Broken Bone in a Car Accident: Do I Need a Lawyer?

The simple answer to this question is yes; you need a lawyer. Working with an experienced broken bone in a car accident lawyer significantly increases your chances of holding the other party accountable for their negligence and securing compensation for your injuries. To understand how a Morgan & Morgan broken bones lawyer can help, let's discuss what happens when you don't work with an attorney. 

What Happens When You Don't Hire a Broken Bones Attorney?

The fact that you've suffered several broken bones means the car accident was pretty serious. You're probably still in pain, your vehicle is most likely ruined, and you don't have any means to support your livelihood while recovering from your injuries. And if that's not painful and stressful enough, the other party's insurance company probably disputes your claim.

But if they don't, they've most likely offered less than what you deserve as compensation. One thing you need to keep in mind is that insurance is business. And the main goal of a business is to limit losses and increase profits. 

So when you file a car accident claim with an insurance company, they won't just write you a check without investigating your claim. And you'd be surprised if you thought that insurance companies care about you. In fact, the more injured you are, the more challenging it is to file a successful claim.

This is because more injuries mean more medical bills. As a result, the insurer will send their claims adjusters to investigate the accident. While claims adjusters may seem nice and friendly, you should never forget that their client's interests come first. 

So whatever you tell them could be used against you when negotiating a reasonable settlement for your injuries. Through their claims adjusters, insurers might even ask you to provide a recorded statement about the accident. They will convince you that your statement will help them process your claim even faster, but that's not always the case.

You risk losing the entire claim if you don't know what you should or shouldn't say to a claims adjuster. This is because insurance companies will use your statements against you. That's why they'll ask you to write it down. 

If you change your mind later and provide a different statement or leave out an important fact, the insurer will present your recorded statement to prove inconsistencies. And when it comes to personal injury cases, the last thing you want is to provide contradictory statements.

These are not the only tactics insurance companies use to deny the plaintiff their right to compensation after their insured's negligence. Some insurance providers will use delay tactics to frustrate their clients. Others will process your claim quickly. However, did you know that delaying your claim or processing it quickly could be one of the many tactics insurers use to prevent you from getting the most out of your settlement? 

Here's a quick look at both scenarios. 

Why Insurance Companies Delay Your Claim

Some insurance companies delay your claim, hoping you'll run out of patience and accept any settlement offer. This tactic works most of the time because the insurer knows that the accident victim is desperate for a settlement. 

It's not cheap to treat broken bones. It's even more expensive when you need surgery. The insurer knows that you desperately need money. As a result, they'll delay your claim, allowing enough time for the bills to pile up. 

Remember, depending on the nature and severity of your injuries, you may not be able to go to work. The insurance provider knows that you can't pay your bills when you don't work. Even if your health insurance covers your medical costs, it won't pay your rent or compensate you for the hours you didn't work because of the injury. At the same time, your landlord won't stop asking for rent because you got involved in a car accident and broke several bones. By the end of the month, you'll be staring at piles of bills. That's when the frustration kicks in.

When you've run out of options and borrowed money from anyone you can think of, your last resort will be to remind the insurance company about your claim. And when you constantly call them to find out the latest update regarding your claim, they'll know that you're desperate.

At that particular moment, chances are they'll propose an offer. But you won't even have the time to decide whether the proposed amount is worth it. You'll be so desperate to accept anything to clear your bills and resume your normal life.

This is one mistake you'll live to regret for quite a long time. When you sign the release of settlement, it means you've waived your right to sue the insurance company over the same accident in exchange for the agreed settlement amount. So when you later discover that your case was worth more than what the insurance company offered, you'll not be able to sue. 

Things can go from bad to worse when you discover that you need additional treatment for your broken bones. Even worse, your doctor could recommend that you stay away from work longer than expected. This means you'll need more money to settle your bills when you're not working. When that happens, the insurance company won't want anything to do with you. They'll even dare you to go to court because they know you ruined your chances of receiving a fair settlement when you accepted the initial offer. 

Why Insurance Companies Might Process Your Claim Faster Than Usual 

When the insurer contacts you to process your claim, especially after you've suffered injuries caused by their insured's negligence, you may interpret this as good faith. But one thing you need to know is that anything insurance companies do is all about protecting their own interests. 

In this case, they know that right after an accident, you may not know what you may be entitled to as compensation. And they also know how much your claim may be worth. But that's not something you'd expect them to tell you. 

The first thing insurance companies do when you notify them about the accident is to send their claims adjuster to investigate the accident. For example, in the case of a car accident, the adjuster will examine the car's condition and other facts surrounding the case to find any reason to pay you less than what you're entitled to. 

When the adjuster realizes that their insured was clearly at fault and there's no way to deny your claim, they'll notify the insurer. The insurer will then contact you to process your claim while sounding like they actually care about you. They'll keep contacting you, hoping to close the case as soon as possible. 

These companies won't tell you about the statute of limitations for filing a claim for your specific type of injury. The statute of limitations is the time a plaintiff has to file a claim against the defendant. The clock begins to count from the moment you get injured or should've discovered the injury. 

Most car accident claims have a statute of limitations of around two years. However, the exact deadline varies from state to state. The insurer will most likely try to rush you into accepting a settlement despite knowing you have enough time to speak with an attorney.

The fact that you have enough time to speak with an attorney actually motivates insurance companies to process your claims even faster. This is because they know when you hire an attorney, especially from a giant personal injury law firm like Morgan & Morgan, there is a huge possibility that you may receive more than the initial offer. 

Remember, many insurers assume that you don't know what you may be entitled to as compensation for your injuries. For example, other than medical costs, you may be able to recover lost wages, loss of earning potential, out-of-pocket expenses, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, etc. The exact damages you may be able to recover vary depending on the nature of the accident. 

A seasoned attorney will evaluate your case, gather important facts, and then negotiate a reasonable settlement with the other party. At Morgan & Morgan, we've helped our clients recover over $20 billion in total as compensation for their injuries. Our lawyers have dealt with different insurance companies, big and small. We know the various tactics such companies use to deny injury victims the compensation they are entitled to. For this reason, you can count on our attorneys to formulate the best legal strategy to counter these tactics and help you obtain a reasonable settlement for your injuries.