Death Penalty Reform

Guide On How To Make An Accident Insurance Claim

If you are involved in a accident, you should file an insurance claim with the responsible insurance company immediately. Filing the claim will allow you to get compensation for the pain, suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages due to the accident.

Things that you should know about accident insurance claims

When filing your accident insurance claim, you must understand the different types of insurance claims. Basically, insurance claims are either first party claims or third party claims. First party claim is when you are filing a claim with your insurance while third party insurance claim is when you are filing your claims with an insurance provider of the other party. Whenever you are involved in an accident, you should report the incident to the appropriate insurance provider within 24 hours. If you caused the accident, you should report to your insurance company. If another party caused the accident, you should contact the insurance provider of the at-fault party.

Once you report to the insurance company, the company will open its own investigation into your claim. You may be asked to provide the names of witnesses, photos of the accident scene, or a more detailed description of what happened. If the accident caused injuries, the insurance firm may subject the victims to an independent medical examination by the insurance preferred choice. The insurance firm will then calculate your accident insurance claim and issue a settlement check. If the insurance company denies your claim or if you feel the settlement is not adequate, you can file an appeal with the insurance company.

What should you do if your insurance claim is denied?

There are several reasons why your insurance claim can be denied. The company can deny your claim if the type of the accident you were involved in is not be covered by the insurance plan or if you waited too long before making a claim. However, irrespective of the reasons, the insurance provider will notify you about the denial of your claim. If you disprove their denial, you should launch an appeal. In most occasions, it is wise to hire an insurance lawyer before making an appeal. If an attorney is involved in the appeal process, the insurance company will most likely take your appeal very serious. The attorney will draft a demand letter containing all the details including your compensation, your story and why the other party was at fault.

Conclusion

Whenever you are involved in an accident, you should hire an insurance attorney to help you file your accident insurance claim. With an attorney, the insurance company will give your case more attention and thus, offer a quick settlement. An attorney will also ensure that the settlement insurance company gives is adequate to settle the damages, lost wages and suffering that you may have suffered following the accident.

Slip & Fall Accident: Claiming Compensation

Slip & fall accidents can happen at any place whether indoors or outdoors. When they happen, they can cause harm, pain or injury to the victim. In fact, the majority of accidents that cause injury to the elderly are as a result of slipping or tripping. The factors that can cause slipping or tripping are many ranging from poor lighting to torn carpeting, narrow stairs, changes in flooring, wet floor and cracked or broken sidewalks among others. If you sustained any form of injury from a slip and fall accident, you may qualify for compensation by holding the property owner responsible. However, for that to happen, you must prove fault.

Proving Fault

In order to hold the property owner responsible for the injury, you must prove that the owner did not act carefully to prevent slipping. You must also prove that you were not in not seeing or avoiding the issue that caused your fall. Basically, you are required to prove that the issue that caused your fall was a dangerous condition that the property owner knew about. The condition must present an unreasonable risk to people on the property. Furthermore, the victim must not have anticipated that the condition exists under the circumstances. This means that it is not every slip and fall that can be compensated for as every individual has a responsibility to be aware of and to avoid the obvious dangers.

To establish that the owner had a full understanding of the dangerous situation, you should show that the owner was aware of the condition and negligently failed to fix it, the owner created the condition or the condition was there for a length of time that would adequate for the owner to discover and correct the condition before your fall.

Reasonableness

It is important to note that all slip & fall accidents hinge on whether the liable person acted reasonably. To determine the reasonability of the case, the law focuses on whether the owner puts the effort in keeping the property safe and clean. Before, suing the owner, you should establish the reasonability of the owner’s actions such as cleaning routine or whether there was a legitimate reason why the object that caused the fall was there.

Carelessness

When it comes to slip & fall accidents, most states follow the rule of comparative negligence in determining the damages that you can get. Therefore, you must determine your likeliness of being found to be comparatively negligent. For example, were your actions at the time of the accident could have played a role in your fall? You should show enough that you were not acting negligently.

Conclusion

The best way to go about slip and fall accidents is to consult an experienced lawyer before starting any legal process to help you determine whether you can get compensation.

How The Statue Of Limitations Applies To Personal Injury Claims

Having been involved in an accident, the thing you’ll probably be most concerned about is your recovery. From there, you might then move on to settling your medical bills and seeking compensation from the at-fault parties. Depending on the injuries you sustained, this could take anywhere from a few weeks to several months. But did you know that waiting too long before filing your claim could very well end up denying you the compensation?

Time is of the Essence

Under a legal concept known as the ‘statue of limitations’, all injury claims resulting from accidents need to be filed within a specified time limit. The logic behind the existence of this principle is that, after a certain duration of time, evidence crucial to both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s cases will have been destroyed. As such, justice would no longer be served if a lawsuit was filed after the expiry of this period. Since each state has its own statue of limitations, the specific limit will vary depending on the type of civil action and jurisdiction in question. All in all, the most important thing to note here is that once a statue of limitations expires, a claimant loses their right to file a lawsuit and, as a result, their right to seek compensation.

