When you make a personal injury claim, the other side’s insurers will likely handle their defence, initially in any event. All insurance companies have one thing in common. Unless liability is in dispute, they want to settle claims as quickly as possible. That makes sense; the faster a claim settles, the less time they have to spend on defending it, and the less it costs them.
That isn’t to say they are wrong in wanting to conclude the claim as quickly as possible. They operate within the law, but they often rely on the fact that ordinary people who’ve been injured in an accident by one of the people they insure (their insured) aren’t familiar with the legal process. They rarely know how to get the best settlement for themselves.
For example, the insurers might put forward less than convincing defences or make early settlement offers that don’t reflect the true value of the claim.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together this list of 10 things insurance companies don’t tell you – but your solicitor should.
1. Should I accept the first offer in a personal injury claim?
Insurance companies generally want to deal with a personal injury claim and close their file as quickly as possible. As a result, expect them to make a settlement offer early in the claims process, where liability isn’t an issue.
It’s easy to be tempted to accept this offer and move on. After all, receiving an early lump sum of compensation quickly and getting on with your life may be in your interests, too. It’ll certainly be tempting.
However, an insurance company’s first offer rarely reflects the full value of your claim, and you should wait for subsequent offers that get closer to the compensation you deserve.
This is particularly true when an offer is made before you’ve undergone a medical examination and the medical experts findings have been set out in a medical report.
The expert evidence will set out the full extent of your injuries and your likely prognosis and give us a much better idea how much your claim is worth. With this information to hand, we can then listen to offers from the insurers and advise you on any subsequent offers to settle from a position of strength, not guess work.
We should point out that since the Civil Liberties Act 2021 came into force the making of pre-medical offers for whiplash claims arising out of road traffic accidents, has been banned
2. Am I still entitled to compensation if I was partly to blame?
Clients are often worried about making a personal injury claim if their actions contributed in some way to the extent of their injuries.
For instance, personal injury claimants involved in road traffic accidents may sustain worse injuries than they should have because they were not wearing a seatbelt. However, in situations like this your entitlement to compensation is not lost outright; it may simply be that your failure to wear a seatbelt reduces the amount you receive.
The legal term for this is ‘contributory negligence’, and it’s up to the insurance company to raise it as a defence if they wish. Sometimes, the insurers will argue ‘contributary negligence’ purely in an attempt to drive down the amount they must pay.
Our personal injury solicitors at Mooneerams, review the circumstances of all new claims received and advise on the merits of any defence based on contributory negligence. If we believe that any compensation due to you probably will be reduced to reflect contributory negligence, we’ll let you know the rough percentage as to how much.
3. Will my personal injury claim go to court?
Insurance companies are all too aware that most personal injury claimants feel uncomfortable about going to court. Sometimes, claims handlers use this to pressurise claimants into accepting offers that fall short of what they actually deserve.
What insurance companies don’t tell you is that very few personal injury claims ever reach trial. Court proceedings are expensive and inherently uncertain, so avoiding them is just as much in their interests as it is yours.
Rejecting insurers offers does not mean that you are going to end up in Court. If your solicitor’s advice is that they don’t feel that the offers made cover the full extent of what your claim is worth, then don’t accept an offer until your solicitor negotiates one that does.
4. Can I claim for psychological injuries after an accident?
When most people think of personal injury claims, they think of broken bones and cuts or, in serious cases, spinal injuries and traumatic brain injuries. Often, though, an accident caused by someone else’s negligence can cause mental harm that’s just as potent as any physical injury.
A defendant’s insurance company may try to play down the mental harm sustained as a result of the accident, since it’s far easier to dispute a condition exists when you can’t see it.
However, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder are all recognised responses to a traumatic experience, and as such they represent a fully recoverable part of your claim. However, for a psychological injury claim to be successful you must have been examined by an appropriate medical expert who confirms in their report that you have a recognised psychological injury caused by the accident.
