substitute transportation. Unfortunately, most insurance
companies are not going to step up immediately and put you into
a rental vehicle. You may have to use your own credit card to
secure a rental vehicle until such time as the other party's
insurance company decides to accept responsibility for this expense.
Hopefully you will have Rental
Reimbursement Coverage on your own auto insurance policy which
will be available to you as a backup to what the other party's
insurance company is going to try to pay you. The adjusting technique
we will be discussing here is probably about the most often employed
by most insurance companies. The other party's insurance company
is going to try to limit what they reimburse you in daily rental
charges and will refuse to reimburse you any CDW (Collision Damage
Waiver) expense you may have incurred. It would not be unusual
for the other party's insurance adjuster to tell you "We
only pay $15.00 per day (or some other arbitrary amount) for
daily rental charges and we do not pay CDW at all". That
is so wrong and yet is so common.
The insurance industry as a whole
probably saves billions of dollars annually with this one abusive
adjusting technique. By case law precedence, you are entitled
to be reimbursed for reasonable costs incurred in renting a temporary
substitute vehicle that is comparable to your damaged vehicle.
If your damaged vehicle is a Buick Park Avenue, you should not
be reimbursed based upon the cost to rent a Geo Metro. Yet, there
will be insurance companies that will attempt to resolve your
rental reimbursement claim based upon their own ridiculous standards.
The other party's insurance company will also attempt to deny
reimbursement for CDW charges, saying that your own Collision
Coverage should transfer to the rental vehicle. Often times this
is true, which makes denial of coverage a non-issue. However,
when your Collision Coverage does not transfer, or when you do
not have Collision Coverage on your own vehicle, this denial
of coverage needs to be challenged. You should not have to assume
a financial risk greater than that of driving your own vehicle.
If you accept less than full reimbursement for all costs incurred
in renting a temporary substitute vehicle, you can submit your
un-reimbursed expenses to your own insurance company for additional
reimbursement under your own Rental Reimbursement coverage. However,
if the other party's insurance company is not going to reimburse
you fully for your rental expenses, you should consider this
as a sample of how you are going to be treated on the rest of
your claim and seek
professional help from a good attorney. You should consider
your treatment on your Rental Vehicle Claim as an early warning
of how you are going to be treated later on.
Go back
to the top.
Resolving your lost income claim
Once you have cleared the hurdles
of proving liability and proving your injuries, you must then
prove those injuries kept you from earning your living and for
how long. A statement from a knowledgeable attending physician
is usually sufficient to document your inability to work and
for what period of time. If you can provide such documentation
to the other party's insurance adjuster, you would then be entitled
to reimbursement of your lost wages. You would then have to prove
how much income you have lost. A statement from your employer
should do the job. However, if you are self-employed, you may
be required to submit documentation much the same as you would
if you were applying for a loan. You are owed reimbursement of
your net income (after taxes). Under IRS code, the monies you
receive from the insurance company are classified as an indemnification
and are not subject to income tax.
Go back
to the top.
Selecting your health care provider
The selection of a health care
provider may well be even more important than your selection
of an attorney. A personal injury attorney will be critical to
your financial well being. But then, that's only money. Your
health care provider will impact your physical well being. Good
health is worth more than money!
If you have confidence in your
primary care physician, that would probably be a good place to
start for a referral to a specialist to address your specific
injury for your post-emergency room care. If you are in an HMO,
you may wish to consider going outside their contracted doctors
for your specialized treatment, as your HMO will probably complicate
the handling of (and compromise the settlement you receive for)
your Personal Injury Claim.
If your injuries include internal
injuries, broken bones, head injuries and/or cosmetic reconstruction,
you will need to be treated by mainstream physicians such as
MD's or osteopaths that are specialists in their respective disciplines.
However, once your injuries have been isolated to soft tissue
strain, you may consider chiropractic or physical therapy by
a registered physical therapist under the supervision of your
attending M.D. or D.O. We have seen wonders achieved by chiropractic
and/or physical therapy in relieving pain, rebuilding strength
and restoring range of motion. An unfortunate part about receiving
chiropractic treatment without mainstream supervision is that
most insurance companies will not give full weight to the treatment
charges when they attempt to calculate your pain & suffering
settlement. We are not saying that is right. However, that is
the way it is.
In the selection of a health
care provider, expertise and results should always be your primary
consideration. However, there is also a secondary consideration.
When it comes time to resolve your claim for personal injury,
you will want your health care provider to be able to compose
a narrative (a "medical legal") about your injury and
treatment that will leave no room for challenge by the insurance
company. Just as your treatment is critical to your physical
well being, a good medical legal is critical to your post-treatment
financial well being.
Another important aspect of selecting
a health care provider is that provider's willingness to await
payment until your claim is settled. Health care providers who
regularly work with accident victims are used to awaiting payment.
