Dealing with Insurance for your Injury Claim
When it comes to a personal injury claim, such as a car accident, there is a high probability that you will be dealing with an insurance company. There are different types of insurance companies that can get involved when an issue arises, such as car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and malpractice insurance. Since most personal injury scenarios involve an insurance company, it is important to know how to work with these companies and the process involved. Your best bet is to contact an experienced Los Angeles Injury Lawyer at Gould & Jefferson of Beverly Hills. Our number is (310) 899-9529. Call now to speak with a lawyer today. Below are some helpful tips.
Insurance Contact
After an accident occurs, the insurance company will call you, however you have legal rights that you need to be aware of before you speak with the at-fault insurance company.
Answering the Insurance Company
When your own insurance company contacts you, you are obligated to cooperate with them and help them figure out the situation that took place. However, if the opposing party’s insurance company calls you and is wanting to take down a recorded statement, you should not give any recorded or official statement until you have spoken with an attorney at Gould & Jefferson of Beverly Hills. The experience attorneys at our firm are well aware of the type of encounters that can take place when speaking with an insurance adjuster and will make sure you are well represented.
Recorded Statements
It is important to know that you are not legally obligated to make recorded statements. Insurance adjusters are trying to minimize the payout of the claim, and will use the information you provide against you if you are not careful in what you tell them about the accident. Therefore, it is important that if your lawyer is not present with you when making the recorded statement, refrain from the recorded statements since anything you say can and will be used against you during the course of the lawsuit. That is, insurance companies are not like the police where they tell you your Miranda rights, and say you have the right to remain silent. Therefore, without an attorney, no one will warn you about your rights.
Having an Attorney Present
When speaking with the insurance adjuster, make sure not to provide irrelevant information. Insurance adjusters want to seek irrelevant information in order to compromise your recovery from the accident. At Gould & Jefferson of Beverly Hills, we will help create a prepared statement to the insurance company, insuring that you are not giving them any facts or details that could hurt your claim or recovery. It is our upmost responsibly to make sure that everything handled in your case is prepared and completed in an orderly fashion in order to get you and your family the full compensation your injuries deserve.
Medical Releases
When it comes to the medical releases, it is important to not sign these documents prematurely. The right time to sign these medical releases is when your treatment is nearing its end. During the initial stages of the claim, these records are not required by the adjuster, but are only required when concluding your treatment. Signing these documents too early during the settlement process can lead to a low compensation award and affect the amount that is paid to you as a result of the accident. It is advisable to hold on to these records until your doctor is sure about your medical condition, and that you are not likely to experience any future complications.
Don’t Make the Same Mistake
There have been many times over the years were clients tried to handle their claims without hiring an attorney from the beginning. As a result of not hiring counsel, they gave recorded statements and did not recover the proper investigative facts from the scene of the accident, which lead to a serious advantage to the insurance company. Not hiring an attorney from the beginning and than hiring one in the middle of the process has lead our firm spending many hours fixing simple mistakes or trying to obtain more money for damages that should have been paid for.
Contact Us
At Gould & Jefferson of Beverly Hills, we want to help protect you and your family from these insurance companies and to adequately represent you during these hard times. With the experience at our firm, we have successfully represented and helped our clients get the recovery they deserved. Call us at (310) 899-9529 and let us get started for you right away.
