Personal Injury Case in St. Louis: Why Shouldn’t I Cooperate with the Insurance Company?

By June 19, 2014Personal Injury

After you have been hurt and are making a claim for damages, the insurance company who may be obligated to pay the bill is likely going to want to talk to you. Cooperating with this insurance company can be bad news for your case and can potentially jeopardize your right to compensation, so you should not cooperate with the insurer or answer any questions until you have spoken with an experienced personal injury attorney.

Why You Shouldn’t Cooperate with the Insurance Company

Insurance companies are generally on the hook after an accident or injury and may be required to pay monetary damages to those who are injured. For example, after a medical doctor makes an error, a medical malpractice company may be involved. When a property is dangerous and causes a slip and fall, a homeowners or liability insurance company will be involved. When a car accident happens, it is an auto insurer that you are likely to be dealing with.

All of these insurance companies provide coverage for the person who hurt you, and thus are responsible for paying for costs and losses. These insurance companies want to minimize the amount of money that they are going to have to pay in order to protect their profits. As such, their interests are directly opposite yours. You want your claim approved and to maximize compensation and they want to look for reasons to deny your claim or pay you less than you might deserve.

Insurance companies, therefore, could try to ask you misleading questions in a recorded statement or could try to get you to reveal information or details that would adversely impact your accident claim. To avoid this problem, you do not want to ever give a recorded statement to an insurer, or even answer questions asked by an insurer, until you are represented by an experienced and qualified attorney.

Your attorney can help you in your conversations with the insurer, can advise you on your legal rights, can answer questions on your behalf and can let you know when a question is asked that you shouldn’t answer.

When it comes time to negotiate an insurance settlement in a personal injury case in St. Louis, the insurance company may also try to a number of tactics to get you to agree to a lower settlement than you really deserve. You do not want to accept a settlement or sign anything unless you are sure the deal is fair, since once you sign you cannot go back. As such, it is even more important to speak with an attorney before entering into a settlement agreement with any insurance company.

An insurer has knowledgeable professionals on their side who work against your interests. Don’t cooperate with their attempts to get you to hurt your case. Instead, get your own experienced legal advocate who can represent you.

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