One thing you do not want to happen is to receive relief in the
back office, only to be aggravated by the front office. A good,
experienced health care provider will never allow this to become
a problem. Like most of us, your health care provider will want
some assurance that they will be paid for their services. This
assurance usually comes in the form of a settlement lien. This
means that either your attorney (if you have one) or the other
party's insurance adjuster will promise to pay the health care
provider. It is better to have your attorney dealing with your
financial consequences than the insurance adjuster for the other
party's insurance company.
If you have a good attorney,
follow their advice as to selection of a health care provider.
Even if you do not have an attorney, it would be a good idea
to contact one to get a referral to a good health care provider.
A
good personal injury attorney will be happy to provide a free
consultation and point you in the right direction even if
you prefer to handle the claim yourself.
A final consideration (as discussed
here) has to do with the scope of treatment and the fees charged
by your health care provider. More and more insurance companies
are implementing a procedure known as "peer review".
This is where a health care provider, employed by the insurance
company, reviews your treatment and charges. It is not unusual
for the in-house doctor at the insurance company to take exception
to the scope of your treatment and the charges there for. In
fact, that is the whole point of the Peer Review program. If
the in-house doctor did not find fault with your treatment or
charges, there would soon be a new in-house doctor. The whole
Peer Review program is designed to imply you have failed to meet
your obligation to mitigate (minimize) your damages. FOR EXAMPLE:
You actually incurred $5,000.00 in treatment expenses, but the
Peer Review says you should only have had $3,500.00 in treatment.
The insurance company will attempt to reduce your medical expense
reimbursement by $1,500.00 and reduce your pain & suffering
settlement proportionately. It is important that your health
care provider be able to justify both the scope of your treatment
and the charges incidental thereto. A good medical legal (as
discussed above) will help minimize the effects of a Peer Review
evaluation. If you are going to handle the Personal Injury Claim
yourself, be prepared to deal with the Peer Review obstacle that
will be placed in front of you! Remember, if you do not have
an attorney representing you, the health care provider will probably
have a lien on your settlement for the full amount of their bill.
If you are unable to overcome the Peer Review obstacle, your
health care provider will be paid the full amount of their bill,
but the amount you collect could be substantially reduced. You
will better understand the true meaning of "substantially
reduced" when you read the Resolving
your "pain & suffering" claim section coming
up.
Go back
to the top.
Resolving your medical expense
claim
As a consumer, this is where
you may find some good news for a change. In many states, you
are allowed to submit your claim for medical expenses to both
the other party's insurance company and your own auto insurance
company (if you have "Auto Med-Pay" coverage on your
policy). This is euphemistically referred to as "double
dipping". This means that if you incurred $5,000.00 in treatment
expense (for your auto accident related injuries) and you have
at least $5,000.00 of Med-Pay coverage on your own auto policy,
you can potentially collect that $5,000.00 from your own insurance
company and the other party's insurance company. The days of
double dipping are numbered. Gradually, the auto insurance companies
are rewriting their policy verbiage to make their own Med-Pay
coverage subordinate (secondary) to any other valid and collectible
insurance and/or are incorporating subrogation rights into the
Med-Pay coverage. This will effectively eliminate your right
to collect twice for the treatment expenses incurred. You need
to review your auto insurance policy (or have it reviewed by
an expert) to determine whether you have the right to double
dip. Remember, your auto insurance company cannot increase your
premium rates for claims submitted which do not involve negligence
on your part. So, if you can collect twice, we encourage you
to do so.
Your own auto Med-Pay coverage
notwithstanding, you are entitled to recover from the other party's
insurance company for all "reasonable" expenses incurred
for "reasonable" treatment of the injuries you sustained
in the auto accident. Again, this is assuming you have already
proven liability, proven injuries, proven expenses, and overcome
the Peer Review challenge. The amount you can recover is limited
only by the extent of coverage afforded by the other party's
insurance policy.
If the insurance for the other
party is not sufficient to cover your medical expense and an
appropriate amount to cover your Pain & Suffering settlement,
you may have to turn to the Under-Insured Motorist Coverage of
your own auto insurance policy and/or your own health insurance
coverage. If the other party were at fault in your accident,
but had no insurance, you would have to turn to the Un-Insured
Motorist Coverage of your own auto insurance policy and/or your
own health insurance coverage. The difficulties of coordinating
benefits from multiple policies, especially Health Insurance
Coverage, can drive you nuts. If your claim involves coordinating
benefits from multiple policies, we strongly encourage you to
seek
professional help!
Go back
to the top.
Resolving your "pain &
suffering" claim
Of all the subjects discussed
in this page, this will probably be the most popular. Of all
the E-mail we receive from consumers around the country, the
overwhelming majority are asking "What is my claim worth?".
