Personal Injury Lawyers in Georgia
Insurance companies train their adjusters to pay the lowest amount possible on injury claims. There are a number of tactics they employ in attempting to drive down the value of cases, including:
- Requesting unnecessary information – This is done to make people believe that they are unprepared to file a claim, or that their case has inherent problems.
- Delay – Anything that can be done to delay a claim will be beneficial to the adjuster, as it will likely result in the claimant being worn down to the point of accepting a lower settlement.
- Disputing the claimant’s medical treatment – This is one of the more egregious tactics employed by adjusters, as they are not qualified to determine what is and isn’t medically necessary.
- Nickel and diming a claimant’s medical bills – Adjusters may seek to pay claimants 80% of their medical bills, as that seems to be a reasonable amount of compensation. However, 20% deductions spread across many bills can add up and substantially affect the overall value of claimants’ cases.
- Threatening to lessen a claimant’s settlement value if the claimant hires an attorney – Adjusters know that offering a certain amount of money, then threatening to reduce that amount, will cause a reaction in claimants. They bank on that reaction in order to dissuade claimants from obtaining legal representation.
Adjuster Methods for Lowering Settlement Amounts
If you have been injured in an accident, contact a personal injury lawyer who can negotiate with an insurance company on your behalf for the best possible compensation. At Van Sant Law, we recommend that you contact an attorney before talking to an insurance adjuster, if you can help it. If an adjuster gets to you first, they will try to position themselves as your “representative,” making you feel that it is unnecessary for you to seek legal representation. The truth is, they are not looking out for your best interests. We will. We will fight for an outcome in which you are fully compensated for all of the losses you have suffered in your accident.