Dealing with Insurance Companies After an Auto Accident
After a car accident, people often immediately contact their insurance company hoping that they will offer fair compensation for damages. Often, people discover a short time later that many of the costs involved with their claim were not covered. In severe accidents where there is injury as well as considerable vehicle damage, claims will frequently be refuted by insurance companies, and high costs fall upon the victims involved.
Before you decide to negotiate directly with the insurance company, and certainly before you sign any papers or accept any money, you should first consult with an experienced Los Angeles auto accident lawyer who has handled automobile accident cases of the kind related to your claim. Your automobile accident lawyer in Los Angeles can assess the evidence at hand and provide you with a reasonable estimate of what your claim is worth and what you should expect to receive, either through a settlement or in a judgment at trial.
The Effect of Comparative Negligence
Sometimes, both drivers in a car accident are considered to have contributed to the accident. In these situations, the court will assign a percentage of the comparative fault to each party. The allocation of a portion of the negligence does not keep an injured plaintiff from suing, but the amount the person can recover is reduced by the percentage of that person's negligence. Even if the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault, he or she can still recover from a negligent defendant for the portion of that person's negligence which contributed to the accident.
A person's comparative negligence may not have contributed to the accident itself, but may have contributed to the seriousness of the injury. For instance, if the plaintiff was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident and was thrown from the car and suffered a serious car accident injury in Los Angeles, the court may find the plaintiff partially at fault for the seriousness of the injury. Given the ability of the court to severely limit a plaintiff's recovery by allocating fault, it is critical that you be represented by an aggressive Los Angeles car accident attorney who can fight to ensure that the defendant is held fully accountable for his or her negligence or wrongful actions.
Contact an automobile accident lawyer in Los Angeles
Insurance companies make money by charging premiums, not by paying claims. Consequently, insurance companies will do all they can to minimize the amount they pay out. The insurance adjustor will almost always undervalue your claim, offering a settlement far below that which you are entitled to receive. For more information about insurance costs and statistics, see the Insurance Information Institute's article on rising insurance costs.
Even if you are dealing with your own insurance company on an uninsured motorist claim, do not be fooled into thinking that your insurance company is on your side. They will try to pay as little as possible, or deny the claim altogether if they can, the same as if it were the other driver's insurance company. For this reason, it is always in your best interest to contact an experienced auto accident attorney in Los Angeles after a serious accident.
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