Making mistakes is what makes us human, and it’s through these experiences that you gain valuable life lessons. With that said, it’s best to avoid mistakes at all costs, especially if you’ve just suffered from an injury due to a slip and fall, car accident, or any other risky situation. This is essential as the sustained injuries will affect both your physical and physiological wellbeing. But right after getting an injury is when you’re more likely to make mistakes as you’ll be confused. By doing this, you might end up further complicating your personal injury case when seeking compensation. To avoid this, you must be well-informed on some of the mistakes to avoid after suffering a personal injury.
Here’s an overview of the common mistakes you need to avoid.
1.Negotiating With Insurance Companies on Your Own
Right after being involved in an accident, an insurance company representative will get in touch to follow up on the extent of the damage. Usually, they’ll sound as though they’re sympathetic and are looking after your best interests.
However, this is far from the case as they use such opportunities to have you disclose crucial information that they can then twist to make it appear as though you’re at fault for the accident. By doing this, they’ve successfully managed to prevent you from getting fully compensated for your injuries.
To avoid finding yourself in such an unfortunate position, you should hire lawyers who have experience with this type of matter, such as those from Black & DePaoli. Having an attorney by your side ensures you aren’t taken advantage of by the sly insurance company agents. Also, you get further guidance on the right legal steps to take to guarantee you get compensated.
2.Not Getting Treatment on Time
While you might not have sustained a serious injury after the accident, it’s recommended you seek medical treatment regardless. It’s best you do this right after the accident since your body enters into shock and some symptoms from the injury take time to show. But by immediately seeing a doctor, you avoid this altogether hence guaranteed to get the needed medical treatment.
Only after a doctor’s examination will you get e clear picture of the severity of your injuries. Knowing this will then help you in filing for compensation. But without a doctor’s note, it’s assumed that any injury you have isn’t from the accident. As a result, you end up missing out on your deserved compensation due to your negligence.
3.Accepting the First Settlement Offer
Insurance companies are very shrewd and do everything within the confines of the law to ensure they don’t incur as much loss as possible. They achieve this by offering you a settlement offer to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
However, it would help if you didn’t rush to accepting this initial offer as, in most cases, it’s much lower than your deserved payment. The insurance company will do this by being very persuasive, trying to convince you that you’re getting a great deal while, in reality, you’re paid an amount that won’t do justice to the suffering you’re going through.
You should instead take your time to build a solid case and get help from a professional attorney. Once you do this, the insurance company will see that you’re determined to see this matter to the entire extent of the law. As a result, the insurance company will be willing to pay a lot more than what they had offered in the first place.
4.Not Gathering Evidence
For you to win any case, solid evidence is needed without which compensation can’t be given. After all, it’s the only way to prove you’ve suffered from wrongdoing and deserve compensation. Therefore, you need to try your best to collect all the available evidence at the accident scene. There are different ways you can do this, including;
- Getting the contact information of eyewitnesses
- Writing down the statements they give
- Taking pictures of your injuries
Having such evidence will be of great help to your lawyer when they start investigating this issue. Never ignore even the smallest detail, as everything from the scene of your accident will be vital in building a strong case and increasing the chances of being compensated.
5.Posting On Social Media
In today’s world, almost everything eventually finds its way onto social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. While it might sound logical to keep your family members and friends updated on how the case’s proceeding, it greatly affects your chances of getting compensated.
This is because investigators hired by insurance companies might end up finding incriminating posts or pictures and use them against you. As a result, you end up getting lower compensation than what’s deserved or, even worse, don’t get paid anything at all.
Takeaway
Accidents that lead to an injury can be quite traumatizing. As a result, this time often feels quite tumultuous and frenzied, so you most likely will feel overwhelmed by this entire experience.
This might then lead to you making mistakes that later hinder your attempts to get compensation. This in-depth guide has highlighted the different mistakes to avoid when planning to file for a personal injury claim to increase the chances of winning the case.