After the accident, you may hear from your own claims adjuster as well as the other driver’s insurance adjuster. Your insurance adjuster is entitled to more information from you. It is necessary that you cooperate in the investigation with your insurance company as much as possible.
It is also possible around this time that the other party’s insurance adjuster might call you and request a recorded statement. Our car accident attorneys strongly recommend that our clients not give this statement. This is because any statement you give to the other party’s insurance company can, and often will be, used against you.
Here are some of the common traps people may fall into if they end up giving a statement to the other party’s insurance company. Please be mindful in the days following your accident and avoid such pitfalls and conversations.
• Resorting to guesswork. When the other party’s insurer calls you, they may act as if they are just out to have an informal discussion with you. However, nothing may be farther from the truth. These statements are recorded with the purpose of being used against you later, particularly if there are perceived inconsistencies or inaccuracies in your statement. For many of us, making reasonable guesses about what happened is pretty common. However, indulging in guesswork when you talk to the insurance company can cause serious problems especially if you end up filing a claim later.
• Not having an attorney present. Many who are contacted by the other party’s insurance company tend to jump to the conclusion that they need to respond right away and that they don’t have the right to have an attorney present during the statement. Insurance companies usually call accident victims soon after the collision. They may give you the impression that you are legally obligated to respond right away and provide a statement. But this is not the case. You have the right to have your own injury lawyer present at the time of providing such a statement, and you can refuse to give any statement to the other car’s insurance company.
• Ambiguous questions. Insurance companies are trained to ask ambiguous questions and often, leading questions. When you answer these questions without the help of an attorney, it may later appear that you are being unclear, inaccurate or inconsistent with your responses. In other words, if you are not aware of the tactics used by insurance companies, they may try to take advantage of you. When you have an experienced personal injury lawyer by your side, he or she can help you deal with these tactics and deliver the right type of responses.
• Getting into an argument. In some cases, representatives for the insurance company may try to provoke you to see if you get angry or argumentative. They may record and use such conversations to make it appear that you were trying to be unreasonable. This is another pitfall you would want to avoid.
Seeking Compensation
Car accidents may involve driver negligence resulting from behavior such as speeding or driving at an unsafe speed given the traffic conditions, distracted driving, operating a vehicle while impaired or intoxicated, failure to follow the rules of the road including not yielding the right of way etc.
Victims of such incidents may seek compensation for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. The family of a deceased victim here can file a wrongful death claim and seek compensation for lost future income, medical and funeral costs, pain and suffering, etc.
How an Experienced Lawyer Can Help
If you or a loved one has been injured in a traffic accident, or if you have lost a loved one in a traffic accident caused by a negligent driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
For over 49 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
