6 Secrets Insurance Companies Don’t Want Accident Victims To Know
Secret one: Rigid legal deadlines can prevent a victim from going to court. Insurance companies have these time frames, known as statutes of limitations. Failure to act in a timely manner can be a complete bar to your right to recover compensation for injuries suffered as a result of the negligent actions of another. In California, negligence claims against private entities must be filed in court within 2 years from the date of discovery of the injury.
A special claim must be filed against government entities within 180 days, or else the victim may be barred from even filing a lawsuit. However, if they are owned or operated by a government entity, the victim only has 180 days from the date of the injury to file a claim.
Secret two: Immediately after the insurance company is contacted about an accident, they will assign an experienced adjuster to investigate the accident and gather evidence that will give the insurance company grounds to dispute your claim and minimize your monetary damages.
Secret Three: If you were injured by an uninsured motorist, your own insurance company will be your opponent, even though your policy requires you to cooperate with the insurance company.
Secret oven: Many auto insurance companies now use the Colossus software to evaluate the claims of accident victims. Colossus is software used by insurance companies to help predict the settlement value of injury claims. According to the program’s developer, Computer Science Corporation, it is used by more than 50 percent of the nation’s claims adjusters and more than 300 insurance companies. Of the top 20 property and casualty insurers in the US, 13 use Colossus. Colossus is kept secret by the insurance companies that use it; the adjuster will not tell you if the company uses the software.
The insurance industry argues that it is a useful tool. Personal injury attorneys know that software favors insurance companies. First, the values one receives are, by definition, a function of the data input. You never know what data the adjuster has entered. In addition, the program does not consider subjective elements of the case that are impossible to quantify, such as interference with normal life activities resulting from an injury. At trial, these indications of pain and suffering are proven through the testimony of the aggrieved parties and witnesses. Can’t a computer program quantify emotional distress or loss of enjoyment of life? A Colossus valuation is an inaccurate valuation because it attempts to reduce a victim’s injury to a dollar value based only on certain facts, which do not reflect the totality of the victim’s condition or the events of the accident.
At trial, a jury determines the value of a claim, and jurors listen and consider many of the factors that Colossus ignores. Colossus has no way of evaluating any of the subjective elements that can increase the jury prize. Each victim is simply a compilation of numbers in the Colossus program. Hardly different than thousands of other claimants.
Experienced personal injury attorneys know how Colossus works and how to get the best settlements when working against insurance companies that use the program. The key is to make sure the adjusters understand that you, the victim, are an individual, not a number, and that your accident is unique, not one of thousands of identical events. Adjusters must believe that your attorney will take the case to trial if necessary. Seriously preparing for trial is the best way to ensure the best settlements.
Five secrets: Insurance companies have enormous legal advantages over the average person: vast wealth, thousands of trained adjusters, skilled lawyers and experts, and more than 20 legal defenses that they use to minimize or deny victim compensation. Insurance companies are for-profit corporations. The goal is to earn money. Insurance companies go to great lengths to minimize claim payments.
Six secrets: Insurance companies do not want you to hire a lawyer. The reason is simple. Except in minor cases, victims receive more compensation when represented by an attorney. Auto insurance giant Allstate’s own documents show that accident victims who hired lawyers received 2 to 3 times more than victims who were not represented.