Many drivers rely on good faith and may not expect to be forced to sue their auto insurance company in order to receive payment for expenses resulting from a car accident. Typically, most just want to have their car repaired and their medical bills paid. Unfortunately, the auto insurance attorneys of Michigan Auto Law deal with many car insurance companies on a daily basis that take advantage of their customers by cutting off their benefits without reason or notice. Some insurance companies also put people "under investigation"- the excuse for stopping payment of all medical bills and wage loss. People are being ignored, threatened, intimidated and even lied to by their insurance claims adjusters. The following are common tactics used by many auto insurance companies to either avoid or minimize their payouts to customers. Suggestions are included on how you can protect yourself to avoid or minimize problems with your automobile insurer. 1. Many restrictions and limitations are buried in your policy's fine print Knowing how to read and understand the fine print of auto insurance policies is not an easy task. Auto accident lawyers have seen far too many people lose out on important benefits because they were unaware of important filing requirements buried in their policies. For example, many auto insurance policies pose strict notification requirements, such as 30 days notice for hit-and-run accidents. Many contracts have separate conditions for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage requiring very prompt notice, and insurance carriers can change their policy filing requirements at any time. When car accident victims do not respond to notification requirements on time, they can lose their coverage. How to protect yourself: Notify your insurance company immediately after any type of accident. Be sure you have your complete auto insurance policy, including any notification of coverage changes from year to year. This can also include pamphlets or notes that are mailed with renewal statements, reflecting any policy terms and changes. Most policies include declarations, conditions, insuring agreements and exclusions with conditions. It's also important to check insurance policies for any benefits that overlap with your own health and disability insurance; and to review any additional coverage (such as uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). When receiving ongoing medical care for car accident injuries, having a solid understanding of insurance policies can help ensure that health care providers bill appropriately. If you are confused with your auto insurance policy and have questions, don't hesitate to contact a lawyer who specializes in auto accidents - most are happy to offer advice and guidance for your protection. 2. Insurance agents don't always recommend the best coverage Following a car accident, there can be numerous issues and challenges navigating health insurance plans, managed care plans, retirement plans such as ERISA, and coordinated/uncoordinated policies. In addition, insurance agents may avoid mentioning important coverage options and applicable discounts due to payout losses or lower premiums that reduce their commissions. Many people choose to carry more insurance coverage so they will not be personally liable if they cause a serious car accident. However, some people only pay the minimum insurance premium to renew their license plate each year, and then let the auto insurance lapse. Without an uninsured/underinsured motorist policy, a driver or family members severely injured by an uninsured motorist will have no source of legal recovery for their injuries other than filing a lawsuit against the uninsured driver for his or her personal assets. Most people do not have sufficient personal net worth to compensate a person that they have seriously injured. How to protect yourself: If you are injured in an auto accident, contact an experienced auto accident lawyer who is best qualified to provide guidance on issues of which insurance is primary, and who will pay medical expenses that are incurred after a crash. If you carry ERISA health insurance, uncoordinated or primary coverage is the safe move. An insured person with both ERISA and coordinated insurance may end up recovering nothing for their pain and suffering in the event of an auto accident. Check your insurance policy for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage of at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. If this type of coverage is missing, contact your insurance carrier to add it - the cost is minimal and highly recommended to protect you and your family. Raising your deductibles to at least $500 or more can also lower your auto insurance premiums by 15 percent to 40 percent. Consider dropping collision and/or comprehensive coverage on older cars. If your car is worth less than 10 times the premium, eliminating those coverages can save you money, unless you still owe money for the car. Finally, if there is any reduction in the amount of miles you drive annually, contact your insurance carrier for quotes on low mileage discounts. 3. Accident Settlement Offers Are Always Too Low Imagine you just suffered devastating injuries from a car accident and are now recuperating at home, in pain, and worrying about how you are going to pay your bills. An insurance agent knocks on your door with a check for $100,000 for your accident. With the emotional and physical trauma following a car or truck crash, a large amount of money sounds great, and some victims rush into accepting the first settlement offer. Yet determining the value of an auto accident case goes far beyond a simple calculation of injury type, future expenses not covered by no-fault insurance and the wrongdoer's policy limit. Offering to settle is essentially a backdoor approach by insurance companies to saving litigation costs at the expense of an accident victim's right to a full recovery. How to protect yourself: It never hurts to call an auto accident lawyer and ask for advice. Many lawyers can explain accident law, what you are entitled to and make sure your own insurance company is paying everything they are supposed to - with no fee or obligation. 4. Releases and Recorded Statements Are Pushed Early On to Overwhelm Accident Victims Many victims rush into signing adjusters' documents without having the language reviewed by an auto accident lawyer, believing these are just basic verifications of the accident. Therefore, they may lose their right to sue a negligent driver for accident-related injuries. Claims adjusters often try to get recorded statements early, aiming to minimize the victim's pain and injuries for later use in court. Even vehicle damage releases can contain unrelated language that can jeopardize your other claims. How to protect yourself: Never give statements to an accident claims adjuster and never sign a release or allow the adjuster to look at the auto damage. Simply tell the adjuster that you need to review the paperwork with your attorney and will get back to them with your response. No matter how desperate you may feel after suffering the financial burden of medical bills, lost wages and disabling pain, involving an auto accident attorney will ensure your rights are protected. Keep in mind that the claims adjuster works for the insurance company, and has its best interest in mind - not the injured victim. 5. Standard practice is to deny or delay claim payouts Most people suffering injuries from a car accident call their auto insurance company to find out what to do next. They assume that when they follow the process, they will receive fair, timely compensation for injuries resulting from the auto accident. After all, they paid for the auto insurance for that reason - to be covered in the event of a car accident. Yet many insurance companies engage in common delay tactics including denying claims, not returning calls, placing people on hold for extensive periods, requiring a victim to repeatedly gather records, and passing you from one adjuster to the next. Soon the financial burden of time off work and mounting medical bills drives innocent car accident victims to contact an attorney. Or worse, it makes them desperate enough to accept an extremely low settlement offer, limiting any future recovery of damages. How to protect yourself: If you are experiencing these typical delay tactics, contact an auto accident attorney who can assist you with getting your claim processed and the benefits you are entitled to under your state's law. Bottom Line: If your auto accident involves injuries to you and/or your family (even seemingly minor injuries), consult an auto accident attorney as soon as possible. Not only will you better understand what benefits you are entitled to, but you will have the peace of mind knowing that you received the full value of benefits and compensation available to injured drivers.
