ALPHARETTA INSURANCE ATTORNEY

Many factors come into play to file a persuasive insurance claim that helps you recover the financial losses generated due to a car accident. The most important factor in determining the status of an insurance claim concerns how you handle the aftermath of an auto crash.

Call 911

Calling 911 activates both the emergency healthcare and law enforcement systems to respond to an auto collision. Emergency healthcare personnel transport you to the nearest medical facility if you sustained serious injuries, while law enforcement personnel stabilize a volatile accident scene by securing the perimeter. The law enforcement officers that respond to the scene of a car accident also conduct a thorough investigation that produces the official incident report. Your insurance attorney in Alpharetta, GA refers to the official incident report to decide whether to take legal action against the other party involved in the collision.

Seek Medical Attention

Getting medical care after a serious car accident should be your priority. Even if you feel healthy enough to remain at the scene of a crash, you should eventually visit your primary healthcare provider to undergo diagnostic tests that determine your health status. Getting medical care also involves undergoing treatments for your injuries, as well as completing physical therapy sessions. Medical care represents by far the costliest expense that your insurance company pays for in the aftermath of a vehicle collision.

Gather Physical Evidence

Although law enforcement personnel conduct an investigation that includes gathering evidence, you should take photographs of the accident scene to give your insurance attorney in Alpharetta a head start in helping you file a convincing claim. Photos of tire tracks can result in your personal injury attorney determining negligence. You also should take photos of the damage done to your vehicle, as well as every injury to help verify the extent of your financial losses. Obtaining the names and contact information of witnesses might provide your attorney with the legal support needed to verify the collected physical evidence.

Meet With an Insurance Lawyer in Alpharetta

Before you contact your insurance company, schedule a free case evaluation with an insurance attorney from Morgan and Morgan. Insurance companies prefer to process insurance claims filed without the legal support of a Georgia-licensed personal injury attorney. Your legal counsel provides several types of legal support, from acquiring security footage shot by a traffic camera to calculating a fair value for compensation to take care of medical bills and other expenses associated with an auto crash.

The last step to take after a vehicle collision involves filing an insurance claim, which your insurer must respond to within a certain period designated by Georgia law.

Auto insurance companies must decide on the status of an insurance claim before the deadline imposed by Georgia law. If your insurance company takes too much time to determine the status of your claim, rapidly mounting medical bills can place you in financial distress.

Insurance companies licensed to do business in Georgia must decide on the status of an auto insurance claim and pay the compensation due to you within 40 days of an accident. Georgia law requires insurers to acknowledge a car insurance claim, as well as send policyholders the proper paperwork within 15 days of an auto crash. This includes a form that acts as a sworn document submitted by you that describes the extent of your financial losses. After sending you the proper documents to file a claim, your insurer has another 15 days to decide whether to compensate you for the financial losses associated with your case.

After approving an auto insurance claim, Georgia-licensed insurance companies have 10 days to issue a lump-sum payment or the first payment in a series of payments. Consult with your lawyer to decide which type of payment method works best for you.

If you received a denial letter from your insurance company, you have the right to know why the insurer denied your claim for compensation. Although most claim denial letters contain a valid reason for denying compensation, your insurer might have denied your claim based on bad faith.

A bad faith denial of your insurance claim means your insurer either ignored or overlooked compelling physical evidence, such as photographs and traffic camera footage of the incident. Another type of bad faith denial of an insurance claim concerns an insurer denying a claim based solely on financial reasons. Ignoring physical evidence represents an intentional act of bad faith, while overlooking evidence is considered an unintentional act of bad faith. In both cases, you have the right to appeal a denied auto insurance claim.

Auto insurance companies also have legitimate reasons for denying insurance claims, including claims in which a driver is not covered by a policy and/or a policy contains limits placed on compensation. Your insurance company also can deny a claim based on expired coverage.

Although Georgia law has established a deadline for insurance companies to respond to auto insurance claims, your insurer might have a compelling reason why your claim is taking longer than normal to process. If the adjuster reviewing your insurance claim needs more time to make a decision, your insurer submits a request for an extension with the proper government agency that regulates the insurance industry.

Claim Value Considerably High

Insurance claims that seek a high value for compensation take more time to approve because it takes more time to confirm each expense. For example, if you sustained life-threatening injuries as a result of an auto accident, your insurance company might need more time to investigate the incident to determine the cause and fault.

Legal Issues

Your insurance company might request more time to review your claim if one or more legal issues arise that require more time to investigate. One of the most common types of legal issues to resolve involves proving the four elements of negligence. Hiring an insurance attorney in Alpharetta, Georgia can resolve the types of legal issues that can delay the processing of a valid claim.

Wait for Maximum Medical Improvement

Your insurance company cannot issue a decision on the status of a claim until you achieve maximum medical improvement. If you sustained serious injuries as a result of a vehicle collision, your insurer must wait until you approach the full recovery stage to determine the value of your claim. This is because, for a car accident that involves severe injuries, the costs associated with rehabilitation might constitute the largest percentage of medical expenses.

Requesting your healthcare provider to submit a document that describes your medical prognosis can remove the requirement for your insurance company to wait for maximum medical improvement.

You should consider several factors before you hire an insurance lawyer to help you process a compelling insurance claim.

Experience

You should not just consider the number of years an insurance attorney in Alpharetta has handled car accident cases. More importantly, you want to work with a lawyer who has compiled an impressive record of getting insurance claims approved for a reasonable value. Another factor to consider for experience regards hiring an insurance lawyer who has experience appealing denied claims.

Responsive Communicator

The attorney you hire to represent you during the claim filing process should respond to your communications in a timely manner. This means returning emails, phone calls, and text messages on the same business day. If you leave a message for your attorney after the end of a business day, you should receive a response to your message first thing the following morning. For general legal questions, call the 24-hour-per-day toll-free hotline provided by Morgan and Morgan.

Positive Client Reviews

With more than three decades of experience, Morgan and Morgan has compiled a considerable number of client testimonials, We also have acquired a large number of positive online reviews on sites such as Yelp and Google. When you read client reviews of a law firm, you should look for common descriptions, which for Morgan and Morgan includes praise for our integrity and transparency.

Schedule a free case evaluation with an insurance attorney in Alpharetta from Morgan and Morgan.