How to resolve a personal injury claim
By: Jamie Hanson | Posted: 28th April 2010
Consider these scenarios for a moment. If injured in a motor vehicle accident while traveling from office to home. Your neighbor's dog bit you while you are strolling near your house. You slipped on your neighbor's slippery foot pavement. Do you find any common thing among these scenarios? In each of the above cases, the injuries happened due to negligence of another person, and all injuries qualify for filling a personal injury claim, if you can prove it. Here we shall discuss about some instructions that need to follow to resolve a personal injury claim.
Instructions
1. Look for medical help although your injuries do not seem to be serious. Minor injuries frequently can turn into a serious one. Examine your injuries thoroughly by taking pictures of any lacerations, inflammation, scratches, contusions or broken or injured bones.
2. Record vital information such as date, time and place of your accident, lost salaries, medical expenses and injuries sustained. In case of a bike/car accident, record the road and weather, malfunctioning traffic signals, traffic flow and visible hazards.
3. File an accident report in your local police station and acquire the copies to submit with your personal injury claim.
4. Make a note of the contact details of the eyewitnesses who may have seen the accident. Eyewitnesses can be of great help when resolving a personal injury claim with your insurance company. Eyewitnesses can help in providing the descriptions or details that can indicate who was at fault. Eyewitness statement is written and documented.
5. Retain any proof that may hint who was at fault, such as a broken step or ripped clothing, or a damaged vehicle. Hands-0n-evidence is more convincing than a verbal or written description.
6. Calculate your damages by first calculating the expenses incurred by you. Multiply the value by 3 to decide the value of your "sufferings and pain", and to that value, add the repair costs to your property or vehicle.
7. Think of filing a personal injury claim only if you are injured, lost job as well as any incomes and incurred heavy medical expenses.
8. Inform your insurance company and the party responsible for your injuries to file a personal injury claim within some days of the accident. Such notification should be in a written format.
9. Look for legal assistance in case you cannot resolve your personal injury claim with your insurance company or if your case in too complex to handle on your own. If you are not successful in resolving the claims with your insurance company, then you have the privilege to bring your case to court. If you cannot afford it, then free legal assistance is also available.
Some more advice:
* Personal injury claims can take a number of days, months or years to get resolve, so you should be patient in such circumstances.
While filing your claim, inflate the final amount in expectation of having to bargain a settlement.
Be cautious, insurance companies do not like to pay out claims and may unleash investigators to keep an eye to obtain evidences against claims.
Various aspects to be considered before Personal injury claims and only an experienced lawyer's advice will guide you at our website first4lawyers.com
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Tags: insurance company, medical expenses, minor injuries, personal injury claim, traffic signals, police station, traffic flow, time and place, car accident, medical help, sufferings, motor vehicle accident, accident report, lacerations