You may pursue a personal injury recovery if you’ve been hurt by another’s negligence. Whether you’ve been hurt in a vehicle accident, a slip and fall on someone’s property, a workplace accident, or another way, you may have the right to seek compensation for your injuries.
Types of Personal Injury Insurance
The circumstances surrounding your accident injuries dictate what type of insurance will come into play in a personal injury lawsuit. Here are some of the types of insurance that could be involved in a personal injury claim:
- Auto insurance (car, truck, or motorcycle accident)
- Commercial insurance (such as for a trucking company)
- Business liability insurance (slip and fall or other injury at a business)
- Homeowners insurance (when you are hurt at someone’s home)
Some cases may involve more than one type of insurance.
Know What Your Case Is Worth
When someone else is responsible for your accident injuries, you have the right to recover for past, current, and future costs and damages. Your recovery should include compensation for:- Medical expenses, including medical transport, hospitalizations, surgeries, doctors’ appointments, medications, physical therapy, and other rehabilitation therapies
- Lost income, including lost wages, benefits, and self-employment income
- Repair of your vehicle
- Pain and suffering you experience because of the accident.
Insurance companies are responsible for negotiating personal injury settlements and paying personal injury claims. You or your personal injury lawyer will negotiate with the insurance company for a fair recovery. When you reach a settlement, you will sign papers before you receive your money. The settlement terms often make seeking further compensation for your accident injuries impossible. Therefore, it is essential to know what your case is worth before you agree to an accident settlement.
Negotiating with Insurance Companies
Your Pasadena personal injury lawyer will value your damages and negotiate with the right insurers on your behalf.
In personal injury cases, the insurance company adjuster’s goal is to pay out as little as possible and get you to settle the case out of court.
Taking a case to trial can be very expensive, and the insurance company may offer you an immediate settlement amount to prevent a case from being opened or going to court. The insurer is counting on the fact that you will settle quickly because you are worried about money and want to avoid the stress of filing a personal injury lawsuit. However, the initial settlement offer often comes before you know the full extent of your damages and may not fully compensate you for all of your accident injuries.
How to Handle the Insurance Adjuster
The insurance adjuster will call you after an accident. Our experienced Pasadena personal injury lawyers encourage you to say as little as possible to the adjuster. The adjuster’s questions may be designed to trick you. They want you to say something that will remove some of the blame or liability from their insured and onto you or another party. They will be looking to establish factors that can help reduce their financial burden, such as preexisting medical conditions or other factors that they can use to argue that their level of blame for the accident should be reduced.
Negotiating with insurance can be challenging and intimidating. They may pressure you to accept an initial settlement offer that doesn’t fairly compensate you for your injuries. Accordingly, we encourage you to tell the insurance company that an attorney represents you and to share your lawyer’s name and contact information with the insurance adjuster. You should then request that all further communication be handled with your Pasadena personal injury lawyer.
Working with a Pasadena personal injury lawyer who has experience dealing with all types of insurance companies is important if you want to ensure you’re receiving fair compensation for all of your damages. They can take over discussions and negotiations with insurance companies, taking the burden off you and advising you when and if a settlement amount seems fair.