I’ve been in an accident, do I need to hire a personal injury attorney?

Willis, Willis & Rizzi, Personal Injury Attorneys Akron

I’ve been in an car accident; do I need to hire a personal injury attorney?

When you have been in an accident, it can be difficult to know if you should hire a personal injury attorney to represent you. If you have sustained injuries and will have medical bills, you will also have legal issues associated with your personal injury claim.

If you’re not injured and there is not much damage to your vehicle, you can generally handle these types of situations without too much bureaucracy or insurance claim investigation. But once you start incurring medical bills due to personal injuries, then these claims can get very complicated, and you will have legal issues for which you will need an experienced personal injury attorney. Whomever is issuing those medical bills for your injury treatment will be looking for payment, and if your health insurance provider is paying them, your health insurance will be looking to you to get reimbursement.

We have had many situations with clients where they have handled their claims on their own and thought everything was resolved and settled until they hear from their health insurance provider that they need their money back, often for more money than the client received in the initial settlement. There are many legal issues involved in personal injury cases like the one described above.

The reality is personal injury cases have rules that have been defined by the insurance companies, and unless you have a qualified and experienced personal injury attorney like the team at Willis, Willis & Rizzi handling the case, it would be very difficult to handle the claim on your own and have a favorable outcome.

Call us today at 330.535.2000 and speak directly with one of our attorneys and see how we can help you.

Insurance Companies & Personal Injury Claims Investigations.

Willis, Willis & Rizzi, Personal Injury Attorneys Akron

The insurance company is telling me my personal injury claim is under investigation. What does that mean?

After you have been in an accident or have incurred some other personal injury that requires an insurance claim, and you have reached out to the insurance company, or they have contacted you, the first conversation does not go like this:

“We’re sorry our insured hit you. What can we do for you? Let us stop by and pick up your medical bills. Let us drop off some money to cover your lost wages. Let us know when you have picked out a new car, and we’ll go down and pay for it.”

What you will typically hear in that first conversation is “the claim is under investigation”.

What does that mean?

And you are left wondering “What is there to investigate? The police already investigated and cited the other party.” The insurance company will also tell you “We need to take your recorded statement.” This recorded statement is usually not to investigate and determine who was at fault, it’s about the insurance company trying to contain and control your claim and to delay paying the claim as long as possible. The insurance company knows that you need the claim settled so you can get a rental car or have your car repaired or replaced, or get your medical bills paid. It’s simply a tactic to delay paying the claim or get you to accept less on the claim so that you can get the issue resolved.

What insurance claim investigation really means in personal injury cases.

When an insurance company insists they execute a recorded statement with you as part of the personal injury claim investigation, they will ask for a lot of background information about you, as well as inquire about your injuries. During this investigation process, the insurance company is gathering information about you and making an evaluation regarding if they feel you are someone that a jury would sympathize with, or that a jury would not like. They are listening to you speak and gauging your level of vocabulary and education, they are getting information so they can do a background check on you.

When an insurance company says “investigation” and you may be thinking it’s an investigation to process the claim, it’s really a tactic by insurance companies to evaluate you and decide how they are going to handle the claim, and how much they feel they can get away with not paying on the claim.

How do I prepare for an insurance claim investigation in my personal injury case?

When you are faced with an insurance claim investigation whether for property damage or personal injury, what can you do to prepare for the investigation? The process is all about the documentation generated as part of the claim, and one of the key pieces of documentation is the police report. The police report usually lists out what the contributing factors are in the accident, who caused the collision, and who was cited. These are all important items to know regarding your claim and case.

How can Willis, Willis & Rizzi help me with my personal injury insurance claim investigation?

At Willis, Willis & Rizzi we help our clients understand that most times, insurance claim investigation is really a keyword for “delay”. It is said in our industry that insurance companies live by the “3 D’s”: delay, deny, defend. When you have the sense that an insurance company is simply trying to delay processing the claim instead of trying to help you, that’s a strong indicator that you need to hire a team of personal injury attorneys. 

It’s our belief that clients need to be focusing on recovery and getting back to their pre-injury state of health in both mind and body. Let the team at Willis, Willis and Rizzi deal with the bureaucracy and administrative “junk” associated with insurance company claims investigations. We have the experience and expertise to handle insurance companies and position our customers for the best possible outcome in your personal injury or accident claim investigation.

Call today 330.535.2000 or fill out the contact form on this page.

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