[Transcript]
Hi, my name is Kenneth Berger, and I made this video to help you understand what rights you have legally if an insurance company is refusing to pay or is trying to make low offers.
So, let's talk first about what to do when the insurance company is trying to avoid payment altogether. If they're stonewalling you, in other words, if they're intentionally delaying the case in hopes that you'll either get tired or get frustrated and either go away or accept a low offer, that's one thing that insurance companies do.
Another thing is if an insurance company, yours or someone else's, asks for a recorded statement. Unless you absolutely have to give one, which is rarely the case, you don't want to give a recorded statement. All they're going to do is try to use those words against you. No matter how straightforward it may seem, in countless instances, we've seen insurance companies try to twist people's words in those recorded statements. So watch out for that.
And the third thing that insurance companies will do to try to avoid paying claims altogether is they'll send out surveillance. We've seen this with people who've got everything from back injuries to catastrophic brain injuries. Insurance companies will hire private investigative companies to go out and conduct surveillance of you at your home or with your children. So just know that if you're dealing with an insurance company, there's the possibility, at least, that they might be conducting surveillance. Regardless of what you think about that, ethically, it does happen.
Alright, those are ways that an insurance company will try to avoid paying claims altogether. Another thing that they try to do is, again, just make these what's commonly called a lowball offer or just a bottom-end settlement offer. In those situations, again, you've got rights. If it's for property damage—property damage to your vehicle, your home, or otherwise— a lot of states, including South Carolina, allow what's known as property damage arbitration. And in those situations, you may or may not need a lawyer. In fact, it can possibly help you save some money not having a lawyer.
The same goes if you've got what I classify as minor injuries. So if there was a car wreck and again, you suffered harm, but thank God it wasn't worse, and you may have had an ER visit or a family care visit and a little bit of follow-up care with the physical therapist, but you know, for all intents and purposes, you're back to 100%. In those situations, the best thing you can do is help make sure the insurance company has all the evidence, from the medical bills to any lost wage information, to establish the value of your case. And by doing that, again, you can potentially avoid having to hire a lawyer and pay a lawyer, say, 33 percent of any settlement.
Now, if you're dealing with insufficient or low offers or less than satisfactory offers for what I classify as life-changing injuries, something you're just, you're not better yet, it's been a major event in your life, and things have not returned 100%, in those situations, that's where a lawyer can actually do you a lot of good. In most situations, lawyers are used to dealing with insurance companies, and what we tell a lot of our clients is, look, you know, we want you to focus on getting well, getting back to life as normal, and let us worry about dealing with all the legal issues and insurance issues that are being raised because again, they try to create stone walls and really a maze for you to try to navigate, and we don't want you doing that. We want you focused on getting better. It allows us to get the evidence we need, allows us to contact the witnesses that we think would be best, it allows us to put together the case that fully tells your story from a legal perspective.
Now, when it comes to a lawyer, another thing to look at is an experienced lawyer will understand the pressure points on the insurance company and how to really create sufficient pressure or leverage when negotiating with an insurance company to get you the best possible settlement. And we're talking about the best possible settlement; we're not talking about milking people out of money; we're talking about making sure that you are fairly and fully protected under the law. And without knowing what the law is and all the damages that are recoverable, that's nearly impossible. Again, that's what lawyers are here to do.
If you have any questions whatsoever, contact our South Carolina personal injury attorney for a free consultation. You can reach us right here on the website through the live chat feature, or you can also call us. We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you have so that your rights are fully protected.
Values-Driven, Client-Focused – Contact My Columbia, SC Personal Injury Law Firm
To begin leveling the playing field and taking some of the burden off your own shoulders, call the Law Office of Kenneth Berger today at 803-790-2800. We serve injured people throughout the state of South Carolina, including Columbia, Lexington, Orangeburg, and Myrtle Beach.