To Claim or not to Claim

After suffering an injury because of an accident that is not your fault, instinct often tells us that we should seek redress immediately, and why not. However the road to battling an insurance company to get some kind of compensation all the way to the courtroom can often be a painful and disappointing venture. The litigation process can really eat up a lot of your time, money and effort. Therefore, it’s sometimes better to settle for less prior to trial than to go through the whole process and then end up with a small settlement or perhaps a bad result at trial.

Whether or not you want to claim against an insurance company and go the whole nine yards with them really depends on the severity of your injury. If you've been seriously injured (broken bone, internal injuries or worse) in an accident that was not your fault, it may be better not to accept the insurance companies first offer to quickly settle as justice may be on your mind. If the gravity of the injury is not so great then you have to ask yourself if protracted litigation is in your best interests-it will cost you money, it will cost the insurance company money, and more often than not they are better equipped to fight tooth and nail with their unending catalogue of specialists, experts and analysis.

There are cases in which hiring an lawyer may be the next logical step. If there's a dispute about who's at fault in the accident, an initial visit to talk matters through would be prudent. And if you've been seriously injured in an accident, go seek legal counsel. Bear in mind that serious injuries are not always evident right away, so even if you receive emergency care, you should have a follow-up visit with your regular doctor.

When debating whether dialogue with an insurance company post-accident is worth your time, it is important to think about the long term hassle that may await you should you decide to file a claim at court and head into proverbial battle.

Many severe auto accident cases can last the best part of a year and that is before you step into a courtroom, recovery times for injuries and arbitration eat up most of the time up until then. The time taken to find a realistic settlement can be the best part of a year or even more, however going to trial can bring the already slow process to a staggering halt.

If you’re wondering why it should all be such a meticulously slow process, bear in mind that desire the insurance company wants to justifiably know everything about you and your accident. With this, you and your lawyer have to gather up and prepare all the medical bills, records and other relevant documents to your injuries. Then of course the meat of the claim which means the insurance company will ask you in exhaustive details about your injuries, medical history, the accident itself, and the treatment options that you’ve gone through. Mediation can often be next and is in effect a mini-trial minus the formalities; arbitration on the other hand is like a trial except the presentation is informal.

It pays then to think carefully about what you want after an accident and exactly what it will take to redress the balance and what is the best for you personally as opposed to the natural inclination to meet out justice.