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Car Accident
HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL
(877) 880-4090Posted November 21, 2017 | Personal Injury Blog
After any kind of personal injury accident, your first instinct should be to call your insurance company. You make payments to one or more insurers to maintain auto, home, business, and/or health coverage. After an injury, you finally have the ability to recover benefits from the policy you’ve kept. In any personal injury case, you can almost guarantee insurance coverage will play a major role. Here’s why insurance is so important and how to navigate insurance policies for the best possible outcome.
When it comes to coverage for car accidents, Utah is a no-fault insurance state. The Automobile No-Fault Self-Insurance law states that all drivers must carry no-fault car insurance or personal injury protection (PIP) coverage within minimum limits. Regardless of who causes an accident, each injured party must seek damage recovery through his or her own insurance policy. This differs from fault states, in which the at-fault party’s insurance company pays for all damages.
In no-fault states, insurance coverage plays a vital role in receiving benefits for medical bills and property damage. Without proper coverage, injured parties may be stuck paying for losses out of pocket or seeking recovery through other means, such as personal injury claims. After a car accident, injured parties will need to file claims with the at-fault party’s insurer. From there, settlement negotiations may ensue.
In car accidents and every other type of incident that results in bodily harm or property damage, there will usually be at least one insurance company involved. For example – a slip and fall at the grocery store will involve the company’s business insurer; a medical malpractice claim will require negotiations with the hospital’s insurance carrier; and a product liability claim will seek recovery through the manufacturer’s insurer. If, when, and how insurance coverage will kick in depends on the circumstances of the accident.
After you sustain an injury in any kind of accident and someone files a claim, you will hear from someone called an insurance claims adjuster. A claims adjuster is the person who is in charge of your individual claim. The adjuster will gather information about your accident and often request that you give a recorded statement. You are under no obligation to give such a statement and should, in fact, wait until you speak to a lawyer. The claims adjuster works for the insurance company, not for you. His or her goal is to get you to settle for as little as possible.
With a bit of knowledge and advice from a lawyer, you can have a significant advantage over the insurance claims adjuster. You typically know more about your accident than the adjuster does – especially if you chat with a lawyer first. You can gain an understanding of what your case is worth, and have more confidence negotiating a settlement. A Salt Lake City personal injury lawyer can help you negotiate with big insurance companies, and fight for the compensation your damages deserve. If the negotiation process does not result in fair financial recovery, your lawyer can take your claim to the civil courts instead – suing the defendant for negligence.
Sources:
https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r708/r708-019.htm
Text edited by Mitchell Fielding, a personal injury lawyer and partner at Fielding Law. Mitchell is known for his hard work ethic, friendly personality and dedication to the law. You can find out personal injury law offices in Taylorsville, UT and Mesquite, TX.