If you have been in an accident, you can expect to be contacted by the representatives of the at-fault driver’s insurance company. While interacting with the insurance company agents, keep in mind that they don’t get to decide liability in personal injury cases.
Yes, you might receive an email or a letter from them that states that they have concluded their liability investigation and ensured that you are the one who is at fault. We are here to tell you not to fall for this and other potential dirty tricks that insurers use when dealing with claimants.
What Potential Tricks Do Insurance Adjusters Use?
The lowball settlement trick is one of the most common techniques used by insurance adjusters, which is where they are very quick at reaching out to you and offering you a low settlement amount that is the bare minimum of the actual value of your case.
Mostly, the insurance adjusters will try to convince you that their offer is the best you can expect, and if you don’t accept it, you will risk losing everything.
Insurance adjusters might also play the dirty trick of delaying the claim to the point of taking months to formally process your claim, which can be incredibly frustrating.
Read Also: Legal Considerations for Adult Learners Pursuing Online Degrees at Cleveland State University
What Determines Liability and Fault?
There are certain things that determine liability and fault, which is where the importance of a judiciary system comes in. These things include the following factors:
- Documents
- Videos
- Pictures
- Witnesses
All of these factors play a crucial part in establishing who is actually at fault for the car wreck. Fault and liability cannot be based on the selfish opinions of insurance company adjusters. Some of these insurance adjusters might not even have a college degree.
But as things happen – you might think that the insurance adjusters are experienced and professionally trained people, especially if they are the ones sending you a letter and determining things involving accident reconstruction and physics.
Why Contacting A Lawyer is Crucial After an Accident?
You should never trust insurance companies after a car wreck as they might seem friendly – but their number one goal is to pay you the bare minimum on your personal injury claim.
On that note, you should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately after a car wreck. If you are at the hospital recovering from your injuries and getting treatment, ask a trusted loved one to hire a personal injury lawyer for you.
We advise hiring a lawyer that is from your state, such as the Staten Island Personal Injury Lawyer, if you reside in Staten Island, as the law differs from one state to another, and the personal attorney will deal with all matters related to your injury and take up matters with the insurers on your behalf, too.
What Does the Lawyer Do to Prove Liability?
Your lawyer will primarily rely on documents, data, evidence from the witnesses at the accident site, recorded statements of what the drivers say, the physics of the accident, surveillance camera footage, and any other pictures or evidence that can potentially prove how the accident occurred.
Your lawyer can also send their team out to look for skid marks and other physical signs that can establish evidence and tell a better story of what happened and who was at fault. On the other hand, the insurance adjusters might make a few phone calls only – but your lawyer, together with their team, will actually put people on the ground.
How Do Lawyers Prove Liability with the Help of Experts?
After you have hired a personal injury lawyer, it becomes their responsibility to protect your rights and to ensure that you get due compensation. They will hire experts who are trained in specific areas and can help the lawyer figure out whether it is causation liability.
So, your lawyer will rely on experts to get to the truth of the matter. It can be good news for you, but it can also be bad news – the point is that the lawyer – together with their team of experts, can get the answers instead of simply having to rely on what the insurance adjusters tell you.
Also, when it comes to witnesses, people can forget or they can lie about what happened. A lot of times, when people who have been in a car wreck receive letters from insurance adjusters that say that they have determined that the accident is not their fault – this actually happens when the adjusters only have gone so far as to make a call to their insured, who is the at-fault driver, in this case.
Of course, the insured will deny any fault whatsoever and blame things on you.
Who Is the Real Decision Maker in A Car Wreck Case?
After you have been in a car wreck and you have hired a personal injury lawyer, there is a lot going on. Your lawyer is typically getting more evidence, cross-examining witnesses and testing the validity of what everyone has to say.
In such a scenario, the decision-makers are the attorneys, the plaintiff’s lawyer, the plaintiff, the insurance company – everyone who is part of those negotiations. At some point, during these negotiations where you try to reach a fair settlement, you might not agree – the real decision makers will be the judge or the jury.
Even after the judge or the jury, you might have to go to the courts of appeals, where you have a panel of judges trying to determine whether a mistake was made or whether someone is right or wrong. The point is that the insurance adjusters aren’t the real decision makers but only the gatekeepers, which is why you should never reply to their conclusions but get a good lawyer on your side to help you get justice in the matter.
Final Thoughts
It is always in your best interest to make informed decisions with the help of a professional attorney if you have been in an accident. The personal injury lawyer will guide you on every step of the case and also negotiate on your behalf and increase the value of your settlement case.