Can an Insurance Company Refuse to Settle?
Posted Friday, June 21, 2019 by Chris Thayer
There is more to moving on after a serious injury than just your physical recovery. A serious injury can impact so many different parts of your life. One of those parts is financial difficulties that arise because of the injury. Whether these financial struggles are the result of medical bills or from lost wages due to the injury impacting your ability to perform your job, the financial toll of an injury can be significant. In some cases, an insurance company is tasked with reaching a settlement with you for the injuries or damages sustained. You would think that this would be a relatively straightforward process, but that is not always the case. Insurance companies often try to delay making a settlement, or avoid it altogether.
It can be extremely frustrating to feel like you cannot get any answers from your insurance provider. There are many reasons that an insurance company might try to prevent the settlement or delay it. At this stage of the process, there are additional options available to you other than repeatedly calling the insurance provider and hoping for answers. A personal injury suit is a legal way to try and collect settlement or payment from an insurance company after an injury.
It can be useful to understand why your insurance company is delaying settlement. Common reasons include:
- Statute of Limitations: In Washington personal injury cases, a suit must be brought within a certain time period to be eligible for recovering damages, or else be barred by the statute of limitations. Delaying a settlement could be a way to extend the time from injury in hopes of the statute of limitations running out.
- Lost Evidence: Another reason an insurance company might delay is because the more time passes, the more likely it is that you will have lost or destroyed some crucial evidence. Not only can physical evidence be lost, but witness testimony can become less credible when there has been a long period of time between the event and recalling the event.
- Giving Up: As stated above, recovering from an injury can be difficult. Some insurance companies simply hope to wear you down so that you are too tired and overwhelmed to pursue the settlement or legal options available to you.
At the end of the day, it is important to remember that an insurance company is a for-profit business that cannot make money if it only spends money on claims. The personal injury attorneys at Pivotal Law Group understand this and are here to help you fight this abusive business mentality. When you are injured and entitled to compensation, especially by an insurance company that receives payment for the coverage, you should not be ignored in trying to reach a settlement. Our attorneys will try to work with the insurance company or file a personal injury suit to recover the damages and compensation owed to you. Contact us today for a consultation and to find out what options are available to you.
(image courtesy of Aaron Burden)