Free Articles on Law and many other topics
Another free Law article for you by Gary E Rosenberg
Titled: Eight Things You Should Know About Pursuing An Injury Claim Get the Law category RSS Feed
Please support the Sponsors of uPublish.info
|
Eight Things You Should Know About Pursuing An Injury Claim
Article Summary: Things you should know about pursuing a personal injury claim.
1. Be truthful to everyone about any physical limitation you now have. The truth will come out.
2. Don't accept a check or sign a release from an insurance company unlessyou know exactly what it covers. Sometimes insurance companies will attempt toget you to release "any and all claims" - including your injury claim - and lead youto believe that you are only settling your claim for property damage. Check with anattorney if you're not certain.
3. You must disclose all prior accident and injuries to your lawyer. Insurance companies share accident information in a central database, so the other insurance company will more than likely find out about this. Theonly person who may be surprised is your attorney, and this is never a good thing.
4. It's helpful to keep a record of how you feel, of your doctors and therapy appointments, medications you are taking, and of course, you inability to work and enjoy any of the "customary" activities that you participated in before the accident. Don't depend on your memory; it could take years for your case to be resolved.
5. Don't try to "tough it out." See a doctor immediately after your accident. Be 100% open with your doctor: with the accident description, and any and all prior accidents or injuries or even medical conditions, that may have an impact on your recovery.
6. There are few "can'ts" following an accident in real life. In other words, most people recover the ability to perform most activities, unless they are bedridden. Butgenerally, if they have limitations, it's because they can't do the activity as long, ashard, as strongly as they used to. And your limitations, presented correctly, may give you a valid injury claim.
7. Video cameras can be hidden anywhere. You many not know you are being videotaped and it could be at anytime or in any place. I've seen this many times. You will lose all credibility if you claim you cannot do run or bend, and then get videotaped jogging and doing squats. Ihad a client that claimed a serious back injury from a car accident but gotvideotaped at his vacation home in Florida, spending six hours resurfacing theasphalt on his driveway. His case was destroyed.
8. Remember, never has an insurance company adopted a policy of payingfair, speedy and just ompensation to persons injured through the fault of another(the insurance company's policyholder). The money is in the insurance company'spocket, earning interest in the bank, or profits from its investments. (Did you know that insurance companies generally make more money per year on investedinsurance premiums - in real estate and such - than on new premium dollars received?)
A philosophical note: I try to be selective in the cases that my firm accepts, because I want to give personal attention to my clients' cases to the greatest extent possible. Every year I decline hundreds of cases. I concentrate my efforts on increasing the value of good cases, not finding and filing frivolous ones. I believe that goodlawyers think this way.
Another note: This report is not legal advice. I'm trying to give you information tohelp you make informed decisions. Investigate and check things out for yourself. Get legal advice in person; face-to-face.
Article Source: http://www.upublish.info
About the Author:
Gary E Rosenberg
FREE books and reports: For more information about New York car accidents and personal injury request my FREE books at www.GreatLegalBooks.com I And, get more FREE, informative reports at www.InjuryAtty.net!