After suffering a personal injury, you must act prudently while settling your claim to have the best chance of gaining full compensation. You must proceed carefully to protect your rights after an accident or crash.
Seeking help from a Philadelphia Personal Injury Lawyer can help you avoid the tedium of an insurance company runaround. After you are hurt in a car accident, the last thing you will want to think of is how to deal with the insurance company. Adopting the right strategy at the start will be a good decision.
5 Steps That You Will Help You In Your Personal Injury Claim
- Make notes after a motorcycle accident, car accident, slip and fall accident or any other accident. This will help you remember the events and timeline of the accident.
- For a successful personal injury claim, it is important to preserve the evidence.
- Get all your medical records. This will increase the chances of receiving compensation.
- Seek immediate medical attention after facing an accident. In addition to protecting your health, an examination by a doctor will help document your injuries and can be crucial evidence in your legal claim.
- Provide only basic facts to your insurance adjuster. Insurance adjusters frequently try to manipulate people.
- Do not sign any agreement before taking advice from a legal expert.
Following these steps will increase your chance of getting fair compensation. An Injury Lawyer can help you develop the correct course of action in resolving any claim for your accident.
Carelessness rule: Essential for full compensation
Car accidents or other motor vehicle accidents happen due to the negligence of others. One of the basic rules of negligence is that if one person was less careful than another, the less careful individual will be responsible for the damages.
Negligence awards can also be determined by other considerations:
- Comparative fault rules apply. If the injured victim was also careless, and shares some responsibility for the injury, then the damage award for the accident will be reduced;
- When an accident happens due to the negligence of an employee acting within the terms of their work, the employer may also be held liable for any damage;
- If an injury happens on a property because of poor maintenance, the property owner may be held liable for the damages caused;
- If an injury happens because of a defectively designed or manufactured product, the manufacturer or seller or both might be held liable for the damages caused.
Negotiating With The Insurance Provider Is A Key To Getting A Fair Settlement
You may confront huge medical bills after you suffer any sort of accident or injury. You may need to negotiate with both your insurance company and that of the responsible parties. In order to negotiate successfully, you may need legal assistance, or, if the negotiations have stalled, you may wish to have an attorney help you prepare a demand letter.
In your negotiation, you must be prepared to present all supporting documents. This may make the negotiating process easier. An insurance company adjuster may try to rely only upon telephone calls. Therefore, before the negotiation process begins to unfold you may wish to make a negotiating strategy.
Some Quick Tips That Will Help You In Negotiating:
- You must have a settlement amount in your mind before coming to any conclusion.
- In case you get a reservation of rights letter from the insurance company you must not feel scared. You must keep in mind that the settlement amount should not be minimal. You must be careful not to accept any settlement offer which is inadequate, or which will not leave you fully compensated for all of your damages.
- The insurance adjuster will seek to decide the strengths and weaknesses of your claim. He is working for the insurance company and will seek to keep the amount of any offer as low as possible. Make a list of the strong points that help turn the case in your favor, and insist on these points in discussions with the insurance adjuster.
- Do not settle at the first offer given by the insurance companies.
- If you and the insurance adjuster DO agree on the settlement amount and you receive an acceptable offer, then you must sign the agreement without any delay, before any stated deadline.
Following these tips will help you in the process of negotiations. If negotiations fail, you should not hesitate to seek advice from an attorney.
Want to file an injury claim? Contact an attorney.
With more than 30 years of experience, The Law Offices of Samuel Fishman have helped injury victims to seek compensation for their injury claims. Schedule a free case consultation to learn more about your legal options. Call us today at 267-498-5683 to discuss your injury case.