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auto accident

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BMacer1

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California
I was in an auto accident and I need to retrieve lost wages and medical bills from the insurance company responsible for this. What is the best way I go about this process?
 


jballidis

Junior Member
Here is a primer for you to follow to make a claim

Five Winning Tips to Settling Your Automobile Accident Case
While you may not be as successful with the settlement of an auto accident case as an experienced, committed, auto accident attorney, you can still achieve good results if you follow these Five Winning Tips to preparing for and settling your case.

Winning tip 1. Where possible, support your version of liability and damages with other evidence.

Your version of events, the accident, and injuries are always suspect. Why, because you want money, and the perception of most insurance adjusters is that you will say things to increase your case value, even if they are not true, or are an exaggeration. Recognize this reality, and combat it with evidence, and you will get further in settlement of your case.

Your case success is dependant upon your credibility. Where possible, support your statements and version of events of the accident, your injuries and damages, with written materials from other sources, including witness statements. Examples of written materials, helpful to a case, are listed below for you to consider:

Your version of the accident and the intensity of the collision:
The police report and witness statements should be consistent with your version of events. Make sure you obtain the police report before giving your demand package so that you know what the officer said about the accident and events. Also use witness statements from other witnesses, and their observations to support your version. To demonstrate the violence of the accident, look at the property damage estimates. Point out the specific damage that occurred because of the significance of the collision. Add pictures to your presentation, where necessary. But don't stop here. Read on and remember liability is only one component of your case, so you need to support all components.

Your injuries:
Assemble all the medical records of your treatment and show in your demand package why those records support your version of injury, pain, and suffering. Many medical records will have great references to the pain or limitations you had, or are having. When your doctor writes opinions that you are in pain, or have loss of movement, this adds to your credibility. Collect your records from all sources, and review them before you send them to the insurance company. Make sure to use all helpful information. Also records may contain negative information you will have to explain away. Knowing about that negative information will tip you that you need to collect other documents or witness statements to explain it away.

Missed time from work:
Obtain employment records to support your wage loss. Review your employment records, and point out where they address time off work because of your injuries. You may wish a declaration from your boss that has factual observations of your pain, and inability to work a full day. See Interviewing an Auto Accident Witness on how to approach a witness. Make sure that the statements do not exaggerate your claim.

Pain and Suffering:
To support your version of pain and suffering, have your friends, or spouse write a statement. Again it is important that all witnesses be interviewed about what they saw, not what they concluded. Facts drive conclusions. An opinion is only as good as the facts relied on, or observed. It is important to bolster your credibility by having the witnesses consistent with you, and also accurate, and truthful. Nothing ruins a case more quickly than noted witness bias. Also use the medical records to explain your pain and suffering.

If you are not able to enjoy the things you liked to do before the accident, have the person who did these things with you explain to the carrier in writing what limitations they now see and observe. As an example, if you daily walked with a partner before the auto accident, and now cannot walk more than a few blocks, your walking partner can comment on what they saw, and how hard it was for you to participate. In every fact, and conclusion you assert, support it as much as you can from independent sources, and you will have more success in negotiations.

Winning Tip 2. Permanent disability must always be documented in a report from your doctor. Even if you have to pay for a report, you should have your doctor expound on your diagnosis, prognosis, future medical bills, and likely disability from your injuries. If you are the only one stating that you have permanent injury, and not your doctor in writing, your conclusions will have little value. Therefore, ask your doctor to write a report, and review it before you send it to the insurance company. If you are dealing with an insurance company that uses Colossus as an evaluation tool, note that you will have to have a permanent disability rating report from a qualified doctor.

Winning Tip 3. Never let the insurance company get and review your records instead of doing the work yourself. Would you let an enemy into your planning for war? Would you allow a car salesman to see and explore your checkbook before you negotiate your price? The insurance adjuster is looking for things that take away from the value of your case. Why leave to them to find the things that help your case, or worse ignore those things that help your case. If you do not want to do this work, you should consider hiring an attorney.

Winning tip 4. Explain away any negative evidence. If you had a prior medical condition and it is mentioned in the records, review the records carefully, and determine what these records document as the change in symptoms from the accident. Also you may want to consider paying a doctor for a report explaining the change in symptoms. Do not ignore the adverse information, since you are losing an opportunity to persuade the adjuster before settlement discussions that the issue is really a non-issue and should not affect the value of your case. Don't just argue away the adverse evidence, prove it away by reviewing the above winning tips, and applying obtained evidence from any source you can think of.

Winning Tip 5. Do not exaggerate your claim or case. Your case will be difficult to sell if profiled as an exaggeration. Once information has been given that suggests exaggeration, your entire case is looked upon with suspicion. At the same time, do not understate your claim either. Let the facts of the claim talk to your adversary, and persuade them that all your evidence comes to the same conclusion, they need to settle this case. Don't think that threats of getting an attorney will persuade the carrier to settle. Insurance adjusters hear this all the time. What motivates any adjuster is the likelihood of losing a case on facts, and evidence, not the threat of getting an attorney.

Demand Letter:

Compose a letter containing all of your records and statements, preferably typed, explaining the entire case. Discuss all the details of your claim to make it clear that your position is well supported. See Main Points of Contention in Auto Accident Cases. Demand a realistic number. Remember that the insurance company does not pay what you want, but what a jury would give you. You can research jury verdicts for your type of case by going to a law library and asking for help. Don't rely on attorney web sites, or even promises by an attorney of valuation. It is easy to promise something if a hungry attorney wants your case. The better attorney makes no such promises, especially off the cuff. Don't compare your case to news story cases either, unless you researched that case. An example is the McDonald's coffee case where the reported facts were far different than the true state of the case and injuries received. If only the public knew the real facts of that case, it would have been far less newsworthy.

When dealing with the adjuster remember to stay cordial. Keep the lines of communication open. Listen to their objections, and prove their position wrong with further work, or evidence gathering, and you will enjoy the success of your labors.

I do not recommend that you handle your own case unless your damages are smal;l enough to warrant a small claims case in damages. The sophistication of the carriers, and the many issues that arise in handling the case and settlement require an expert. However, we do recognize that some people will try to do their case on their own. For those of you willing to try, I hope this was of some help.
 

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