Motorcycle accidents can be catastrophic. While any accident can be traumatic, without the protection of an enclosed vehicle, motorcycle riders often face more serious and long-lasting injuries after an accident, increasing the damages you may be entitled to receive.
However, many motorcycle accident victims find that their claims are undervalued by the insurance companies, and they are pressured to take a low settlement. With the right attorney, you can ensure that your financial burden can be lessened so you can focus on your physical and emotional recovery.
Although most motorcycle riders are very aware and safe on the roads themselves and accidents are usually caused by another driver on the road, the implication is that you took the risk by choosing to ride, and therefore, you need to share some of the financial burden. In addition, as you try to move forward and stay positive and strong, you may inadvertently give the impression that your injuries are not as severe as they actually are.
Adjusters also try to exploit the fact that you were not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident – even though the law does not require adult licensed riders to use them in Ohio and several other states.
After an accident, you need to make sure that you document everything involved in your recovery. This includes:
While some of these (medical bills, missed work, cost of repairs) can be easy to document, other recovery elements may be more difficult. How do you document emotional stress? How can you put value on future medical treatment needs? When gathering the evidence of your damages, you may need help to determine not only what you need, but how best to document and value everything you can claim.
Insurance companies may initially appear to be on your side, but it’s important to understand their motivation. Insurance companies are businesses concerned about their bottom line, so they will try to minimize your settlement as much as possible to protect their own financial interests. There are a few tactics insurance companies may use to try to reduce the value of your claim.
First, they might quickly offer a low settlement that discounts your claim or omits important elements. They do this in the hope that you cave to their pressure to get you to accept it, often with the implication that this will be their only offer and your hesitation puts even this low settlement at risk. They know that once you sign a settlement offer, you cannot come back for additional compensation, even if you find the settlement is not enough to cover your bills and other losses, and they are hoping you don’t know this.
They often try to slow the process, banking on the fact that you need the settlement to move forward and hoping they can make you desperate enough to take anything they offer.
They may start challenging aspects of your claim, implying that you took a risk by riding a motorcycle and therefore should take on some of the financial burden of recovery or try to get you to accept a degree of fault for the accident.
They may even start challenging your injuries or undercutting your suffering. Some go as far as hiring an investigator to conduct surveillance and monitor your social media posts. Not only will this add to your stress during recovery, but the delay in the process can increase financial strain.
Even if your claim is free from prejudice, another reason your claim may be undervalued is because many insurance policies have limits, and the significant injuries and damages you may have from your accident can exceed the limit.
In these circumstances, you will likely need to deal with multiple insurance companies, including the wrongdoer’s insurance company, your own carrier, your health insurance, and possibly your disability provider. Each may be responsible to provide different benefits, and each will likely assert cross allegations by claiming rights of subrogation or rights of reimbursement. It is enough to make your head spin.
You may feel that being involved in an accident where you were not at fault should be an easy claim process that you can handle on your own, but because of how insurance companies behave during negotiations, this is almost never the case.
As previously mentioned, the wrongdoer’s insurance company will offer the lowest settlement they feel they can get away with. While you do not need an attorney to negotiate with the insurance company, having an attorney can greatly increase your chances of getting a fair settlement. Your attorney can also effectively manage the cross claims being asserted by the various other insurance companies, while effectively increasing the pot of available funds to draw from.
Your attorney can look at the big picture of the accident and help determine a fair value for your settlement that takes into account your property damage, medical costs, missed work, as well as compensation for pain and emotional suffering. Your attorney will help gather supporting evidence for your claim and will take over the negotiations with the insurance company.
Many accident victims worry that they can’t afford an attorney, especially when the aftermath of an accident is causing financial stress. However, an experienced motorcycle accident attorney often works on a contingency basis. This means that after your free initial consultation, you will not have to pay any other legal fees until your case has been settled. Your attorney will take their fee as a percentage of your settlement. Even after your attorney has been paid, the settlement your attorney will be able to negotiate will likely be a substantial increase over what the insurance company may initially offer or what you can get on your own. And Arthur Law Firm has a guarantee that your share of the settlement will exceed the fee it’s paid. This is called the Arthur Law Firm Fair & Square Fee Guarantee.
If you’ve been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, having an attorney can take the stress out of the process and ensure that your claim is valued accurately. Rather than worrying about how you will move forward with mounting medical bills, missed work, the loss of your bike, and your physical and emotional suffering, you can allow your attorney to take on the battle with the insurance company while you focus on recovery. The insurance companies have a fleet of attorneys working hard to undercut your damages, so you need to have support on your side – attorneys fighting to make sure you get what you deserve.
If you’ve been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident that wasn’t your fault, contact Arthur Law Firm for a free consultation right away at (419) 782-9881.