Happy Memorial Day! As we head out to the malls, parks and beaches today it goes without saying to exercise due care and diligence to avoid accidents and injury in consideration of the fact that traffic will be increased all over America which means an increased risk of mistakes.
In this respect, keep in mind that insurance adjusters and generally in the business of finding ways to pay less than the value of valid injury claims or outright denial of said claims whenever they can notwithstanding that you were not at fault.
All sorts of reasons and ‘explanations’ have been tendered by various insurance adjusters including but not limited to low impact damages on accidents not having causal relationship to the injuries sustained; treatment gaps suggesting that the victim may have been injured elsewhere; inadequate documentation to disallow medical expenses/ lost wages and that the victim contributed to the accident due to negligence on their part.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that these topics and others have been discussed in detail previously so I will not go into detail. However, in order to mitigate these risks and protect yourself and the strength of your claim, ensure that you quickly seek medical treatment once you are injured; diligently stick with your doctor’s or physical therapist’s recommended treatment schedule; properly document your medical expenses/ lost wages including leave hours taken; and do not speak with an insurance adjuster before speaking with your attorney.
Personal injury cases are handled on a contingent fee basis (no recovery, no fee) and consultations are free therefore there is no reason to speak to an insurance adjuster before at a minimum running it by a personal injury lawyer.
In any event, we wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day holiday. As always, stay alert, diligent and safe.