Insurance is one of the most profitable industries out there, and they remain profitable by doing everything in their power to minimize your claim award. Many times, a representative from the insurance company will reach out to you in order to collect a statement or get your version of events, and while you may think they are just collecting basic information, they are also looking for any way to minimize or even deny your claim.
After an injury, it’s important to remember that anyone with the insurance company is not your friend. We want to believe that people have good intentions, but at the end of the day, you are just another claim to them, and they want to pay out as little as possible. Because of this, you need to be very careful of what you say during these phone calls. Today, we want to share some tips for protecting your interests if the insurance company wants to collect a statement from you about the incident.
Giving A Statement To The Insurance Company
If you are contacted by an insurance agent to give your side of the story, the best thing you can do for your case is to refer them to your lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, tell them that you are in the process of obtaining legal counsel. You are not legally required to give a statement to the insurance company, so don’t willingly give information that could end up hurting your case.
Once you’ve hired a lawyer, they’ll be able to explain what you’ll want to do in regards to giving a statement to the insurance company. Sometimes the lawyer will go over your statement with you and can explain which areas should be emphasized and what you may want to remove from the statement. Some firms may run through a simulated call until the lawyer is confident that the statement you are going to give will not hurt your case. Other firms may want to have the statement given in their presence, while others may simply inform the insurance company that you will not be giving a statement at this time, and that the necessary information will be made available on your official injury claim. Again, you don’t have to give a statement, so even if they say it’s “just a couple of routine questions” or “will only take a couple of minutes,” only move forward with the conversation after receiving clear instructions from your lawyer.
What If I Already Provided A Statement?
If you’ve already provided a statement to the insurance company, it’s not the end of the world, but you’re going to want to share this information with your lawyer. They’ll want to know everything you said as best as you can remember so that there aren’t any surprises or inconsistencies when the claim moves forward.
In a perfect world, the information you give to the insurance company would only be used to support your claim, but their goal is to minimize their liability and limit their expenses, so they are going to pick apart every aspect of your statement in order to help their case. Your best bet is to let your lawyer deal with the insurance company while you focus on getting healthy. We’ve done this for many clients in the past, and we can do the same for you.
If you want to protect your interests and avoid hurting your case when talking to the insurance company, or if you just want assistance with your injury case, reach out to the experienced lawyers at Hey Workers today.
