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Car Insurance and personal injury laws

Car Insurance and personal injury laws

Why does the situation need to be settled by September? Are you approaching a limitation date? If you are then by all means you should retain counsel and file a Statement of Claim (Commonwealth countries) or Complaint (US).



Bodily injury claims are what I do (I will use Bodily Injury to describe physical injury claims as personal injury claims are really defimation, assult, psychological, reputational, injuries... not related to the body). Whether or not you went to a hospital is largely irrelavant. Generally, your treating physician's notes carry much more weight than a hospital's notes would.

It is not at all uncommon that an opposing insurer would not pay for expenses or pain and suffering (I'll refer to these as Special and General damages going forward) until they are in a position to fully settle the claim. Insurers love certainty. Before I allow my adjusters to pay claims I want them to be as sure as possible exactly what the ongoing impairments of a claimant are, what the prognosis for their condition is, how long the impairment will last, what their maximum medical recovery is likely to be, that they have reached that maximum medical recovery, that we have all the documentation necessary to calculate special damages, and we MUST have a properly executed release (meaning that the claimant must waive all rights that they have under law to sue for damages against our insured or any other party that may have a right of recovery against our insured). Generally, we're only in a position to settle without litigation if the injuries are very minor, if the claimant has died, or if the claimant is willing to take significantly less than what we reasonably expect their damages may be. If you have a significant injury it is unlikely that the insurer will be in a position to reasonably consider settlement (by reasonably I mean for both of you... meaning a fair and properly calculated settlement) within the limitation period in your home jurisdiction (most jurisdictions have a two year window). What this means is that litigation will likely be required, not necessarally because either of you are being unreasonable but because that limitation period is insufficient for the a full understanding of the magnitude and impact of your injuries to be known. By starting litigation more time is allowed and the lawyers for both sides will gather the information needed to get the best possible understanding of the injuries, which allows the adjuster and the claimant to make fully informed decisions. Until the adjuster has all the facts and you are willing to sign a release there is little chance the opposing insurer will pay anything... they have an obligation to protect their insured, providing you with money to fund litigation against their insured is directly against their obligation. I recommend you abandon any hope that they will give you anything without a release (we call these advance payments and normally only make them for the most serious injuries, ie. brain injury and the like).

I cannot provide you with legal advice; however, I would suggest you would be well served to seek some.

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