Were You Involved in An Accident and The Insurance Company Denied Your Claim?
Intro
Were you involved in an accident and Can insurance deny a claim well Check out this short article for what you Can do in this situation?
The fact that insurance companies are not on your side these are Entities that are dedicated to one thing And that's making profits and as a result, they will delay they will deny They will diminish your claims any way That they can you know I've had a couple Insurance adjusters people work for Insurance companies.
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They're looking out for realistic facts And trying to compensate people well I'm Sorry I've seen it firsthand I've seen Insurance companies deny claims or Diminish the value of claims ultimately Only to pay tens of thousands of dollars Once a lawsuit was filed.
So trust me on This when dealing with insurance companies they are not on your side.
So Let's Say that An Insurance Company Denies Your Claim so What?
What do you do Well first of all we have to clarify so An insurance company there's gonna be an Insurance company on both sides of this Accident right on the side of the guy Who you think caused the accident and You're gonna have very likely an Insurance company.
So insurance denials Can come from either side so we have to Kind divide this up into two Different parts to dictate what we're talking about.
Okay, let's start with the Other insurance company let's say you Were involved in an accident and a guy Hit you in a rear-end accident or whatever It might be.
And you get his or her insurance Information and you file a claim with State farm or all states or whoever that Person has for their insurance.
They Investigate they talk to their insured Maybe they interview you Maybe they analyze the property damage involved in the accident and then you get a letter from them that says that They have denied your claim what do you Do.
Well, you don't have many choices in That circumstance if you only have a Property damage claim maybe you can get compensation from your insurance company But.
If You Have Injuries and Their Insurance Company Denied Your Claim What Do You Do?
You are really only left with one choice and that is to file a lawsuit Against the other party that's the only way the insurance company is gonna Respond and you have to get your Impartial day in court.
So that you can get your facts on the Record you can argue your case and let Somebody else decide who's at fault for The accident now I always recommend People if you're two people if you're Going to court right if you have to file A lawsuit get a lawyer to represent you Those people represented by lawyers have A far greater success rate than those who are not.
But the problem is in this case I've seen this countless times is That.
If Your Claim Wasn't Already Denied by An Insurance Company?
There's a very good likelihood there are facts that are Not favorable to you so a lawyer is Gonna have to get involved in a case That has already been denied by the Insurance company and try to prevail Which means they're gonna have to file a lawsuit and litigate the case and try to Overcome these facts.
Now I'm not saying there aren't lawyers who will do it or Who won't do it but i actually did Another video on the various reasons why A lawyer may not get involved in the Case and insurance claim already being Denied was one of them.
So it's a tough Burden for them to overcome so just Putting it out there that you may have a Hard time finding a lawyer to get involved in the case in that situation Alright so if you get a lawyer the Lawyer takes care of of it moving forward.
Let's Say You Don't Get a Lawyer What Do You Do?
Well, you can file a lawsuit on your own behalf so there are two different kinds of cases I want to Talk about here one is a small case in Illinois we have something called Small Claims court, and if you have a case worth $10,000 or less.
You Pretty much file that case or that claim On your own in small claims court that's really what it's made for is for people To represent themselves on small claims.
If you don't have a small claim and you Have a much larger claim you have Significant injuries you're gonna have To file in the superior court or whatever your jurisdiction calls that court.
That's more complicated but if you go to Your local county courthouse there are People there who can help you through That process it may be that you have to File online like we have online filing In Illinois now but either way you can Represent yourself if you have to file a Lawsuit.
What if They Said that You Were 50 Percent Responsible for Your Claim?
By the way, before we leave this Topic I just want to point out something It may not be that the insurance company Totally denied your claim but what if They said that you were 50 percent Responsible for your claim well then you Have a choice you can either accept Their allocation of responsibility or Liability or you can fight them.
Oftentimes when The Put 50 Percent on You or 70 Percent on You You Can Negotiate a Percentage of Fault.
I did another video on when you should just accept some fall for your claim but either way, you're left with the same decision you either accept the insurance company's decision or you file a lawsuit.
Your own Insurance company does something that You don't like whether they deny your claim or offer you too little in your Eyes as to what your claim is worth.
The first place that this often pops up is In your property damage claim so let's say for example that you were involved In an accident and your Toyota suffered Property damage and your insurance company is compensating you but much Less than you think your vehicle is Worth.
What do you do in that situation And actually now that I think about it Even if you're filing a claim for your Pain and suffering or your damages your Medical bills whatever it is if your Insurance company undervalues your claim Or it doesn't want to compensate you or Denies your claim you're left in the same situation as the property damage so.
When Your Own Insurance Company Denies Your Claim or Undervalues?
So let me back up and say so what do we Do in this situation when your own Insurance company denies your claim or Undervalues.
It's okay well your insurance company just low-balled you so what happens to your own insurance company Becomes adverse.
They become the adverse Party and you are now left dealing with Them the same way that it would be if You were dealing with the insurance company for the party who hit you and You've got to treat them as such.
You still have an obligation To work with them provide them your Medical bills whatever it may be and if You don't they could deny your claim all together so I'm not saying don't work With them but I'm just letting you know That they are now adverse you're trying To get money from them and they're gonna Think in their own best interest, not Yours.
What Do You Do They've Denied Your Claim and You Want a Remedy Right Now?
Okay, so what do you do they've denied Your claim and you want a remedy right Now some people think that okay I need To now file a lawsuit against my own Insurance company.
But generally speaking, That is not what happens you need to check Your insurance policy mind you but Generally speaking, there's an appeal process and you have an obligation to Follow that appeal process and it could Be that you have to appeal in writing Within 30 days or whatever it might be What I recommend you do is request a Certified copy of your insurance policy From your insurance company.
And also Advise them in writing that you are Appealing their decision and do that as soon as possible you don't want to miss Any timelines.
But your insurance policy Is going to tell you the rules by which You have to move forward to appeal their Decision.
What's Happened Is There's an Arbitration Clause in Your Own Insurance Policy?
Now When you appeal a decision like this Normally what happens and this doesn't I Can't say this always but normally What's happened is there's an Arbitration clause in your own insurance policy.
and what that means is you have agreed and signing your insurance contract that you're not gonna file a lawsuit then what you're going to do is you're going to arbitrate your dispute.
and the way arbitration works generally speaking is that you go to one of these associations like the Triple-A the Arbitration Association or a local Association and what you is you file a request for arbitration and then you get your day in court except for it's in front of arbitrators maybe it's a three panel a three-person panel of arbitrators.
And you state your case and the insurance company or their Lawyers state their case and then the Arbitrator rules now the reason that Insurance companies like this are that Oftentimes the arbitrators were past Attorneys or maybe they were judges.
They're not going to be moved by a Motion like a jury might so insurance Companies can generally speaking control The amount of damage your case may cause Them and the number of damages that They're gonna have to pay you so that's Why they prefer arbitration agreements And just again I want to urge you don't Delay request arbitration as soon as possible as soon as you've been denied Get a copy of your insurance policy and follow the rules for requesting the Arbitration to Atty.
Because the Insurance company is adverse they're Gonna use any reason that they can to Kind of deny your claim.
So you'll go to Arbitration to represent yourself and It's gonna work out for you it's just Going to cause you a lot of hassle and Aggravation and by the way, you can Obtain a lawyer to represent you an Arbitration as well against your own Insurance company.
And if you have severe Medical injuries I really recommend that You do engage the lawyer to represent You if it's just a property damage claim You probably don't have another lawyer there On your behalf.
Okay, so that's an explanation of Can Insurance Deny a Claim Questions. and It is available to some of the Top-ranking insurance companies to check out.
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