As you can see by what you have read above, there is no easy
or standard answer, only generalities. The major portion of most
Personal Injury Claims has to do with the Pain and Suffering
Settlement, which is directly related to the type of injury,
the medical expenses incurred, the additional medical expenses
projected, the extent of your recovery, and the physical pain
and suffering that is directly related thereto. There is also
the credibility of your injury and the expenses incurred to address
those injuries. To be perfectly blunt, there is no way anyone
can be specific in answering these questions over the Internet.
In addition to us knowing the actual expenses and/or financial
damages you may have incurred, we would also have to be familiar
with the credibility of those who have charged you for their
services, as well as your own credibility. This does not usually
happen unless we can speak directly with you,and face-to-face
is always best. However, you did not come to this portion of
this page to be told only the reasons why we could not help you.
You came here in search of some guidance.
The following is a general
formula that could be used and could, just as easily, be
departed from based upon individual circumstances.
|
Auto Damage Claim (100%) |
|
Auto Diminished Resale Claim (repaired vehicles only) |
|
Misc. property damage (personal property other than vehicle) |
|
Rental vehicle expenses (reasonable) |
|
Medical expenses (reasonable) |
|
Lost wages (reasonable) |
|
+ |
Pain & suffering allowance (1-3 times the medical expense
if fully recovered) |
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Full value of claim |
REMEMBER: The above formula is simply a
general rule of thumb for most typical circumstances. The value
of having a good personal injury attorney is realized in defining
what is "reasonable", as referenced above and in the
negotiation of your pain & suffering allowance. By retaining
a good personal injury attorney, you can also avoid the mistakes,
pitfalls and stress of having to deal with the insurance company
yourself.
Go back
to the top.
How and when to select and attorney
If you believe the advertising
attorneys you see on TV and/or in the TV Guide, you'll want to
call them on your cell phone from the accident scene. However,
as a general rule, I avoid dealing with any individual that spends
$1,000,000.00 a year to advertise on television (that is NOT
an exaggeration). We personally know of law firms that spend
2-3 times that annually just to advertise on television.
One is inclined to believe that
anybody good does not have to spend a lot of money to advertise.
Their reputation brings in enough referrals to keep them busy.
However, there is an unfortunate side-effect of having some law
firms with massive advertising budgets. Some really
good personal injury attorneys are losing potential referrals
to these large advertising law firms. Consumers are going to
advertising law firms where their claim is actually handled by
some clerk instead of an attorney. If I'm going to pay to have
an Attorney represent me . . . I want an attorney to represent
me!
If you believe the insurance
adjuster, you don't need an attorney. They will probably ask
you something to the affect of "Why give away part of your
settlement if an attorney is not going to collect any more than
we are already willing to pay?". The unfortunate part of
that statement is that it is sometimes true. If you have your
claim handled by a clerk, the adjuster is probably right. Later
on, when the claim becomes difficult (after they have already
gotten what they want out of you), they will probably expect
you to go to an advertising attorney and the insurance company
will expect to settle your claim for what they were willing to
pay all along. Remember when we discussed why an insurance company
may drive you to an attorney in the understanding
adjusting techniques portion of this page?
As for the "how" and
"when" to select an attorney, let us address these
in reverse order. When? The sooner the better. If you have read
all the above text you'll understand why this recommendation
is made. As for the "how", get referrals from sources
you can rust. You can contact your State Bar Association for
referrals. You can contact your State Trial Lawyers Association
for referrals. You can check with the Better Business Bureau
and the Bar Association for any records of complaints on an attorney
you may be considering. You can ask for references from an attorney
you may be considering have represent you. Ask your potential
attorney who will actually be handling your file, the attorney
or a clerk. Finally, you can visit the Tampa
Personal Injury Attorneys page to see what these highly reputable
personal injury attorneys think of your personal injury case.
The personal injury attorneys listed on our Tampa
Personal Injury Attorneys page will be happy to provide a
free
consultation to address your concerns. If you are involved
in a Personal Injury Claim, you are probably entering an arena
in which you have little or no experience. The primary concern
of our member attorneys is seeing to it that you receive proper
treatment and are not taken advantage of in the claim settlement
process.
The Tampa Personal Injury Attorneys
at The Brooks Law Group
have extensive experience at working to help persons with Personal
Injury Claims to recover what they are due under the law. Their
Personal
Injury Lawyers work closely with clients in difficult emotional
times to fully recover what the law allows. If you are interested
in receiving help with a potential case, please click here for
a free Personal Injury Case Evaluation or call their Tampa office
at 863-299-1962.
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Summary
In this page we have attempted
to make you more aware of what you may be facing if you are involved
in a Personal Injury Claim. If you choose to represent yourself
in the handling of your claim, we suggest you print this text
and keep a permanent record of what was discussed herein. This
could help in your dealings with the insurance company(s). Even
if you choose to have an attorney represent you, keep a copy
of this text to refer to when you are asking questions. After
all, the more intelligent questions you ask, the more you are
going to understand about the process in which you are involved.
We hope the information on this page helps you understand the
process and avoid the problems!
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Personal
Injury Claim Facts You Need to Know 