Ensuring your case is protected is vital before you assume or believe an insurance adjuster will be fair with you after incurring injuries or damages from an accident you didn’t cause. This is especially since personal injury laws are established to offer the legal framework for imposing civil liabilities for damages and injuries caused by recklessness, carelessness, and intentional acts. As such, any experienced legal counsel from the Clark Law Office will advise you to follow the following steps in protecting your injury case before doing anything else in the event of an accident:
Seeking Timely Medical Care
Because of today’s technological advancement, most insurance companies use sophisticated computer programs to file and determine your injury case’s eligibility. These highly computerized programs and algorithms don’t utilize the practical ways for assessing injury claims and are designed to recognize delays, including medical treatment. When this happens, and you fail to seek timely medical care, your case might not be recognized by insurance companies using complicated computer programs in their case assessment and filing. Such computerized programs will penalize your claim due to failure to get timely medical attention, making the entire case and claim for settlement invalid.
Protecting Your Evidence
Protecting your evidence is essential based on the number of damages and the level of injuries you incur during an accident. Evidence helps your legal counsel finalize your case quickly. It also helps resolve your case without a trial. Additionally, if the accused is reluctant to end the matter and rightfully compensates you, evidence serves as proof of their recklessness, thus helping hasten your settlement. Some of the best ways for protecting your evidence include:
- Taking Notes – Immediately after you’ve been involved in an accident, especially when you didn’t incur severe bodily harm, start writing down evidence and keep them for future reference. Writing evidence down gives you genuine proof you can offer to authorities, including the police and insurance companies, primarily because being involved in an accident can distract your mind, causing you to forget things quickly. Jot down all the details you can remember and preserve them to present to relevant authorities regardless of your status afterward.
- Recording and taking photos – Photos and recordings go a long way to convince authorities, especially the jury, that your version of what happened is authentic and genuine. Take pictures of the accident scene and the level of property damage caused. Also, take pictures of your injuries and update them based on their progress.
Evaluating and Reporting Spoliation of Evidence
Based on the circumstances and where the accident occurs, those at fault sometimes get rid of the evidence. Spoliation of proof lowers your chances for rightful compensation; hence it is vital for you to watch out for such occurrences. Evaluate and report any form of destruction of evidence to protect your case, especially for settlement.
Avoid Posting Anything Involving Your Accident on Social Media
Most insurance companies assess the severity of your injuries based on how you react after the accident. Such companies assume those who immediately use their social handles after accidents aren’t seriously injured; hence they might or might not be compensated. To avoid weakening your case, keep off from sharing what happened via any social platform until your case is filed and processed. Refraining from sharing your accident details on social media also saves you from fights with legal counsels preventing the accused or your insurance company from deeming your claims inaccurate, thus reducing your odds for proper settlement.
Avoid Giving Recorded Statements
Recording statements for your injury always comes with negative consequences you’ll want to avoid. For instance, your words can be used against you to limit your settlement. Or you may end up distorting your own words if you are nervous or apprehensive. Therefore, unless otherwise, avoid giving a recording statement.
Also, since most insurance companies have trained adjusters who interrogate you and ask questions that may make you uncomfortable; you might lose your temper when answering. When this happens, emotions are used to assess the genuineness of your version of what happened, which might be assumed to be inaccurate information.
Work With an Experienced Attorney
Regardless of the outcome of your injury case after presenting evidence and proof of injuries and damages, an experienced attorney is an excellent consideration for pursuing your case. They will bring their immense negotiation knowledge, collect considerable evidence, and file your case professionally to help you qualify for a fair settlement. They can also help you get timely medical attention, thus preventing your case from being rendered invalid, mainly if sophisticated computer programs process it.
