Insurance

October 27, 2023 by The Weinberger Law Firm

Considering a Settlement Offer from an Insurance Company

Receiving an offer from the insurance company after a car accident can be a pivotal moment. It signifies the beginning of the negotiation process and raises important questions: Is the offer fair? Should you accept it? What are your rights in this situation? There are crucial steps to take when you receive an offer from the insurance company, ensuring that you make informed decisions and secure a just settlement.

Understand the Offer

Upon receiving an offer, carefully review the details. The insurance company typically provides a settlement amount they consider appropriate to cover your damages. This offer may include compensation for medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering. It’s essential to assess whether the offer adequately addresses your needs and losses resulting from the accident.

Evaluate the Offer Objectively

When assessing the offer, it’s imperative to consider various factors. Firstly, scrutinize the coverage for medical expenses, ensuring it encompasses all bills related to the accident, both current and anticipated future treatments or therapies. Secondly, consider lost wages; if the accident led to missed work, the offer should factor in these earnings and potential future income losses, especially if your injuries impact your earning capacity. Thirdly, in cases involving vehicle damage, confirm that the offer includes the costs for repairs or replacement, encompassing any additional expenses linked to the accident.

Lastly, evaluate the compensation for pain and suffering, weighing whether it adequately addresses the physical and emotional distress stemming from the accident. By meticulously considering these aspects, you can make an informed decision regarding the fairness of the offer and ensure that all your losses are appropriately accounted for.

Gather Evidence

To bolster your case and effectively counter the insurance company’s offer, it’s crucial to gather compelling evidence that illustrates the extent of your losses and injuries.

Medical Records

One of the most powerful pieces of evidence is detailed medical records. These records, including comprehensive information on diagnosis, treatment plans, and prognosis, provide a clear picture of the severity of your injuries and the ongoing medical care you require. They serve as vital proof, substantiating your claim and highlighting the immediate and long-term impact of the accident on your health.

Documentation of Expenses

Keep receipts and invoices for all accident-related expenses, such as medical bills, prescription medications, therapy costs, and vehicle repairs. It forms a concrete foundation for your financial claims, strengthening your position during discussions with the insurance company.

Witness Statements

If there were witnesses to the accident, obtain their statements. Witness accounts can corroborate your version of events, strengthening your case. These statements add credibility to your claim, lending weight to your narrative and further fortifying the validity of your demands. Witness testimonies act as compelling support, enhancing the overall reliability of your case.

Photographic Evidence

Visual evidence, such as photographs of the accident scene, vehicle damages, injuries, and visible marks or bruises, can be compelling during negotiations.

Photographs substantiate your account and serve as compelling visual aids during negotiations. They can evoke empathy and understanding, making the human aspect of your case more relatable and persuasive.

Consult with an Attorney

Seeking legal counsel is crucial, especially if the insurance company’s offer seems inadequate. A skilled personal injury attorney can assess the offer’s fairness, guide you on your rights, and negotiate on your behalf. Insurance companies often make low initial offers in hopes that claimants will accept without questioning. Attorneys possess the experience to analyze the offer in relation to your actual losses, ensuring you receive appropriate compensation. Experienced lawyers are skilled negotiators. They understand insurance adjusters’ tactics and can negotiate tirelessly on your behalf. Their negotiation skills can lead to a significantly higher settlement offer, ensuring you are not shortchanged.

Insurance companies may employ various tactics to minimize payouts, such as disputing liability, downplaying the extent of your injuries, or pressuring you to settle quickly. A lawyer acts as a shield, protecting your rights and ensuring you are not taken advantage of. They handle all communication with the insurance company, shielding you from undue stress.

Respond Strategically

After carefully reviewing the offer and consultation with your attorney, you are presented with three viable options. First, you can accept the offer if it adequately covers all your losses and is deemed fair. In doing so, the case concludes, and you receive the agreed settlement amount. Alternatively, if you find the offer lacking, your attorney can initiate a counteroffer, signaling your openness to negotiation and potentially paving the way for a more favorable resolution.

Lastly, if the offer is significantly insufficient and negotiations fail to bridge the gap, the rejection of the offer provides the opportunity to pursue legal action. This involves filing a lawsuit against the responsible party, allowing you to seek proper compensation through the legal system. These options empower you to make an informed decision, guided by your attorney’s knowledge, ensuring your rights are protected and you receive the compensation you deserve.

Be Patient and Persistent

Negotiating with insurance companies can be time-consuming. It requires patience and persistence. Insurance adjusters may employ delay tactics or offer low initial amounts. Stay steadfast in your pursuit of a fair settlement. Your attorney will handle negotiations diligently, advocating for your rights and best interests.

Empowering You for a Just Resolution-Weinberger Law Firm

In the aftermath of a car accident, securing the compensation you deserve hinges on the strength of your evidence. At Weinberger Law Firm, we understand the importance of compelling proof in negotiations. Our experienced team is dedicated to helping you gather comprehensive evidence that supports your claim and maximizes your chances of securing compensation. Call Weinberger Law Firm today at (916)661-4464 for a consultation.

July 5, 2023 by The Weinberger Law Firm

Getting into a car accident is always upsetting. It becomes even less pleasant when the impact causes injury.

Insurance covers medical bills under such circumstances. While the law demands Californians carry auto insurance, some drivers do not. Acquiring money to pay medical bills triggered by these scofflaws requires particular attention.