Act Accordingly

More often than not, insurance adjusters try to speed up the settlement process in an attempt to persuade the claimant to settle for less. And if there latter doesn’t appoint a lawyer to handle the process, they’ll often end up accepting less than what they’re actually entitled to. The best way to avoid being shortchanged when pursuing your personal injury claim is to entrust the matter to a good attorney.

There’s also the fact that injury claims tend to involve complicated legal processes that are best handled by experienced professionals. With a lawyer by your side, you’ll no longer have to worry about the appropriate timing of your lawsuit. More importantly, they’ll ensure that the full extent of your injuries is revealed by the time you file your claim. This will minimize the likelihood of receiving an unfair settlement or having to deal with issues related to the accident long after you’ve been compensated.

Safeguarding Your Interests

Understanding the statue of limitations that applies to particular injury claims is crucial in figuring out how much time you have to file yours. And no matter how solid you think your case is, you could lose your right to be compensated if you fail to act in a timely manner. Fortunately, reaching out to an experienced attorney can help you make the most of the time you have.

Your lawyer will review all the details to determine the deadline for filing your claim, besides acting promptly to preserve the applicable statue of limitations. They’ll also help you understand your legal options and rights as well. Ultimately, you should keep in mind that while it’s possible to withdraw a lawsuit at a later time, you cannot file one if the statue of limitations has run. So rather than take risks by going it alone, get in touch with a good lawyer as soon as you can.

The Role Of A Court Of Law

A court of law provides a forum from where the law enforcers administer their duties. It is part of the judicial system that oversees the application, creation and enforcement of the law. A court has to apply fairness and rationality in its operation. It means that anyone who turns to courts for justice should receive it accordingly.

Impartiality

A court of law does not use any bias in the application of the law. It is an independent institution that operates without any government intervention. It means that its mandate does not depend on any direction from a third party. A court has to formulate and implement its own operation module without any external pressure. Not only is a court independent from any government intervention, but also from any public opinion. Members of the public or any representative of the public does not have any right to impose instructions to a court.

Decision-making Parameters

A court applies two significant parameters during a decision-making process. To begin with, a court applies the rule of the law. Subsequently, a court cannot make an impromptu decision without a reference to the details of the law. This reference provides a court with guidelines on how to determine an outcome of a case. The second parameter that a court uses is evidence. A court has to ensure that the facts on the table depict that a person is on the wrong.

Non-useable Parameters

A court cannot use bias, favoritism, or suspicion when making a decision. On bias, a court cannot give more attention to one party to a case than the other. The application of fairness dictates that a court has to remain neutral and use admissible parameters in making a judgment. On favor, a court cannot ignore credible facts that one party presents and focus on the non-credible evidence that the other party provides. Lastly, a court applies facts, but not suspicions. Under suspicion, the aggrieved or the defending party has to prove beyond any doubt that a wrong occurred.

Conclusion

Notably, a blindfolded figure that balances a set of scales is a symbol that a court of law uses. The figure represents fairness and no bias.

Why Seek Legal Help For Personal Injury

A lot of people sustain personal injury due to one or the other reason. While some folks get hurt in a vehicle accident, others incur injuries due to medical malpractices resulting from the negligence of a medical professional. If the injury is minor, then there is not much problem. However, the problem arises when you endure severe injuries that could be life threatening and that warrants substantial finances on healing. In such a situation, it is advisable to seek legal help to get compensation from the defaulter.

Benefits of hiring a legal representative

Most of the victims of physical injury never seek legal help. They try to settle their matter with the defaulter outside the court. In many situations, defaulters are reluctant to pay anything to the victim citing their financial position or by threatening the victim. On the other side, some defaulters try to escape by paying a small sum that is insufficient to pay off the medical expenses of the injured.

You can avoid all such undesirable scenes by turning to a reliable personal injury attorney. An injury attorney is well versed with the provisions of the injury law. He is in a good position to get you justice and compensation for your sufferings and injuries.

The lawyer will help you to get through tedious legal proceedings in a hassle free manner. By pleading before the judge about your injuries, the attorney will ensure your court case is completed in a lot less time. Most importantly, your lawyer will persuade the judge, with relevant arguments and evidence, to get you better monetary compensation from the defaulting party.

Bottom line

Battling personal injuries can be a painful and herculean chore. Aside from pain and sufferings, you might be forced to stay away from your regular day to day activities that could cost you a great deal of money. However, you can get through this painful chore and restore your financial position by turning to a reliable personal injury lawyer. In return for a nominal fee, a respected lawyer will help to get your life back to normalcy by getting you justice and compensation.