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The Morristown, New Jersey Law Firm of Brunnock and Fleming is a firm that is dedicated to serving the interests of New Jersey citizens who have been injured due to no fault of their own. A significant portion of their practice is dedicated to helping New Jersey car and truck accident victims get fair settlements out of insurance companies. Since this firm was founded by former attorneys for the insurance industry, we are better suited than most to get past all the standard tricks and excuses that insurance adjusters use.
As we have mentioned before, insurance adjusters are the gatekeepers of your settlement. They are the ones who determine what they think will be a fair amount of compensation for your injury. But the problem with this is that many insurance adjusters are graded, evaluated and compensated based on how little they pay out per year. For instance, if an adjuster manages to pay out less than what his claims amounted to, then he or she is rewarded, compensated and promoted. Adjusters that pay out an amount that is more or equal to the amount of claims that come in don’t fare nearly as well.
As former insurance attorneys, we were particularly aware of the excuses and lines of twisted reasoning used by insurers as a way of whittling down the amount that they had to pay on a claim. Now that we have dedicated ourselves to helping the injured, we would like to share with you some of the more common excuses that claims adjusters routinely use. We do this in the hopes that you will recognize them if you get injured and find yourself dealing with them. If an insurance adjuster tries any of this reasoning on you, contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.
“You have filed some other claims over the years.”
The implication there is that you are a serial filer of lawsuits, or that you have somehow made a career out of getting hit by cars. The point of bringing this up is that they want you to think that if you protest the amount of the settlement, they will have no problems “exposing you” as some sort of fraud.
“Your car had equipment defects that contributed to the accident.”
This is passing the buck. Even if it is true that there were real defects in the car, this is something that the insurance company can feel free to bring up with the auto manufacturer in question. It has very little to do with you and your settlement.
“You had another accident after the wreck. We’ve decided that this is the real cause of your injuries.”
That is his opinion, but it is by no means the final word. You have every right to present medical evidence to the contrary. Believe it or not, many people simply accept this as a defeat and either walk away with pennies on the dollar settlement or walk away with nothing. It is important that you understand that the opinions of the adjuster aren’t law unless you allow them to be.
“The initial medical report says that you were not complaining about any pain.”
This is one of the many ways that adjusters use to make it seem like you are somehow “faking it,” and if you insist on a decent settlement then they will have no choice but to “expose you.” Adjusters aren’t doctors. Doctors are well aware of the fact that some injuries don’t manifest themselves until days after the accident.
“Your attendance at work was very poor before the accident.”
This is usually presented as a way to avoid paying you for time that you had to take off of work due to the injury, or a way to whittle the monthly payment down if you end up never being able to work again. You may be assured that your attendance at work has absolutely no effect on the amount of money that you should receive.
“You have no visible signs of injury.”
Many injuries can have drastic effects on the body without being visually obvious. For instance, just because you can’t see cancer doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Brain injuries, which are common in car accidents, can drastically affect the life of the victim without being outwardly noticeable.
Brunnock & Fleming, P.C.
1776 On The Green
67 Park Place
5th Floor
Morristown, NJ 07960
Phone: (973) 898-3700
Fax: (973) 898-6766
Toll Free: (800) 378-6206