The number the insurance company gives you first is almost never the number they are willing to settle for. That is not a cynical take on the industry. It is simply how the process is structured. Adjusters are trained to open low, and they open low because a significant percentage of people accept whatever number […]
Should I Settle My Car Accident Claim Before Finishing Medical Treatment
The honest answer is almost certainly no, and the reason why is more concrete than most people expect. It is not about being cautious or patient or following legal advice in the abstract. It is about a specific mathematical problem: you cannot calculate what your damages are worth until you know what your damages are. […]
What Is a Low-Ball Settlement Offer and How Do I Fight It
A lowball settlement offer is not always easy to recognize because the number itself does not come with a label. The insurance company does not call you and say the offer is unfair. They present it as reasonable, sometimes as generous, occasionally with language suggesting it reflects everything you have been through. The number sounds […]
Who to Contact When an Insurance Company Denies Your Car Accident Claim
Getting a denial letter from an insurance company after a car accident is one of the more disorienting things that can happen to you. You were in a crash. You did everything right. You filed the claim. And now you are holding a letter that says no. The instinct for most people at that point […]
Can I Refuse to Sign a Medical Authorization Form for the Insurance Company
Yes, you can refuse. And in many situations, you should. But the more important question is what you are actually being asked to hand over when you sign one of these forms, because most people who sign them have no idea how broad they are until it is too late. The form the insurance adjuster […]
How Insurance Companies Use Injury Evaluation Software to Lowball Settlements
If you have reported a car accident injury claim to an insurance company, there is a very good chance that your injuries have already been evaluated by a computer program before a human being formed an opinion about what your case is worth. That program did not examine you. It did not read your medical […]
Should I Sign a Release of Claims If I’m Still Treating for Injuries
If someone from an insurance company has put a release of claims in front of you while you are still going to doctors, still dealing with pain, still figuring out whether you are going to need surgery or physical therapy or months of additional treatment, the short answer is no. You should not sign it. […]
What Is Collision Coverage and How Does It Work After an Accident
Collision coverage pays for physical damage to your vehicle when it is involved in a collision, regardless of who caused the accident. That sentence is the definition, and it contains the word that matters most: regardless. The reason that word carries so much weight is that every other source of vehicle repair money available to […]
How Is Fault Determined in a Car Accident
The word “fault” sounds like it has an obvious meaning. Someone did something wrong, someone caused the crash, and whoever that person is bears the legal and financial responsibility for what happened. If only the process of establishing that fact worked as cleanly as the concept implies. In reality, fault determination in a car accident […]
Permanent Injury Compensation After a Car Accident
There is a specific moment in the treatment of a serious accident injury when the conversation with your doctor changes register. For weeks or months, the implicit premise of every appointment has been improvement: a trajectory, a protocol, a projected destination somewhere ahead where you resemble the person you were before. Then, at some point, […]