The Insurance Company Offered a Settlement. Should I Take It?
Once you have been involved in an auto accident, you can expect to receive a settlement offer from the insurance company rather quickly. No matter how friendly the person on the other end of the line may be,it’s important toremember that insurance companies are “for-profit” companies. This means that they are only interested in their bottom line and the way that they successfully maintain their profits is by minimizing, devaluing and denying insurance claims. This practice also applies to your very own insurance company when you file anuninsured motorist claim. In such cases, you may find that the very company that you have been faithfully paying your insurance premiums to, quickly turns into your adversary when you are seeking compensation under your UM policy.
When people are injured incar accidents, especially serious accidents that leave them hospitalized and nursing their injuries for weeks, if not months on end, they are not in the position to negotiate a fair settlement offer with the insurance company. Whether the accident victim is still hospitalized or at home recovering, they may simply lack the knowledge, tools and experience to know how much their claim is worth – and the insurance company knows this! Accident victims are often very nervous about their medical bills and co-pays piling up and the possibility of their health insurance not covering them, or in the absence of medical insurance, they may worry about them going to collections and ruining their credit.
The accident victim may also be losing significant income, which only increases stress levels. These are only a few of the reasons why accident victims are so quick to accept a low-ball settlement offer from an insurance company, but it can be a huge and costly mistake. I understand how you may be worried about these issues, so I can advise you on each of these concerns and help protect your interests during the claims process.In my last six trials, juries awarded a combined $1.5 million in verdicts, yet the insurers had only offered a combined $150,000. If my clients had accepted what the insurance companies had offered, they would have lost out on $1.35 million.
As aPortland personal injury attorney, I have the knowledge, experience and resources to properly value a client’s claim. I often bring in specialists such as accident reconstruction experts, life care planners, vocational rehabilitations counselors, nurses and treating doctors to determine how much a client’s claim is actually worth and I negotiate or litigate from there. If you have been injured in an accident, you could handle the claim on your own and receive far less than you deserve, but why would you want to? With my help, you have the greatest opportunity to obtain the full compensation that you deserve.
Contact the Law Offices of Timothy Grabe today at 971-645-7176. I offer free case evaluations and take cases on a contingency fee basis!
