One of the reasons you need a personal injury attorney when you’ve been in a car accident or been injured at work is the behavior of insurance companies. They have a number of tricks they use to avoid paying a fair amount or avoid paying at all. Attorneys know about these tricks and how to fight them or minimize their effects on your case.
The government can’t do it but insurance companies can-surveillance. Unbeknownst to you, there may be people watching you and videotaping your every move whether it’s a trip to the grocery store or attending your child’s school play. The insurance company is trying to catch you in a physical activity that proves you are not injured. They have won cases by filming people carrying groceries into their house-the court does not hear how pain relievers were necessary for that task or that the plaintiff may have undergone a painful procedure to relieve their pain.
Delays are also a favorite technique of insurance companies, particularly when it involves a victim who has not retained an attorney. They will ask for more information or documentation of demand expert witnesses-anything to wear you down and stretch you to the breaking point financially. Once you reach that point, perhaps with your home close to foreclosure and the bill collectors calling constantly, they will make an offer that a desperate person will accept. This will be far below what the plaintiff would get if the case went to trial. Remember, the insurers are making interest on every cent they are holding so the longer they delay, the more money they make.
Offering a large lump sum is another trick that victims fall for. The adjustor has seen the medical reports and knows that you might have physical repercussions down the road; they are determined that they won’t pay for those medical costs. They know psychology and how to play you, making you think they are being generous when they’re actually cheating you blind.
Insurance companies also like to twist the facts. There have been a few cases when insurance attorneys have actually argued that the victim was at fault because they did not stay home rather than go on an unnecessary shopping trip that resulted in a wreck! They will claim that your injuries are due to a fall you took the week before or a tennis match in which you twisted your back. They can get someone to say you tripped the day before and your injury is simply a delayed manifestation of that.
Insurance companies will also play the guilt game, telling you that people like you are the reason rates are so high for everyone else. Remember, though, that they have huge reserves of funds that are saved for catastrophic events. Your case is not going to break them although the adjustor will tell you it might. Don’t let them play on your sympathies.
An experienced Miami Personal Injury attorney knows how to fight these dirty tricks and can protect you before, during, and after your case. Victims who hire an attorney win more often and their awards are higher, even with attorney’s fees, than those who go it alone.