How to Avoid 8 Common Costly Mistakes?

Transcription

Here are eight common costly mistakes and how you can avoid them. Number one, tell your medical providers everything that hurts. your medical records are one of the most critical pieces of evidence in your personal injury case. Your medical providers are supposed to keep accurate and detailed records. These records include your description of how you were hurt, your physical complaints, your injuries, the doctors examinations, and the treatment you received. If you fail to tell the doctor, everything that hurts, not only will you not be treated properly, but you will likely receive a lower offer from the insurance company because they use your medical records to evaluate your case. If you first began to complain about a problem, weeks or even months after you were hurt, the insurance company will likely claim that the problem was not caused by the accident and reduce their settlement offer to you. Along the same lines. Insurance companies will sometimes hire private investigators to conduct videotape surveillance of you. If you tell your doctors that you cannot run climber lift, but you get caught by a private investigator who videotapes, you doing these activities, then this can be very damaging to your case. Number two, continue to treat if you're having problems. If you are still having problems caused by your personal injury accident and fail to see a physician regularly, then in the eyes of the insurance company, and eventually perhaps to a judge or jury. You must have made a full recovery. While you should not go to the doctor every day, you need to see your doctors and tell them if you are still having problems. If your doctor says follow up is needed. Then this means if you continue to have problems in a few weeks, then you should get back into see your doctor. Number three, do what your medical providers tell you to. If your doctors tell you that you should go to physical therapy three days a week, but you only go once a week, you will damage your case. Along the same lines, if your physical therapist tells you to do home exercises, but you do not. This will also damage your case, the insurance company and perhaps eventually a jury will blame you for not doing what your medical providers told you to do. Number four, you need to be careful about what you say the insurance company and their lawyers will use anything and everything they can to ruin your credibility. For example, if you tell your medical providers that you were hit going 55 miles per hour, and the actual report says 20 miles per hour, they will use this to make you look like you were lying or exaggerating things. No matter what. Do not exaggerate your injuries, about your accident or lie. Even a small lie can ruin your credibility and cost you thousands of dollars. Number five, the internet, social media and Facebook. These are all things that the insurance company and their attorneys will use. In an attempt to discredit you and your case. We recommend to our clients that they disable, but not destroy all social media sites that they have, while their personal injury matters pending, and provide them with instructions about how to do this. We recommend this because if a lawsuit is filed, you will probably be required to provide Facebook and other social media pages to the other side in your case. Evidence from Facebook and other social media pages has been admitted in court and used against people. Nowadays, insurance company lawyers and their staff will try to find information about you on the internet which can hurt your kids. For example, if pictures are posted of you smiling and having a good time after your personal injury, the defense attorney will show the judge or jury the pictures and argue, does the plaintiffs look like they're in pain and cannot work in these pictures? While the picture may be a short time period, where you are living your life, it can damage your credibility and your case. Number six, keep track of your loss wages and how you feel. It's a good idea to write down every few days or more often if you like, how you're feeling about your injury. This will help you later on provide accurate information about your injuries and how they affected your ability to function on a daily basis. Also keep track of the time you missed from work and copies of doctors excuses. Most of the time the doctors do not keep your work excuses. So if you turn it into your employer and it is lost, this can damage your case. Number seven. Be upfront with your medical providers about prior accidents and injuries. It goes without saying, but you need to be upfront and honest with your medical providers and your attorney about any injuries or accidents that occurred before or after the accident at issue. Keep in mind that the insurance company and their lawyers will gather all of your prior medical records. And if you deny a prior accident to your doctors, then this can hurt your case. If you have had prior injuries and accidents, then your attorney can deal with those issues. But your attorney cannot help you if they do not know about them. trying to hide prior injuries or accidents can severely damage your case. Number eight, do not just sign any document the insurance company sends to you. It is very important that you read and understand what you were signing. We have had clients come to us who did not understand what they were signing and accidentally signed a release of their claim. We had to tell them that they agreed to settle their case for a small amount of money, and we were not able to help them. If you have a question about what you're signing, then you should consult with a qualified personal injury attorney before agreeing to sign anything.