Automobile Accident Myths
MYTH – If I feel pain after an accident, I should wait and see if it goes away before seeing a doctor.
REALITY – This may be the worst thing you could do to your case. Every day you delay seeking treatment you increase the likelihood that the insurance company will question whether you were truly injured in the accident. Even if you can medically prove that you were injured, the insurance company will suspect that you suffered a subsequent injury. Neither the insurance company nor a jury will reward you for trying to "tough it out."
MYTH – I should try to settle the case myself and then call an attorney only if the insurance company doesn't pay my claim.
REALITY – This is like getting arrested and talking to the police before talking to a criminal defense lawyer. Every piece of evidence you provide to them and everything you say to them will be held against you, and nothing you provide to them or say to them will be construed in your favor. Remember, insurance companies make money by denying or at least undervaluing claims. Furthermore, our law firm will give you a free consultation with an experienced litigator. There simply is no reason not to at least consult an attorney.
When an injured victim tries to handle his claims himself, the insurance adjuster immediately begins building his or her case against the victim. He or she will usually ask for a recorded statement. The statement seems entirely benevolent and reasonable at the time, and it is usually conducted in a non-confrontational manner. However, it serves two purposes. First, the adjuster wants to gather evidence that will empower him or her to argue that you are partially at fault for the accident. Second, the adjuster wants to gather evidence that could be used to attack your injury claims. Both devalue your claim.
Our office only permits adjusters to take statements of our clients when liability is truly in question, which is extremely rare. Furthermore, before allowing our clients to give statements we thoroughly prepare them for the statement, and of course, we are present for all questioning.
The next item the adjuster will ask for is a medical authorization, allegedly to retrieve your medical records related to the accident. However, the authorizations they provide are unlimited in nature and permit the adjuster to rummage through any medical record on you that exists. If you have ever been treated for mental disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, drug or alcohol abuse, the adjuster will have access to this information. In addition, if you had ever injured the relevant parts of your body in the past, the adjuster will find the record of this and use this information to deny part or all of your injury claim, even if the previous injury was years in the past.
If you have already tried to negotiate your claim with the insurance company, we would still be happy to review your case. However, those who do this have often already caused irreparable damage to their case.
MYTH - The insurance company put me in a rental car and paid for my vehicle to be fixed without any problems. Surely it will not give me problems with my injury claim.
REALITY – Property damage claims are usually handled by a different adjuster in an entirely different department from injury claims. How the insurance company handles the property damage claim has little or no bearing on how it will handle an injury claim and vice versa. Furthermore, property damage claims are usually much simpler and have fewer points of contention than injury claims.
MYTH – The adjuster I have been working with is very friendly to me, and he or she will treat me fairly on my injury claim.
REALITY – Most adjusters do not take claims personally, for better or for worse. They are well aware that their job is protecting the insurance company by denying and/or undervaluing claims. Some of the friendliest and most personable adjusters our firm deals with are also some of the stingiest.
MYTH – My claim is relatively small and against a large, national insurer. It will want to spend its time fighting over big claims and will not want to go to the trouble and expense of fighting over my claim.
REALITY – The opposite is true. A small claim also means small risk exposure for the insurance company; and therefore, less reason to pay. Furthermore, national insurers such as Allstate, Progressive, State Farm, and Farmers streamline their claims and litigation processes to make it economically viable to fight even small claims. For small claims, they typically use computer software that cheaply and automatically assigns your claim a low case value.
In the case of Allstate and Farmers, if a claim turns into a lawsuit, they usually use their own employees to represent the at-fault driver. Accordingly, it does not add significantly to their costs even if they have to defend against a lawsuit.
MYTH – If I hire a lawyer, I'll have to go to court.
REALITY – Very few auto accident cases go to trial. Over the years, insurance companies have been gradually reducing the offers they make on cases, making them much harder to settle. This has caused a greater percentage of the cases to end up in litigation. However, many cases settle soon after a lawsuit gets filed. Many more settle at mediation a few months after suit is file.
If your case is one of the very few that actually has to go trial, our firm will make sure you are thoroughly prepared and will provide you with aggressive and experienced courtroom representation.
MYTH – I can't afford to hire a lawyer.
REALITY – The Robson Law Firm works on a contingent fee agreement. If you do not prevail on your claim, you will owe the firm nothing. If you do prevail, the size of the fee is always based on the amount of the recovery. Therefore, it is impossible for you to have to pay anything out of pocket to the Robson Law Firm.
MYTH – All law firms are the same.
REALITY – One of the reasons insurance companies are offering less than they used to on auto claims is that there is a large number of lawyers in Texas who are not willing to invest the time, trouble, and expense in litigating a case especially. The Robson Law Firm is not one of these type firms.
MYTH – My claim is an uninsured motorist claim with my own insurance company. They will treat their own customer fairly.
REALITY – Some of the worst insurance abuses in recent years have been by uninsured motorist carriers. The reason for this is that in 2006, the Texas Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and rendered an opinion that stripped customers of their strongest protections against abuses by their uninsured motorist carriers. The case also threw the procedures for adjudicating uninsured motorist claims into disarray. Both factors have emboldened uninsured motorist carriers to fight much more vigorously claims than they did in the past.
MYTH – I've always been told that people who hire lawyers and file lawsuits are greedy people looking for a handout. I'm just not that type.
REALITY – Do not believe the lies propagated by self-interested insurance companies and the politicians they finance to make the laws more favorable to them at the expense of individual rights. Most of our clients are normal, hardworking people who never thought of themselves as the litigious type. They certainly are not trying to get rich or reap a windfall. They have usually come to our firm, because the insurance company was either unresponsive to them or gave them reason to believe they would not treat them fairly and make them whole.
Furthermore, though we do not encourage every client to file a lawsuit, because it is not always in their interests to do so, their right to file a lawsuit and, if necessary, have a jury trial is enshrined in our federal and state constitutions. Thomas Jefferson called it "the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." James Madison stated that "trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature."
There is absolutely no shame in exercising one of our most sacred rights, and those who denigrate and try to weaken that right insult our nation's and our state's founding fathers and demean the brave men and women who have fought to secure and protect that right over the centuries.
