Car Insurance

Do not - speak with anyone except your own insurance company and your attorney. Call your lawyer before you speak with anyone. Oral statements are admissible evidence and can be as damaging as written statements. Refer all inquiries directly to your attorney. Do not discuss details of how the accident occurred with your doctors. Simply tell your doctors that you had a car accident or fell on stairs, etc., without discussing how the car accident happened or what caused you to fall, etc.

If you have obvious bruises or substantial damage to your car, take pictures with a 35mm camera. If you use a digital camera, be sure to also use a 35mm camera. If you do not have a 35mm camera, let your attorney know so he/she can arrange to take the pictures.

It has become common for insurance companies to hire investigators to question your neighbors and friends and to follow you for the purpose of taking pictures. Notify your attorney if you hear of any inquiries being made to your neighbors, friends or family regarding your condition.

Be sure to keep and be on time for all doctor and therapy appointments. You should know that even if you are in a lot of pain, the only way you can be entitled to receive money for your injuries is to document your injuries by seeing your doctors and therapists at the appointed time. Every time you visit a doctor, you should tell the doctor if and where you have pain, even if you have told that to your doctor many times before. Every missed doctor’s and therapy appointment will damage and devalue your case. This is important because, without continuous medical treatment, your attorney will not be able to prove to a jury that your injury is serious and still causing pain. If your case does not go to trial and is settled earlier, the insurance company will offer to settle only on the basis of what they believe you could prove to a jury at trial. It is vital to your case that you let your attorney know when you are no longer being treated for your injuries.

Keep a precise record of every expense that you incur as a result of the accident and obtain receipts for all expenditures, (i.e., taxis, prescriptions, doctors, etc.). If in doubt about any particular expense, keep a record of it. Forward a copy of the receipts to your attorney. Ask your attorney about how and when to forward receipts to an insurance company for reimbursement.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 4th, 2006 at 3:34 am and is filed under Auto Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.