What if I don’t get an attorney?
People ask me all of the time, ‘what is the worst part of your job’? I am always disappointed to see people that have been injured decide to not get legal representation from us or any other law firm.
On occasion we are interviewed by prospective clients that truly don’t think they need an attorney. They believe that they are wasting money on attorney’s fees and that they will get the same settlement, with or without an attorney. These situations are tough as these individuals rarely get what they should have. Often I learn about how little their compensation was or worse yet, I will get a call a year later and find out the insurance company dragged their feet or refused to treat them fairly.
There are times that we won’t hear from someone for over a year, and then they come back and say ‘you probably don’t remember me, but we met, and I decided to try it on my own’. They ask us to engage a year later! Usually we could have had their case resolved long before they did, and to add insult to injury, our compensation amounts are usually substantially higher than the ‘best offer’ they were told they were receiving from the insurance company. There really is no substitute for good legal representation.” Ed
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Interview with an Insurance Company outside attorney
Tim R. is an attorney from Illinois that has been representing insurance companies for many years. His firm works with many insurance companies and is the last line of defense. If the claim has not been settled by the company’s adjusters, or in house counsel, the case is given to Tim’s firm to defend at trial. Below are excerpts from an interview with Tim.
”Every lawyer will tell you that as soon as they graduate from law school, they get a lot of requests for advice. When people find out what I do, their next question is usually “Do I really need an attorney if I am in an accident”? I always tell them the same thing; insurance companies are in the business of making money, nothing else. None of the companies that I represent will ever attempt to intentionally pay less than a claim is worth, but it’s my job to ensure they never pay more than it’s worth and I am very good at what I do. The question is; how do you determine what its worth? No two cases are the same. No matter how much a company will try to put a specific injury in a box, and attempt to pay a consistent amount for a similar injury, the personal impact of that injury always determines what a claim is worth. A good attorney representing someone that is injured will make sure that all factors that have impacted the life of the plaintiff are highlighted at trial. My job is to ensure those factors are not disregarded, but by no means highlighted. The answer to the question is simple; if you are legitimately injured CALL AN ATTORNEY IMMEDIATELY. Your chance of winning a case goes up dramatically with good legal representation”.
Interview with an Independent Insurance Adjuster
Mike J is a former owner of an independent claims adjusting service. His company worked for over 100 insurance companies, handling both property and casualty claims. Often his company was hired if an insurance company wanted to save money on the claim processing, but also for specific types of claims where Mikes Company had a proven ability to pay less for a specific type of loss then what was paid by internal adjusters. They were also brought in to support insurance company adjusters during catastrophe claims and would often mobilize a large force of adjusters following hurricanes or other large scale disasters.
”The insurance industry is not one I miss. It was exciting at times, but I saw it change dramatically over the years. As insurance companies became more and more pressured to drive profits, their internal adjusters became more and more fixated on loss ratios and settlement payouts. They were often conflicted between their desire to take care of their customers, and a compensation system that rewarded them for minimizing claims.
The problem with this is that it trickled down to us. We were ‘rewarded’ for our stingy payouts by getting more files. I can’t even tell you how many clients we lost because we insisted on paying the correct amount. While the claim amount we recommended may have been paid for that specific file, you could guarantee we would never get another file from that company for that type of claim if they believed our settlement was too high. It didn’t pay to be a good guy.
We handled claims of all types, we typically billed by the hour, in some cases we would flat rate ‘simple’ claims like auto appraisals which means we wanted to get them done quick. Some of our clients gave us settlement authority which means we could get one of their insured’s to sign a Release of All Claims and arrange for all payments immediately. I was also a great salesperson which means I would often convince someone they were getting a great deal, when they were in reality getting a sufficient deal.
My goal was never to screw someone, but never pay more than I had to. The mission is the same for anyone in the insurance industry; pay as little as you can for any given claim. We measured our success by the number of files we would receive each month, most of our business was repeat, and we were highly thought of and well respected not because we were great guys, but because we kept claims payouts to a minimum.
We were always fair, but our insurance companies knew we had an extensive network of contractors, auto parts suppliers, and body shops, and knew many local officials such as fire inspectors, fire marshals, law enforcement, building inspectors, structural engineers, etc. Our expertise was in relationships, knowledge of policies and the loopholes within, and our ability to not care beyond what we were required to. If there was a way to deny a claim or minimize the liability of a claim through exclusion in the policy, we would find that provision. Most of our adjusters had many years of experience. Taking on companies like ours without an expert in your corner is a very bad idea.
Interview with an individual who fought without an attorney
Brian P is an avid bicyclist, typically riding 15-20 miles a day and a frequent participant in triathlons. He served in the Marine Corps for many years and managed a local bicycle shop after his days in the service. One day while out for his daily ride, he was hit by a car that made a left turn into the side of his bicycle.
“I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the car start pulling out. I was riding on a busy street and the car had to accelerate quickly to enter traffic. He hit me hard and I was thrown 20 feet. My bike was a custom, worth a ton, but that was the least of my worries when I was hit. I had experienced some problems with my knees while in the Marines, but knew that any past problems were nothing compared to what I was about to face. My knee was crushed, a gash in my head, broken arm, I was a wreck.
I received a call very quickly from the insurance company of the guy who hit me. It’s been 18 months but I am still fighting with them so I will withhold their name, but let’s just say everyone knows the name of this company. The adjuster was very nice; she immediately asked me to get some numbers together on my bike and really made me feel like this was not going to be a big deal. I felt that they were going to take care of me and they quickly offered to pay for my bike.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, told me to get an attorney, but things went so well initially that I truly thought I would come out way ahead by just doing it myself. I had no desire to give away 30%. Then the medical bills started coming in, and my ‘nice’ adjuster informed me that they would not make progress payments, but would make the payout at the end of my treatment.
Soon, I started to get in a mess with some collectors, some of the bills were 6 months old, I explained the situation, but nothing worked. I was up to about $60,000 in bills when I started to get concerned. Communication with the adjuster started to get less and less, everything became difficult. And then the ‘news’ came, she informed me that this policy possessed a very low payout limit, that they were concerned this limit was exceeded and no payments would be made until all costs were disclosed and treatment fully completed. They wouldn’t even tell me what the limit was of the guy who hit me! I knew I was in trouble.
I started calling around; I even called some of the attorneys I had called originally to get “free consultations”. Some of these attorneys were sympathetic, but in general most did not fail to remind me that they ‘told me so’.
So anyways, as of the time of this interview, I am 18 months into the ordeal, not a dollar of my medical has been paid. The settlement I was offered is less then my bills. I finally have an attorney but I can say that at this point, I have really screwed this up. I never should have done this on my own”.
What is the cost?
The costs of not choosing to use an attorney can be substantial. The costs of using the wrong attorney can be even higher. All attorneys are not created equal. If you get paid $60,000 on a claim where you should have received $100,000 you just lost money. The chances of losing money go down substantially by doing two things:
1) Hire an attorney
2) Hire the right attorney
Please give us a call!
Our consultations are free, our fees are low; we are only paid if you get paid, and we will get you the most that you deserve. Call us today. Don’t try to take on an industry without an experienced law firm in your corner.
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570-714-4878
