Jill Kolodner | July 5, 2024 | Personal Injury
If you were injured in an accident caused by someone else, you expect to be treated fairly. That includes being given a fair amount of money to compensate for your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. However, you may quickly find yourself in a fight for fair compensation and dealing with an unreasonable insurance adjuster.
You don’t have to accept insurance company denials or lowball offers. An attorney can protect your rights and ensure that you walk away with the financial recovery you deserve.
Why Do Insurance Companies Try To Get Out of Paying Claims?
Insurance companies are for-profit companies. Despite their ads that say they are good neighbors and are there for you when you need them, they have a vested interest in bringing in more money each year in premiums than they pay out in claims.
It is important to keep this inherent conflict in mind when dealing with insurance companies. Even if the adjuster seems nice and like they care about your well-being, they are paid by an insurance company that is motivated by money.
Ways Insurance Companies Avoid Paying Claims
Insurance adjusters are trained to deny and minimize as many claims as possible in the interest of protecting the insurance company’s bottom line. Some common tactics they use to avoid paying claims include:
Blaming You For the Accident
Because Maryland uses a pure contributory negligence system, if a victim is found at all at fault for an accident, they can be completely barred from recovering any compensation. Suppose you were involved in a car accident and found to be 1% at fault, even if the other driver was 99% at fault for the crash. This law can prevent you from recovering any compensation. Insurance adjusters know this and will try to argue that you contributed to the accident.
Insurance adjusters can also try to use this tactic in other types of cases. For example, they may try to blame a motorcycle accident on the victim by using outdated stereotypes of motorcyclists as dangerous drivers.
Getting You To Give a Recorded Statement
A common way that insurance adjusters avoid paying claims is to convince claimants that they need to give a recorded statement. The insurance adjuster might claim that this is necessary to “expedite the claim.”
In reality, this statement is used against the accident victim in ways such as:
- Recording the accident victim saying they are “fine” to try to diminish their injury claims
- Getting the accident victim to make statements that are later found to be inaccurate based on scientific data
- Recording the accident victim saying their injuries were not as serious before they have a chance to have them properly evaluated by medical professionals
- Getting the accident victim to make inconsistent statements to question their credibility in front of jurors
Avoid this happening to you by refusing to give a recorded statement.
Blaming a Past Accident For Your Injuries
Another tactic insurance adjusters may use to avoid paying a claim is blaming a previous medical condition or injury for an accident-related injury. Sometimes, insurance adjusters will send blanket medical release forms to injury victims, asking them to sign them so they can request their medical records.
However, these release forms often ask for medical records that long predate the accident in hopes that the insurance adjuster can find a viable alternative explanation for the injuries, other than their insured was to blame.
An Insurance Company’s Refusal To Pay a Claim Could Be Bad Faith
The Maryland Insurance Administration oversees reports of insurance bad faith and practices that violate state law. Insurance companies are required to act in compliance with their policies.
You may have a bad faith claim if an insurance provider:
- Failed to investigate the claim or conducted an inadequate investigation
- Denied the claim for an invalid reason
- Denied the claim with no explanation
- Cited to policy language that does not exist
- Misrepresented the nature of the language or meaning of terms in your insurance policy
- Failed to protect you in a claim made against you
- Failed to communicate with you in a timely manner regarding your claim
- Caused unnecessary delays
- Intentionally withheld relevant information to process your claim
- Made unreasonable requests for information that were not relevant to your claim
- Made an unfair settlement offer to resolve your claim and refused to negotiate a fair figure
If you suspect that an insurer is acting in bad faith, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer today for assistance.
A Baltimore Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You Deal With Insurance Company Tactics
If you were injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, our Baltimore personal injury lawyers can help. We can handle communications with the insurance company and protect you from tactics designed to minimize the value of your claim. Call us today for a free case review.
Contact the Baltimore Personal Injury Lawyer Law Firm of WGK Personal Injury Lawyers Today For Help
For more information contact the Baltimore personal injury law firm of WGK Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free initial consultation.
WGK Personal Injury Lawyers
14 W Madison St, Baltimore, MD 21201, United States
(410) 837-2144
WGK Personal Injury Lawyers – Dundalk Office
7329 Holabird Ave Suite 3, Dundalk, MD 21222
By appointment only
(410) 970-3080
