Quite soon after an accident, the insurer of the liable party contacts the victim. Some victims call a lawyer for advice, but not all victims. Self-regulation is not advisable: three reasons why compensation is higher with professional assistance.
Lawyer liability, insurance and personal injury
It is understandable that some victims do not engage a workman’s comp attorney, they mistakenly think that a lawyer is expensive and that it is a simple task to identify “the damage”. This is further encouraged, because the claims settlement runs in a pleasant atmosphere. The counterparty, often an agency that has been called in by the liability insurer of the person responsible for the damage, acts remarkably leniently at the aforementioned damage items and even offers compensation itself for items that you have not thought of yourself. For finding a lawyer this is the best deal that you can take.
Does not yield to “flower money”
For example, you receive a reimbursement because your family members had to do more in the household due to your dropout, while you did not have to incur any costs for this. You can also be offered “flower money” because family or friends first came by extra times to bring meals and drive you to the hospital.
The victim thus gets the impression that he does not have to call in a personal injury lawyer. Is his damage properly arranged? Is that impression correct, or rather, is it sensible to arrange your damage with the professional insurer without your own professional advocate as a personal injury victim?
3 reasons for not settling your personal injury claims
Unless the victim has only sustained minor injuries and recovers them restlessly (without permanent complaints) within the foreseeable future, it is not advisable to arrange personal injury claims without professional legal assistance.
- Opposing financial interests
First, the insurer has an opposite financial interest to that of the victim. It is in the interest of an insurer to pay out as little as possible. On the contrary, the victim wants to see all his damage compensated and minimize the risk that the damage compensation does not sufficiently cover his damage. Balance of power between the victim and the insurer is therefore hard to find, for example also because the insurer as a professional has much more knowledge and experience with injury cases than a victim. In addition, compensation is money, so the opposite financial interest creates a life-threatening risk that, when arranging personal injury without a work injury lawyer, the financial interests of the victim are not adequately protected.
- Unknown part of damage components
An equally important reason for calling in a personal injury lawyer (preferably a member of the LSA specialist association) is the complexity of the compensation, which can make you feel bad.
- If you do not know that certain damage can occur, you will not claim compensation for this. You also do not know what is customary in terms of the amount of reimbursements. There is little in the law and the developments in the judiciary follow each other rapidly.
- For certain damage items, alignment with the guidelines (for example of the Personal Injury Council) can be made, others will have to be calculated. For example, there are acceptable guidelines for failure in household work for the first few months. However, the extent of the loss due to loss of earning capacity in the event of occupational disability is customized, certainly in the case of permanent occupational disability.
Hard evidence is sometimes required by an insurer, but is that a legally justified claim? In the event of damage due to loss of earning capacity, the Supreme Court has ruled that the victim does not have to provide hard evidence of what his career would have looked like without the accident. That is logical, because it is precisely through the fault of the person liable that 100% proof cannot be provided.
