Most people involved in a car accident may be reluctant to contact an attorney, especially on the day of the accident when they do not realize the extent of their injuries. In the past a car accident injury attorney may have received a bad rap from contacting accident victims seemingly immediately after an accident. They have been called ambulance chasers, vultures and sometimes much worse, however when an insurance company attempts to short shrift an accident victim, they can end up being called a hero.
It may seem that quick, unsolicited contact by a car accident injury attorney is unethical but in reality, while they will make money on the case, the quicker they become involved in the case, the quicker it can be settled and there is less chance the injured victim can be taken advantage of by the insurance company. Considering some of the claims that been denied by insurers, they may be more deserving of some of the nicknames typically reserved for attorneys.
An insurance adjuster may look at the damage to a car and decide the injuries being claimed by the victim could not have happened with minimal damage to the vehicle. Understand, their job is to save the insurance company money and they are not medical professionals. They also have no say in the type of treatment the victim should be receiving and if necessary, the victim can go to court and have a judge or jury order them to pay all reasonable charges.
They keyword that is most often disputed is reasonable. They may object to tests being conducted and most likely will fight against paying for expenses that are anticipated being required in the future. It is the job of the car accident injury attorney to investigate the accident, work with medical care providers to determine the immediate as well as future medical that is expected to be needed to return the victim to their state of health prior to the accident. Collecting current charges is not usually much of a battle, but negotiations can be quite contentious over claims for future medical needs.
Depending on the record of the offending driver as well as their attitude, there is, in some cases in some states, the ability to seek punitive damages against them. For example, if a driver working for a company is on the road in a company vehicle and has numerous traffic violations on their driving record, the company may be held accountable for allowing an unsafe driver to use one of their vehicles while on the job. Had the company acted responsibly and pulled the driver from the road as they accumulated for citations, the accident may not have occurred.
Punitive damages may be winnable from the company that employed the driver that caused the accident not only as punishment for allowing an unsafe driver on the road in one of their vehicles, but also as a deterrent from them allowing that circumstance to exist in the future. Your car accident injury attorney can make that call and possibly increase the compensation for the accident.
