Keep Your Guard Up

Someone who’s been seriously hurt in a car accident, work accident or other accident is rarely in a normal frame of mind. The pain, shock, fear and confusion following the ordeal clouds your thinking and leaves you vulnerable.

Insurance adjusters understand this and try to use it to their advantage. Adjusters have been known to reach the scene of an accident before emergency personnel. They’re looking for evidence and statements that could keep the insurer from having to pay out any claims.

Adjusters try to settle the case before you even know the extent of your injuries, before you receive medical treatment and before you get advice from a lawyer.

Regardless of what one might tell you, the insurance adjuster is not there to help you! His job is to save the company money by paying as little as possible for a settlement or refusing to pay altogether.

Insurance companies want to get you to sign a settlement agreement for far less than what you’re entitled, and they hope to get it while you’re not thinking clearly.

The Heuser & Heuser law firm has handled thousands of personal injury cases and helped clients recover millions of dollars in damages in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, the Arkansas Valley, Pikes Peak and elsewhere on the Front Range.

Common Tactics

Adjusters and the companies that employ them use a number of methods to avoid paying insurance claims. They want to establish that you’re not really hurt or that your injury is not their responsibility.

An accident victim’s medical records can be a great source for adjusters. If you have a previous medical condition, they will point to that as the cause for your present suffering rather than injuries you suffered in the accident.

The adjuster will use intimidation and scare tactics, pointing out a previous injury as the reason you’re seeking compensation and accusing you of insurance fraud. Sometimes the injured victim will settle even before a firm diagnosis is obtained from a doctor.

Do not give insurance adjusters permission to access your medical records.

Another strategy to scare you: They will try to force you to end treatment for an injury before its properly healed. They question whether more treatment is necessary and insinuate that it will not be covered and you’ll have to pay for it. This is why accident victims often settle too quickly and for too little because they’re afraid that if they don’t, they will never get their money.

What Can an Accident Victim Do?

First and foremost, don’t sign or agree to anything before you’ve had time to receive appropriate medical care and discussed with the right lawyer the effect that the accident will have on your life and that of your family.

That legal discussion should be with someone you trust and someone who understands all the ways a serious injury can change someone’s life. Our attorneys and staff at Heuser & Heuser know how to determine a fair settlement and we know how to counter the insurers’ attempts to deny that settlement.

And as your attorneys, we will not let you be rushed into anything. We are glad to answer questions and will keep you informed about your case all along the way.

Contact us today for free and get started on your case!