When you are injured and someone else is liable for that injury, you will usually start the process of seeking compensation by filing a claim with that party’s insurance company. Depending on the circumstances, you may be filing a claim with your own insurance company. In any case, it’s important to be aware that the goal of any insurance company is not to ensure that you are fairly compensated but to keep their own expenses down. This is why they will try to get you to settle your case quickly before you have time to think about it and assess the true value of your damages. In some cases, they will completely deny your claim, even though it is valid. In fact, there are many different things that insurance companies will do to make things difficult for personal injury victims. You can prevent them from taking advantage of you by contacting a North Carolina personal injury attorney before you do anything else and by being aware of the most common tactics that insurance companies can use to minimize or deny your claim.
Pointing You in the Wrong Direction
Insurance companies can point you in the wrong direction by telling you that someone else or some other company is responsible for handling your claim. If it is your own insurance policy, they may tell you to contact the insurance company of another person who was involved in the incident. If it is someone else’s insurance policy, they may tell you to contact your own insurance company. The goal is to confuse the situation and get you to stop trying to pursue the claim with them, even if they are the correct insurance company to contact. By pointing you in the wrong direction, they can make it very difficult for you to know where to turn for compensation. The attorneys at Brown Moore & Associates are no stranger to this unethical practice, and we know how to put a stop to it and continue to pursue your claim.
Saying You Did Not File Your Claim in Time
Insurance companies can also misdirect you by telling you that you did not file your claim in time, even though you are still well within the legal statute of limitations. The statute of limitations refers to the amount of time that you have to file a claim after an accident occurs. If you have not run out of the statute of limitations, then you can still file a personal injury claim, even if some time has passed between the injury and the date that you choose to file. They may have a valid reason for saying so if you waited so long that they cannot properly investigate the claim, but in most cases, this is just a way of stalling your claim and preventing you from pursuing the compensation that you are owed. Also, many times they may tell you that your claim has been “closed,” and they can no longer address it. As long as your legal statute of limitations has not expired – three years from the date of the incident for a personal injury, and two years from the date of the incident for wrongful death – then you can still pursue your legal claim regardless of whether or not the insurance company has “closed” your claim.
Saying You Have Not Suffered Any Losses
Another way for your insurance company to convince you that you don’t have a valid personal injury claim is to tell you that you have not suffered any losses. They may ask who paid for your medical treatment and then tell you that since you have not actually spent any of your own money, you are not entitled to compensation. In reality, though, you are still entitled to compensation, even if your expenses did not come out of your own pocket. After all, you have often paid for health insurance benefits that cover your medical expenses. Additionally, your medical expenses will likely still need to be repaid, regardless of how they were covered.
A North Carolina Personal Injury Attorney Can Help
The best way to stop the insurance company from misdirecting or misleading you with faulty information and underhanded tactics is to enlist the help, guidance, and representation of an experienced Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury attorney as soon as possible. The attorneys at Brown Moore & Associates are familiar with the different methods that insurance companies use to derail or stall your claim and convince you that you don’t have one. We know how to make sure that you are not given the run around, and we will fight to get the compensation you deserve.