How to handle getting hit by an uninsured driver in California

Immediately report the accident to the police and your insurance provider. Mention to both that the other individual is on the road illegally. Repair the vehicle if it remains salvageable.

Seek medical care, even if you do not immediately feel pain or discomfort. It may be a matter of time before the symptoms of injury surface. Be mindful of how you treat your physical condition after the medical consult.

Save all paperwork generated throughout the process.

Directly after impact, you might experience an inclination to admit fault. Refrain from statements suggesting guilt, even benign ones. Such words may create complications if you choose to sue.

When to file suit against an uninsured driver in California

The state of California may impose penalties against the responsible driver. Unfortunately, these punishments never include the hurt party receiving compensation. For that, the injured party must file a lawsuit within two years of the accident. Weigh whether taking your grievance to a judge remains practical. If the driver lacks funds, suing may cost more than is possible to gain.

It should not matter whether the person responsible for your situation carries insurance. You deserve restitution either way. Nonetheless, your response depends heavily on this variable.

July 4, 2023 by The Weinberger Law Firm

Far too often, injured people are mistreated by a negligent corporation and by the insurance industry.

The insurance companies step in after people are hurt and take advantage of them, giving them bad advice and cheap settlement and basically lying about the value of their cases.

Someone is injured through no fault of his own, or a family member or loved one is killed because of the recklessness of another person. It is clear that the other person is at fault. At first, it seems like the insurance company or negligent individual will not fight the case and will pay a quick settlement.

The insurance adjuster will ask the injured person to “Sign a few forms” or give a “recorded statement.” The insurance person acts nice and promises that the proper party will accept fault.

Then, after a while, the insurance company keeps asking for a bunch of information, forms, and paper. The adjuster stops calling back. The accident victim cant’ reach anyone or get any information from the company. Sometimes, they will try to make the injured person sign something before receiving medical attention.

Insurance companies do not treat injured victims fairly! That means that if you’ve been injured in an accident, you are in for a fight! That’s why it’s important to contact an experienced personal injury attorney at The Weinberger Law Firm to fight the greedy insurance companies for your fair compensation.

Insurance Myths After a Car Accident

Myth #1: You must sign every document the adjuster sends you – You are not required to sign a release of information for the other person’s insurance company. While an adjuster may want to look at your medical and employment records to assess your injuries, they do not have a right to the documents unless a lawsuit has been filed.

Myth #2: You have to give the adjuster a recorded statement – If a lawsuit hasn’t been filed, you do not have any obligation to give a statement to the other guy’s insurance company, recorded or otherwise. In fact, these often work against you because the adjuster can ask virtually question without objection and the claimant locks him or herself into answers early in the claim. It is important to speak to an attorney before agreeing to a recorded statement. Often an attorney will sit in on a recorded statement to protect your case.

Myth #3: Insurance adjusters are always honest with claimants – In the days after a claim is opened, the adjuster’s goal is to find out as much as possible about a claim to find any weakness to exploit. Adjusters can sometimes say something just to see if the claimant will give them what they want or to see how the individual reacts. There have been documented instances of insurance companies using fraudulent means to get a claimant to accept a low settlement offer.

Myth #4: The insurance companies will make a reasonable offer to settle your claim to avoid having to hire an attorney to defend the case – This is simply not true. The insurance companies see this as nothing more as a cost of doing business. Also, there is an increasing trend towards insurance companies using in-house counsel, meaning that they don’t have to pay attorneys by the hour to represent them. Therefore, these companies are not saving by avoiding a lawsuit.

Myth #5: There is a set of quotations to estimate the value of the claim – You might have heard that a claim should be worth three times the amount of a medical bill that you incurred from the accident. However, the reality is that this is not true because every case is different. For instance, if you were to break your ribs, there would be little a doctor could do to treat your injuries and your appointment would be sporadic over a number of months. However, your pain and suffering would be great. Every move you make would be agonizing and even breathing would be painful. That case would have relatively low medical bills. On the other hand, if your injury is to your muscles and soft tissue in your neck or back, you would need regular treatment, sometimes on a daily basis, while the injury healed. Your pain and suffering would probably be considerably less than the case of a broken rib, but the bills for treatment would probably be higher.

If You Are Injured, the Insurance Company Has All the Power

When you are injured due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you are in a position of weakness. You’ve got medical bills to pay. You’ve got to figure out what to do with your job, how to make ends meet, how to take care of your family. The negligent person doesn’t have those concerns. And the negligent person probably has an insurance company working for him or her to help defend against you.

The insurance company will see thousands of injury claims each year. The insurance company will have “adjusters” whose only job is to save the insurance company money and defeat claims by injured people. These adjusters are very good at what they do. Most experienced adjusters will have handled hundreds of thousands of claims. They will know how to trick the injured person into doing something that hurts his or her case. They will know how to make it seem like they are your best friends or have your best interest at heart.

The Adjusters Are Not Your Best Friend and Do Not Have Your Best Interest at Heart

So, if you are hurt by someone else’s negligence it is important to contact a Folsom accident attorney Joe Weinberger at the Weinberger Law Firm. Protect your legal rights and call (916) 357-6767 to schedule a free consultation with a Folsom accident attorney Joe Weinberger.

What Do I Do if the Insurance Company Makes an Offer?