An analysis of insurance company bad faith in California pedestrian, bicycle, car & motorcycle accidental injury & death accidents by an experienced personal injury attorney and former insurance company defense lawyer and what you can do to stop their bad faith actions.
As a California Pedestrian, Bicycle, Car & Motorcycle Injury & Death Accident Attorney, one has to ask just how much profit insurance companies need to make to be satisfied. The answer, when one examines the bad faith some are exhibiting today in settling personal injury accident and wrongful death claims appears to be that there is no limit to their greed.
When you get into an accident today, whether it’s your fault or someone else’s, either you or the persons you injure as a pedestrian, on a bicycle, in a car or on a motorcycle are going to be forced to deal with an insurance company that is determined to offer as little money as possible to settle any injury claims.
If you
are the person who has been injured in a bicycle, pedestrian, car or motorcycle accident or if you’ve lost a loved one, the worst thing you can do today is to try to settle your claim with the insurance company yourself. While insurance companies consider lawyers to be annoyances, they consider you to be a nuisance and will usually offer you only what they consider to be a “nuisance value settlement.” Once they have the mindset that your case can be settled for such a paltry amount, an attorney’s involvement will not change matters.
Your insurance company will be offering you or the other driver only a portion of the medical bills and a small amount for pain and suffering. If you or they have an attorney, the attorney will have to prevail on the medical providers to slash their medical bills by 1/3 to one half in order to have sufficient money left over for any attorney fees for their time and effort and the frustration of dealing with an insurance company today and to put any money into your pocket or the pocket of the persons injured in the accident.
If you’ve been seriously injured in an accident, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at (800) 589-3202 or e-mail us at our web site. If we are contacted early on in a case, we can prepare your case as if we are going to trial. Even though trials today are rare, unfortunately, it is only by preparing your case in such a manner, that an attorney today can obtain the type of settlement you deserve.
As badly as insurance companies treat the people they insure, they treat others even worse. Why should you care about the person you’ve injured? First, it’s the right thing to be concerned about someone you hurt. Second, you shouldn’t be causing them to be frustrated again when they have to deal with your insurance company. And third, when your insurance company tries to stiff them by paying them less than the amount of their medical bills and a reasonable amount for pain and suffering, much less any attorneys’ fees so they can have an attorney deal with your insurance company, they risk making the injured party sue you in order to obtain what is fair and reasonable.
As a result of the determination by liability insurance companies to make as much money as they can for their shareholders and executives, the person or persons who have been injured in the accident, whether those persons are the individuals in your vehicle or the other persons hurt by your vehicle, they will, without an experienced attorney, be forced to accept a paltry amount. Their doctor bills or your doctor bills will have to be slashed (of if there is medical insurance, the right of the medical insurance company to reimbursement will have to be significantly reduced) and your lawyer may have to reduce his or her fees as well or face the expensive alternative of filing suit.
The cause of this entire process is nothing short of bad faith by certain liability insurers who claim on television to be your best friend and who, when you need them most, or when the person you hit needs them most, turn into greedy monsters who refuse to pay more than a paltry amount and who risk having you sued by any person that you injure.