If you become disabled through injury, sickness, or other circumstances and have not been able to work for a year, then you may be eligible for social security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits. However, like any other encompassing public program, finding your way around the social security disability benefits' system on your own can be a difficult and at times exasperating undertaking. Just obtaining the required forms, background information and medical data can become a challenge. Mistakes in completing forms, incorrect or incomplete back-up information, and submittal errors are some of the reasons that claims are initially denied or re-submittals requested. For these and other reasons, you should consider discussing your situation with an SSDI lawyer. SSDI attorneys are experts in social security disability law and in working face-to-face with social security representatives. An SSDI lawyer can help ease you through this vital, but often complex program. As with any legal issue, it is in your best interest to engage the services of a social security disability insurance lawyer at the beginning of the benefit application process. Initial contact should be made prior reaching the 12th month of your disability so that the discovery process can begin in advance and the critical filing dates can be met. Your SSDI lawyer will advise you of eligibility issues, forms to file and medical and work related information to be obtained so that the submittal of your claim is as complete as possible at the beginning. Your lawyer will also assist you to obtain records and information from employers, hospitals, doctors and other sources in a timely manner. This assistance is especially important if you have previously requested such information and these sources have been slow or reluctant to provide information to which you are legally entitled. Next, your SSDI lawyer will assist you through the filing process and will assure that filing is properly completed to minimize the possibility of rejection due to the submittal of incorrect claim forms and/or back-up information. Your lawyer will also, if necessary, represent you directly with social security to be sure that your claim is reviewed fairly and efficiently. These are important considerations to be sure that you receive the benefits to which you are legally entitled without time consuming re-submittals or undue delays. Lastly, a disability insurance lawyer stays with you as your situation changes. Like most entitlement programs, social security disability insurance payments are constantly monitored by social security and benefits can be discontinued at any time for a variety of reasons. Your SSDI lawyer will help you to file the necessary on-going reports and assist you in notifying social security of changes to your condition. They are there to help you maintain your benefits and to work with you to restore payments that have been stopped. An SSDI lawyer is your advocate working with you and social security to be sure that your legal benefits continue. Whether you are applying for benefits for the first time or if you have been receiving benefits that are now being denied, SSDI lawyers can help you work with social security to secure your benefits while you concentrate on getting back to work.
Think meeting the insurance adjuster without a lawyer is a good idea? Think again. Why do they want to meet? It is the insurance adjusters job to find ways to reduce the value of your case or get rid of it entirely. The more documents they have the more chances they will find something to hang their hat on in order to deny or reduce your claim. Insurance adjusters much prefer dealing with injured persons who don't have a lawyer. Why do you think they call you the same or day after you are injured, sometimes only a few hours after the accident? They want to get to you before you know your rights and interests and definitely BEFORE you speak to a lawyer. They want to control the file and specifically, control the evidence. They are not your lawyer and have minimal legal duty to you. They give you a card stating that they represent the opposing party's insurer, not you! Their job is not to give you legal advice, but to investigate the accident. Adjusters know how to manipulate you they will not necessarily manipulate the evidence, but they can take a completely different interpretation of the, against your favour. The moment you retain an experienced personal injury lawyer, that manipulation ends. Don't believe us? Try this. When the adjuster calls to meet with you and obtain a written statement and authorization to obtain information from your doctors and your employer, ask them if you can meet with the owner of the property where you fell or the driver that hit you so you can ask them questions and obtain a written statement. Ask the if the meeting can be held completely on a "without prejudice" basis, meaning whatever you discuss and give them by way of documents can never be held against you. The answer may be - are you crazy? No way. Its a one way street. The less an adjuster pays on a claim, the better their worth to their insurer. Their value increases with less pay-outs. When you think about it, in a commercial - profit goal world, this makes perfect sense. Adjusters can hardly be blamed for this. It is, after all, their job. Insurers make millions and millions of dollars in profit every year. They are corporations who's primary focus is profit. The longer you don't know your rights and interests, the more serious damage can be done to your claim - the more interaction with an adjuster, without a lawyer, the worse your case can become. Our experience is that, if you have held meetings with and have had discussions with the insurance adjuster and have provided them with documents and information, without the assistance of a lawyer, by the time the insurance adjuster is willing to make an offer to settle your claim, they offer pennies on the dollar. Alternatively, the situation could be even worse, no offer at all. Why? You dug your own grave - provided the insurer with a written statement or recorded statement - provided the insurer with access to all your records, medical, financial or otherwise - you took no steps to obtain and preserve your evidence - you took no steps to obtain your own witness statements - you took no steps to obtain a lawyer to know your rights, interests and risks - and so on... Your case has been destroyed. By the time an offer is made, if one is even made, the insurance adjuster has ample documents, information and reasons to justify making no offer or making a ridiculously low offer. Do yourself a favour. Meet with one of our lawyers, free of charge and in complete confidence.
