When you suffer a personal injury, medical bills, lost income, and other expenses are likely mounting, straining your finances and well-being. Getting the most money from your insurance claim can make all the difference in your quality of life. The most effective way to maximize your insurance claim is to work with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
An experienced and knowledgeable attorney from Shulman & Hill can negotiate with insurers on your behalf. We can also advise you on other ways to strengthen your claim, such as keeping records, knowing your policy’s terms, and not accepting the initial settlement offer.
Key Takeaways:
- Act quickly, maintain medical records, and learn your rights to protect your claim.
- When filing your claim, avoid key mistakes such as accepting the first offer, talking to the insurance company before hiring a lawyer, or underestimating your injury’s future costs.
- Anticipate the insurance company’s common tactics, such as unnecessarily delaying progress and shifting blame onto you.
- A personal injury lawyer can help you get more money from your insurance claim.
Start by Protecting Your Right to Compensation
You may feel at the whim of the adjuster’s judgment, but your actions can influence your claim. In fact, a major component of maximizing potential compensation is taking the appropriate steps after an accident.
Too many accident victims lose out on possible money from their claims because they make easy-to-avoid mistakes. To help protect your options, act promptly, maintain records, and arm yourself with knowledge about your situation.
Key Mistakes To Avoid When Filing Your Claim
The wrong move can cost you hundreds, thousands, or even more in compensation. Avoid these key mistakes to improve your odds of receiving fair personal injury compensation.
Mistake 1: Accepting the First Offer
The insurance company’s first settlement offer is likely far less than your case’s true value. This is especially true if your injuries and losses are not immediately apparent. You must know the full extent of your damages to properly evaluate your claim.
Accepting the first offer almost always means settling for less than you deserve. You have the right to decline and negotiate for more.
Mistake 2: Talking Before Hiring a Lawyer
Insurance adjusters will try to use anything you say against you. They may look for contradictions in your statements or use your words to downplay your injuries’ severity.
Be extremely careful about what you say after an accident. Something as simple as “I’m okay” can harm your claim. Consider saying nothing to the insurance company until you have legal representation.
Mistake 3: Underestimating Future Costs
An early settlement offer may fail to account for future costs that may arise. It can take time for an injury’s consequences to manifest fully, so you’re likely entitled to more money than you first think.
The average cost of nonfatal traumatic brain injuries requiring inpatient care is $51,241 in medical expenses and $6,110 in lost work. Many patients are entitled to much more than this when factoring in future losses such as long-term care and lost earning capacity. Chronic pain forces many injury victims into early retirement, for example.
There’s also inflation to consider, and a PwC study projects an 8 percent increase in medical costs year-on-year. Make sure your settlement offer reflects this.
Watch for Common Insurance Tactics
Insurance companies use various strategies to convince victims to accept less money than they deserve. To better advocate for yourself, know how to identify and counter these bad-faith tactics.
Delay Strategies
The insurer may delay progress on your case by failing to respond to your communications, scheduling unnecessary medical exams, or requesting additional paperwork. They do this hoping you’ll give up or accept a low offer out of frustration.
Fault Manipulation
In most states, including New York, the amount of fault assigned to each party might determine how much compensation victims receive. In some types of cases such as New York Labor Law, comparative fault of the injured worker is irrelevant. The insurance adjuster may try to shift more fault onto you to reduce your compensation.
Exploiting Language Barriers
If English isn’t your native language, the insurance company may try taking advantage of the language barrier by doing the following:
- Providing incomplete translations of documents with critical details about waived rights or future claims in English only
- Pressuring non-English speakers to sign agreements they don’t fully understand
- Rushing negotiations by downplaying complex terms in quick phone calls with limited interpreters
Maximizing Workers’ Compensation Claims
Workers’ compensation cases have a different process than general personal injury claims. However, similar strategies can help you maximize your workers’ compensation claim. Prompt action, thorough documentation, and speaking carefully can all improve your chances of receiving fair compensation.
Our attorneys have extensive experience handling these cases. Learn more about NYC workers’ compensation and how we can represent you in negotiations with insurance companies to seek the money you need to recover.
Why a Personal Injury Lawyer Is Key to Maximizing Your Insurance Claim
Hiring a personal injury lawyer is perhaps the strongest strategy for increasing compensation. The right attorney has specialized knowledge and resources.
1. Insurance Company Knowledge
Personal injury attorneys deal with insurance companies daily and know their tactics well. This allows them to anticipate and counter lowball offers and delay strategies.
An attorney’s knowledge can also prevent mistakes that weaken your claim, such as missed deadlines or insufficient evidence. For example, New York has a three-year deadline to file a personal injury claim. This rule has some exceptions, so an attorney can help you determine the deadline that applies to your case.
2. Expert Network Access
Expert testimony is often necessary to prove the extent of a victim’s injuries and future needs. An experienced attorney has access to a network of trusted experts. They can use these resources to show the insurance company your claim’s true value and increase your settlement amount:
- Medical specialists can provide insight into how the accident directly caused your injuries and the long-term health impacts.
- Economic analysts can calculate the lifetime earning losses associated with your injuries.
- Accident reconstruction experts can prove liability by detailing the events leading up to the accident.
- Life care planners can estimate your future care needs.
3. Strategic Advantage
A personal injury attorney can maximize compensation by uncovering every possible source of recovery, from underinsured motorist coverage to employer liability in workplace-related accidents. Knowledge from previous cases allows them to develop arguments and strategies to prove your case and avoid pitfalls.
For instance, multiple parties could be liable in a car accident. The victim might assume that only the driver is liable, but an attorney’s investigation may reveal that faulty car parts also contributed to the accident. Filing a claim against both parties can increase the amount of compensation available.
4. Professional Negotiation Skills
An attorney’s experience navigating complex negotiations can be your greatest asset when seeking maximum compensation. Personal injury attorneys are trained negotiators who can level the playing field between victims and insurance companies.
They know when it’s appropriate to push for a better offer or when to take a case to trial. They can apply pressure to insurance adjusters at the right moments to convince them to make a favorable settlement offer.
