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What to Do After an Automobile Collision | A Few Basic Tips
The Basic Problem
For the last twenty years or so, the insurance industry has been waging a very successful public relations campaign to convince the world that:
- People who are involved in automobile collisions are generally fakers and malingers represented by unscrupulous attorneys who are manufacturing claims and driving up insurance rates.
- The insurance company is your friend. You may place yourself in their "good hands" and you do not need any attorney to represent you.
Neither statement is valid. However, if you wish to obtain fair compensation for your injuries and losses and would like to avoid being labeled as a faker, some practical advice might be helpful.
Statements and Records
Once your comments are recorded in a police report, a medical record or an insurance investigator's report, your statements take on the characteristics of words carved in stone. Therefore, it is critical that you refrain from providing any statements to anyone until you have had the opportunity to collect your thoughts (and, preferably, obtain legal advice) following the trauma of a collision. You should always feel free to say, "I'm sorry, I'll have to speak with you later after I have had the opportunity to think about what happened."
Once you arrive at a hospital emergency room or doctor's office, it is critical that you be accurate and complete in the statements which you provide to the examining physician. For example, if you are bleeding profusely from your head and fail to mention the seemingly unimportant soreness in your knee, the insurance company will not believe you when you require knee surgery three months later and claim that you have had minor pain in your knee ever since the accident, finally leading to a ruptured ligament and surgery. It does not matter that you were focusing on the apparently more serious head injury and simply assumed that the knee was "no big deal." The insurance company will be likely to claim that you decided to utilize the automobile accident to try and collect some money for an old arthritic knee.
If an investigator from the insurance company should contact you by telephone and ask to take a recorded statement, your answer should always be "no." The insurance adjuster is familiar with the law and procedures surrounding automobile collisions - you are not. When you learn the significance of the questions and answers you provided to the insurance company, it will not do you much good to say, "that's not what I meant" or "I did not understand the question." Your words will be copied on to a large poster admitted into evidence at the trial of your case and pounded into the jury's mind by the insurance carrier's attorney.
Obtaining Prompt Legal Advice
Claims arising from automobile collisions are traditionally handled by attorneys based upon a contingency fee. In other words, the attorney does not charge you by the hour, but rather charges you a percentage of the amount recovered from the accident claim (usually one third of recovery) as a fee. Therefore, if you do not settle your claim or win a verdict in court, no fee will be charged. Most attorneys will also advance any out-of-pocket costs which arise from your claim (such as fees for copies of your medical records, fees for court filings, fees for expert witnesses, etc.) and obtain reimbursement of these costs at the conclusion of his or her representation.
In all likelihood the cost of obtaining legal counsel will be small compared to the benefits obtained. Insurance companies know that you cannot effectively file a lawsuit without an attorney so they will have little or no incentive to offer you a fair settlement until they run the risk of a larger verdict obtained by an attorney. Thus, while you may pay one third to an attorney, you may obtain a verdict or a settlement that is 2 or 3 times what you could have obtained without representation.
P.I.P. Benefits, Medical Care and Lost Wages
Unless you have waived your rights to Personal Injury Protection benefits, your own insurance policy provides you with at least $2,500.00 of benefits which may be applied to medical costs and/or the loss of wages arising from the automobile collision you were involved in. These benefits are payable even if the accident was entirely your fault and even if you have sick leave benefits which eliminate a "real" loss of wages. Payment of these benefits has no effect whatsoever on the cost of your insurance policy. Therefore, if you need prompt medical advice or time off from work to recuperate, do not hesitate to take prompt action for lack of a safety net. You are covered for the first $2,500.00 of loss.
Conclusion
When you are in a collision, stop and think before you speak or give statements. Obtain prompt legal and medical care. You will fare much better in the end.