In a personal injury case, the claimant requires a lawyer to address an inequality of bargaining power. If someone is injured, it's probably the only time they've been involved in this kind of case, and they are up against an insurance company who has dealt with thousands or tens of thousands of cases like theirs. The injured person does not know for sure what his rights are or what to do. He does not know what level of cooperation he is expected to give the insurance company. Ultimately, he realizes that he should have somebody assisting him with regard to his legal rights. So people search out a lawyer because they want to find out what their legal rights are. You may be injured and are not sure if you need a lawyer. Sometimes it is very clear that you are injured, perhaps with a very severe injury, and you do need legal representation to make sure you get rehabilitation benefits, or income benefits, or are properly compensated for your injury. If you break a leg, you don't know whether that fracture is worth $10,000 or a $100,000 or a million dollars. It is really up to a lawyer to assist you by making sure your claim is assessed properly by the insurer. The way to do that is to push the legal buttons necessary to force the insurer towards a reasonable resolution of your claim, and also to gather the necessary evidence such as medical reports, hospital records and expert opinions regarding the short term and long term effects of the injury suffered. The majority of cases that we deal with relate to a claim against a person at fault. If the fault caused the injury then we assist the injured person in getting compensated for the loss they have suffered. There may be a loss of income, resulting in expenses such as housekeeping or childcare. There may be other rehabilitation expenses including medication, chiropractic or physiotherapy. The majority of cases are brought against an insurance company, either because the insurer is not paying the proper benefits, for example, a disability benefit or a medical benefit, or because the insurer is responding on behalf of their insured. If somebody falls on your driveway and fractures a knee or tibia, your home insurer will respond. So while on paper it may look like there is a claim against the home owner, in reality the claim is dealt with by the insurer of that home owner. The insurer will deal with the lawyer and should not be dealing directly with the claimant, because it is the lawyer's job to gather the necessary evidence to support the claim and to achieve the most positive result for the client.
Chances are if you have been injured in a car accident or in any other way due to another person's actions you've probably been told you should consult with a personal injury lawyer. This is generally good advice, because a good personal injury lawyer is familiar with the law in your state and can help you navigate through the system to get the highest compensation. Here are several good reasons why you should consult with a Personal Injury Lawyer. First, a good personal injury lawyer knows personal injury law inside out. For example, in some states if you yourself have contributed even slightly to your injuries you may not be entitled to compensation. A good personal injury lawyer will know how to frame your case in the best possible way to maximize your compensation. Second, a good personal injury lawyer knows Insurance Law and how it pertains to your case. There is no way you can know the intricacies of insurance law without having confronted insurance companies. Some insurance adjusters will bend or misrepresent the law as it applies to your case in an attempt to convince you you are not entitled to compensation. Insurance companies may also conveniently forget to tell you certain conditions of your policy that might entitle you to a larger compensation package. The devil is in the details in such matters, and only a good personal injury lawyer can protect you from such practices. Third, an experience personal injury attorney has a good idea how much compensation you can expect from different types of injuries. Again, there is no way someone who has never dealt in these matters could possibly know these things. So without this kind of technical information you will have no idea how much compensation you can expect. You will effectively be at the mercy of insurance adjusters and other lawyers who are working to keep your compensation as low as possible. And fourth, a personal injury lawyer will take your case to court if it is necessary. Insurance adjusters know that if a case ends up in court, the insurance company will probably end up paying pay a lot more that they want to pay. The adjusters also know your case will probably not go to court if you are representing yourself. So they are much more likely to play hardball with you. These are just some of the very important reasons why retaining a personal injury lawyer is the smart thing to do if you feel you are owed compensation. Insurance companies know that a personal injury attorney will go to court. Therefore, the adjusters have to be more realistic in what they offer you as compensation for your personal injuries. Finding a good personal injury attorney is the best way to ensure that you receive the maximum compensation available under the law.
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