5. What are the effects of agreeing to a ‘full and final settlement’?
Most personal injury settlements are expressed to be in ‘full and final settlement’ of the claim. The effect of this wording is that you cannot go back and claim more compensation if it transpires later that your injuries were worse than you anticipated, or your financial losses were greater than expected.
It’s so important to ensure that you understand the true value of your claim before agreeing to any settlement. While it can be tempting to accept an offer that looks reasonable at first sight, it’s really important that your solicitor checks that it covers all your future losses and pays for any ongoing treatment you may require. Otherwise, you may end up being left out-of-pocket even though the accident was not your fault.
6. Am I entitled to recover the costs of rehabilitation and medical treatment?
What insurance companies don’t tell you, and what many claimants don’t realise, is that they’re entitled to seek the medical treatment they need privately, even if the same is available on the NHS.
This can be invaluable knowledge when NHS waiting lists are as long as they currently are. Your solicitors will include the cost of the treatment or rehabilitation as part of your claim compensation claim. It may be possible to get an interim payment (see below)from the other side to pay for it whilst the rest of your claim continues. The cost must still satisfy the reasonableness test.
7. You can recover part of your compensation before your matter concludes.
Personal injury claims can take some time to resolve, especially when there are complex issues or severe injuries are involved. Often, early rehabilitation and medical treatment can have a marked impact on a patient’s prognosis, so having to wait until the case concludes to access the treatment can be a real problem.
That’s why the law allows claimants to access part of their compensation early in some situations by way of ‘interim payment’. Often, Mooneerams can negotiate the early release of funds with the other side directly. Other times, it may be necessary to make a court application. Either way, you can be confident that we will do all we can to make sure you have early access to the treatment and rehabilitation you need to support the best possible recovery.
8. Can I recover both past and future losses?
The impact of an accident caused by another person or authority doesn’t stop at the conclusion of the personal injury claim. The effects of it can be ongoing and, sometimes, life-long. Personal injury compensation is meant to place a claimant in the position they would have been in had their accident not happened. This means covering all the costs arising from the accident, regardless of when they are incurred.
When we calculate your likely compensation award, we take into account not only the losses you’ve incurred to date but also those that you’ll likely incur going forward.
For example, if you require long term support from carers or family members because of your injuries, we’ll include the cost of that care in your claim.
If you can’t return to work, we’ll claim for your projected loss of earnings, together with any other benefits, like pensions and bonuses.
No amount of money can make up for what you’ve been through. At the same time, you should not be financially worse off because of your accident, and it’s our job at Mooneerams to make sure you receive everything you deserve and are entitled to.
9. Can my social media posts be used against me in a personal injury claim?
This may seem like a strange one, but in the age of social media, it’s worth a mention.
Anything you post online can be used by an insurance company when they are defending your claim. That means that the photo you put up of you on a walk when you’re claiming for a broken leg, or the posts about how wonderful life is when you are claiming for PTSD or clinical depression can, and if the insurance company gets hold of them, will be used to disprove your supposed condition.
Of course, social media is often as far from reality as you can get. You may have handed your crutches to your friend to hold for the photo, and your upbeat posts may mask how you really feel. However, having to explain and prove this can add a layer of complexity you could do without. The best thing to do while your claim is ongoing is limit what you and others post about you on social media or, even better, disable your accounts entirely. You’re not hiding anything – you just don’t want to be misconstrued!
10. Will I have to deal with an insurer directly?
A personal injury claimant with no experience of the claims process cannot possibly deal with an insurance company on a level playing field. Their claims handlers deal with thousands of claims, just like yours, every year. They know a claimant’s pressure points and vulnerabilities and are trained to extricate the company from a claim as swiftly and cheaply as possible.
That’s why it’s important to instruct expert personal injury solicitors to guide and support you through the claims process.
Just like insurance companies, here at Mooneerams we handle personal injury claims day in, day out, and we know exactly how to achieve the very best outcomes for our clients.
To level the playing field further, we act for most of our clients on a No Win No Fee basis.
Posted in Personal Injury Claims
