While there are a number of reasons why insurance companies will reject a personal injury claim, there are specific reasons that come up again and again, which we discuss in more detail below. If you’re filing a personal injury claim, keep in mind that it may include damages for past, present,and future medical bills, lost income, property damage (if applicable), and pain and suffering, etc.
1. Trying to cooperate, you made a statement to the insurance company. The biggest mistake that personal injury victims make is they talk to the insurance company or make an official “statement.” The problem is that without an attorney’s legal advice, they tend to say the wrong thing, which complicates the claims process. Our advice to all injured parties is to never speak with an insurance company without speaking to an experienced personal injury lawyer ahead of time.
2. Not filing a police report. Police reports are an important piece of the puzzle and when there isn’t one, the insurance company can make a big deal about it. If you’re ever involved in a car accident, make sure you call the police and ask the responding officer to please make a police report.
Sometimes, if someone isn’t injured, the police won’t make a police report. If you run into this problem, pull out your cellphone and try to record the at-fault driver on video or audio saying they’re sorry for running the red light, texting while driving, or blowing through the stop sign – whatever they did to cause the accident.
Audio or video evidence in the absence of a police report can help convince an insurance company that their policyholder is at-fault so they pay the claim to the accident victim.
3. Failing to seek medical attention. By their nature, car accidents are “exciting” events, but not in a good way. The adrenaline from a crash can delay pain for hours, if not days, tricking the accident victim into believing that they’re not hurt so they don’t seek medical attention. Once the adrenaline wears off, the pain starts to set in.
Regardless of the level of pain involved immediately following a crash, victims should seek medical attention right away. Because, if they don’t, the insurance company will argue: “Obviously, you weren’t hurt because if you were, you would have seen a doctor sooner.”
Like we mentioned earlier, car crash victims don’t always feel the pain at first because their body is flooded with adrenaline. Or, they’re so busy, they can’t easily take a day or two off work to see a doctor and a chiropractor and have a bunch of tests ran. Other times, victims don’t have affordable health insurance and they don’t want to go into debt seeing a doctor.
We see people not seek medical attention for so many reasons after a crash, but they have to make their health (and their personal injury claim) a priority. A personal injury attorney can ensure that the injured party receives the medical care they need, while minimizing the costs as much as possible. Victims should never avoid seeking medical treatment because they cannot afford it, nor should they suffer any money damages out of pocket.
Contact our firm to schedule a consultation with a Plano personal injury lawyer.