A Seattle Slip and Fall Attorney Explains How to Avoid Common Insurance Adjuster Tricks

Posted Tuesday, May 28, 2013 by Chris Thayer

Insurance adjusters engage in a number of deceitful practices designed to weasel accident victims out of money they rightfully deserve. Insurance adjusters will often attempt to convince you that they are trying to be helpful and sympathize with our plight. The truth is that most insurance adjusters are not at all concerned about you or any hardships you may have faced as a result of your accident. They have one goal and one goal only: to find a way to pay you as little money as possible. An experienced Seattle slip and fall attorney will have experience working with insurance adjusters in the past and will know how to help shield clients from such deceitful practices.

How to Shield Yourself From Insurance Adjuster Tricks

In order to ensure that you do not become a victim of a deceitful insurance adjuster, it is in your best interests to hire an experienced Seattle slip and fall lawyer to represent you. In most jurisdictions, after an accident victim retains counsel, the insurance company will no longer be able to contact the victim directly, and will be forced to conduct all communications through the victim’s attorney. Insurance adjusters will be less likely to try to manipulate a seasoned lawyer. If you choose to retain the services of a Seattle slip and fall attorney, you can be confident that you will have a knowledgeable advocate on your side that will negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf.

Common Trick: Getting an Accident Victim to Sign a Medical Authorization Form

One common trick that insurance adjusters use to minimize the amount of payment to accident victims is to try to manipulate accident victims into signing an open-ended medical authorization form. These forms will give the insurance adjuster the right to look through your entire medical history. Many accident victims have told their Seattle slip and fall attorneys that they do not see a problem with signing this type of document. Most accident victims do not see the problem because they do not understand the underlying purpose of the document.

Once an accident victim signs an open-ended medical authorization form, the insurance adjuster will immediately start combing through their medical history attempting to find evidence of pre-existing medical conditions. While pre-existing medical conditions do not serve as a complete bar to recovery, they can lower the amount of money that an accident victim can receive. An experienced Seattle slip and fall attorney will immediately recognize this trick and will advise the client against signing a medical authorization form whose terms have not been examined by legal counsel.

Contact Us

If you have been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence or careless actions, call Seattle slip and fall lawyer Chris Thayer today to discuss what compensation you may be entitled to: (206) 340-2008.