Personal injury attorneys are going to hate me for telling you this, but it’s my job to protect your assets.
If you have a personal injury compensation claim, then you are at risk of being victimized a second time (and maybe even a third).
Please allow me to be your personal injury compensation guide, so that you can avoid losing out on the benefits you deserve. The fact is that insurance companies and lawyers aren’t out to help you get compensated for your personal injury compensation claim. The system is broken, to say the least.Insurance and Your Personal Injury Compensation Claim Guide
Insurance companies are typically owned by stockholders. Stockholders like profits. Every time an insurance company pays out on a personal injury compensation claim, profits go down. The reality is that insurance companies will do just about anything to avoid paying your personal injury compensation claim.
People are almost always surprised to learn that their own insurance companies have almost no interest in helping them get compensated. As an attorney, I hear people complaining about it all the time. For an insurance company, your personal injury compensation claim is just about the numbers. It’s not personal to them at all. Many insurance companies rely on a personal injury compensation claims calculator to determine what your injuries are worth. It doesn’t much more impersonal than that.
There is now a relatively new body of law called “Bad Faith” that is targeted at insurance companies and require that they act to protect their insureds at the risk of losing a lot of money. This is has helped things a little, but don’t ever make the mistake of believing that an insurance adjuster is your friend.
Rule Number One: The insurance companies are looking out for themselves and want to pays as little as possible on your personal injury compensation claim.
Personal Injury Attorneys
As an asset protection attorney, I spend a lot of time thinking about personal injury lawyers. There is one and only one reason that a personal injury attorney is interested in your personal injury compensation claim: Money. It’s true that a good attorney can help you navigate the murky waters of dealing with insurance companies on your personal injury compensation claim, but at what cost?
Some attorneys charge up to 40% of your recovery. So you are injured. You are suffering. The attorney gets 40% of what’s required to compensate you. Doesn’t seem fair, does it. On the upside, many attorneys have personal injury compensation claims calculators too, so they can often get you a higher settlement offer than you can get on your own.
How to Pursue Your Personal Injury Compensation Claim
First of all, remember that insurance companies are not your friend. Never settle without first getting the approval of an attorney. But before you hire an attorney, you can do some negotiating on your own. There is nothing wrong with presenting your case to the insurance company and starting negotiations on your personal injury compensation claim. In some cases, they may offer you the policy limits without the help of an attorney, in which case you just saved a lot of money.
Of course, if the policy limits dodn’t compensate you fully, you can still hire an attorney to go after a corporation or an individual with “deep pockets.” You just wouldn’t have to pay 40% of the policy limits to an attorney.
That’s point number two. Bring your negotiation skills with you when you hire an attorney. You may have to agree to pay their contingency fees, but only agree to pay a percentage on any amount they get you above what you’ve already negotiated.
For example, if an insurance company agreed to pay you $20,000 on your personal injury compensation claim but you believe it’s worth more and need an attorney, negotiate with the attorney to only give him or her a percentage of amount over $20,000. So if the attorney negotiates another $20,000 on your personal injury compensation claim for a total settlement of $40,000, then you will only pay the contingency fee on the latter $20,000 for a total fee (assuming 40% contingency of $8,000 to your attorney, as opposed to $16,000).
Only Hire the Best
As one final note, you should only hire the absolute best attorney available to take on your personal injury compensation claim. That means you need to do a little research to find a Board Certified Trial Lawyer (the title may vary, depending on what state you’re in). It’s well worth the effort, as board certified attorneys are required to demonstrate expertise in their practice areas, so it more likely that you’ll get what you pay for. Good luck!