Knowing your Legal Rights if Injured
Being involved in an automobile collision can be a serious challenge, both physically and financially.
Many individuals fail to get full medical care and treatment in the beginning. Some injured people are more concerned about getting their car fixed rather than attending to current and future physical needs.
If you do not go and get evaluated and treated by a physician for your accident-related injuries, you are not protecting yourself physically and this can affect your ultimate compensation.
Adjusters often contact an injured person early about property damage, the claim that they “need” a statement or for the need to sign “papers.”
Beware as insurance adjusters will likely attempt to minimize the injuries and get an injured person to make a recorded statement.
Don’t take chances. Before giving statements or signing “papers” consult a lawyer right away. Most lawyers provide free initial consultations and it is important to know your rights before making mistakes.
The Insurance Adjuster Works for the Insurance Company NOT an Injured Person and don’t rely on an insurance adjuster to tell you your rights
Knowing your legal rights if injured early on is so critical because insurance company representatives work for the insurance company and not for the injured person. Injured people need to know what to do and not to do, they need to know what they are entitled to and how much their claim is worth. Get a lawyer.
Without the benefit of legal representation, statements taken by an insurance adjuster can be used against an injured person and claims can be unfortunately settled “on the cheap” by these crafty insurance adjusters for far less than full value.
Adjusters are trained to sound cooperative and act cooperative but as lawyers have told clients, “you should not have ever talked to the insurance company.”
If you have any serious injuries, call an attorney who concentrates in Personal Injury Law and allow that attorney to start working for you from day one. At our firm, The Law Office of Stephen Patrick Rapp, Quincy, Illinois, we contact with the insurance company for you.
Mistakes Injured People Make and Why an Injured Person Needs an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer
Injured people make mistakes. They just don’t know what to do and then the nice phone call from the other driver’s insurance company wanting a statement and wanting to “take care of everything.”
Don’t be fooled! You are not required to “give a statement” and you don’t need to sign “some papers.” Oftentimes the skilled adjuster attempts to place blame on you (after your statement) and clients have expressed their shock at what that “nice” insurance adjuster did once they got back to their office. In very serious cases, adjusters will visit an injured person in the hospital! Instead of “cooperating” call or have a trusted love one call an attorney.
Every case deserves the benefit of an attorney’s review, Stephen Patrick Rapp believes that injured people frequently make the following general mistakes:
- Failing to notify authorities after a collision
- Speaking with an insurance adjuster instead of a lawyer
- Failing to obtain medical care
- Failing to contact an attorney promptly.