Legal Blog

There are several dishonest tactics utilized by insurance companies to minimize and avoid payment of these claims, and an injured party should be extremely careful in any dealings they have with the accident liability insurance company. Insurance adjusters are trained to “take control of the case” and “gain the trust” of the injured victim, and having done so then utilize various tactics to lull the person who is disabled and/or hurting, into doing things they would not ordinarily do in taking care of their injury, and then find out later that they were deceived by the insurance adjuster to create pretexts for denial of the claim. 

One example of the common devices or schemes insurance companies use to minimize and deny payment to an injured victim is through the utilization of so-called computer analysis of the claim. They will tell a person that their claim has been analyzed by the computer and the computer has generated the settlement value of the claim. This lends an air of authenticity to the offer, when in fact this is perhaps the most dishonest tactic utilized by the insurance industry to gain profits they do not deserve at the expense of injured people. 

Insurance companies employ a variety of tricks and schemes to avoid or reduce payments owed to an injured person. It is impossible to list or fully explain each and every one of their tactics. The intention of the following list, however, is to provide you with some warning when you see the following schemes being implemented in your case.

1. A TELEPHONE CALL WITH THE INSURANCE COMPANY IN WHICH THEY INFORM YOU THAT THE CALL IS BEING MONITORED FOR SO-CALLED “TRAINING OR QUALITY CONTROL PURPOSES”. This is nothing more than a clever way to violate your privacy rights and they are in fact recording your phone call. The law requires that you consent to the recording of the call, however, they get around this requirement by informing you of the “monitoring” and if you do not object, they will claim that you impliedly consented to the recording. Why are they recording your phone call? They alleged reason is to train or maintain “quality control”, but the actual reason is that in these phone calls they will often ask you what appear to be innocent questions, but in fact are designed to trap you into making a mistake which they can exploit in defending your claim. When they ask you to describe the accident, it is not to educate them concerning the facts of the case. They have contact with their insured, and if there has been a police report, they have the report to review. What information are you going to add to make them pay a claim that they would other wise deny? If their insured has admitted fault to them, the only reason that they would want a statement from you is to see if you say something inadvertently that can allow them to evade payment. If their insured has not admitted responsibility, it is rather naive to expect that your different version is going to encourage the insurance company to pay a claim which their insured has conveniently given them an excuse to deny. In summary, there is no advantage to you whatsoever to give any recorded statements to any insurance company, unless you are represented by counsel at the time of the recording. It should also be pointed out that having recorded your statement, they will almost always refuse to provide you with a copy of the statement. They will certainly refuse to provide you with a copy of their insured’s statement. Since you do not have access to the statement, you should also consider the possibility that your statement, since it is completely within the control of the company that owes you payment, can be altered and/or edited, or perhaps conveniently “lost”, in the event that it is to their advantage. Never give a recorded statement when you do not have simultaneous access to the recording to guarantee that it is not altered or edited to your disadvantage.

Choosing the right personal injury attorney may be the most important decision an injured person makes in the presentation of a bodily injury claim following an automobile accident, or any other personal or bodily injury claim, such as motorcycle, pedestrian, truck or bike accidents. 

Unfortunately, there are very little legal rules in place to guarantee that a lawyer holding themselves out as an expert in personal injury litigation is in fact qualified in the field. California does not have a specialization requirement for personal injury attorneys, and sadly, the law permits any licensed attorney to accept and handle cases for personal injuries, no matter how complex or involved! 

Of critical importance is that the client should find out how much knowledge the attorney has of the particular injury you have suffered? An experienced personal injury lawyer should have a wide range of medical knowledge, and be well-versed in the specifics of your injury, otherwise they will not know how to present the claim to the insurance company, and just as importantly, without knowledge of the medicine involved in your injury, the attorney will not be qualified to monitor the care the injured person is receiving. 

Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine injuries (back and neck injuries), which are quite common, have very specific diagnostic needs as well as treatment needs. Failing to recognize issues can have a very harmful effect on eventually winning your case if the attorney does not understand the issues. Yet another example is in the case of a head or concussion type of injury. Doctors often misdiagnose or fail to treat this injury, and it is very important for the lawyer to recognize early on the issues related to any sort of head injury. The person who has suffered a head injury will also often not even realize they are suffering post-concussion or head injury symptoms. Many times, the injured person or client will not even know they have suffered a concussion or other type of head injury, and it is crucial that the attorney makes an early inquiry into the existence of this injury. 

The answer to this question is perhaps the easiest answer of all. A consultation with a personal injury attorney should never cost you anything! Any attorney that would charge you for merely consulting them regarding the merits of your case is an attorney you should avoid. Any competent, reliable personal injury attorney will provide you, at no charge, a free consultation to discuss the merits of your case and answer questions you may have concerning your rights and how to proceed with your case. Since consulting with an attorney will not cost you anything, you should consult with a personal injury attorney who is an expert in the field of your particular case as soon as possible following your injury.

Dealing with the insurance company without having first consulted an attorney is a risky proposition, at best, and all too often leads to situations where the insurance company is able to deny your claim, or reduce the payment. Insurance companies are experts in implementing ploys that allow them to evade paying people what is owed to them, and if you wait to consult an attorney until after the insurance company has successfully implemented its plan to avoid paying you, all too frequently it is too late for an attorney to stop it.