Insurance Company Tactics
Posted Friday, June 19, 2020 by Chris Thayer
Insurance companies often turn adversarial when victims of accidents refuse to agree to accept settlement offers that do not properly or justly cover their expenses and damages. The following are some specific ways that insurance companies will attempt to use manipulative tactics to avoid compensating a victim fully for injuries caused by someone else’s negligence.
*Pressure Tactics*According to the American Association for Justice, pressure tactics are a common way that insurance companies will attempt to intimidate a victim into providing information or evidence during the negotiation process. Some examples include:
- Contacting a Victim Immediately. Some insurance companies will attempt to contact a victim immediately following an accident, even when the victim is suffering from physical injuries or even still in the hospital. Victims often are under powerful sedative drugs or pain killers at the time of this phone call, and an insurance company will use this opportunity to see if they can get the victim to say something detrimental to the case, which would ultimately reduce the chance of a fair and just settlement.
- Requesting All Medical Records. While an insurance company has the legal right to request medical records when a victim has completed medical treatment following an accident, they are not allowed to request a full and complete medical history of a victim. The reason they attempt to obtain all medical records is to see if there is a preexisting condition that they could use to say the current injuries are not a direct result of an accident, but rather a prior existing condition of the victim. If they attempt this tactic and succeed, they will also attempt to offer a lower settlement amount.
- Pressuring a Victim to Make Inaccurate Statements. Insurance companies will use every single chance to pressure a victim into making an inaccurate statement. Never allow yourself to be recorded on any phone call, they do not have the legal right to require you to agree to this stipulation. Additionally, anything you say during small talk, such as “Thank you, I’m feeling better,” can be used to say that your injuries are not as catastrophic as you claim.
- Stalling Tactics. There are certain deadlines by which a victim must file a claim in court if negotiations with insurance companies do not result in a fair and just settlement. Insurance companies know this deadline and may attempt to stall the entire process for the sole reason of hoping that a victim will fail to meet their deadline and will not have the legal right to pursue a claim under the law.
*Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney *The insurance companies have even more tactics up their sleeves than those listed above. Make sure that you receive the settlement you deserve by having an experienced personal injury attorney represent you in the negotiations with insurance companies. Contact the Pivotal Law Group at 206-340-2008. We proudly serve the Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, Renton, Burien, Mercer Island, and Issaquah areas.