Young black male on the phone in a home environment holding paperwork

How Our Personal Injury Attorneys Can Prevent Insurance Adjusters from Lowballing Your Claim

profile photo
By Yosi Yahoudai
Founder and Managing Partner

If you are involved in an accident, the chances are very good that you will, at some point, have to interact with an insurance adjuster. The chances are even greater of your interacting with an insurance adjuster if the other driver is at fault. Most people think that, because they sign up for insurance policies on their own, that they can also negotiate with insurance adjusters for a fair settlement on their own. Do you know that having an experienced personal injury attorney by your side can actually increase the settlement you receive from accidents?

Having a personal injury attorney by your side to help you navigate insurance settlements may not seem necessary, but it is one of the best ways to ensure that you do not receive a lower settlement than you are entitled to receive. Insurance adjusters are notorious for lowballing settlement offers.

It may be helpful to understand what an insurance adjuster does, exactly. An insurance adjuster works on personal injury cases on behalf of an insurance company. They look at the facts and evidence to determine how much the case is “worth” to the insurance company—essentially, how much the company should pay out to you. Because they work for the insurance company, their goal is to keep personal injury settlements as low as possible. It’s all about their bottom line.

Moreover, insurance adjusters and companies don’t want you to file a lawsuit. Their ideal outcome is for you to settle your case out of court, because a jury and judge are usually more likely to be sympathetic to plaintiffs. Additionally, juries and judges are more likely to give injured parties a higher overall award. They know that a skilled attorney can help injured victims recover far more than insurance companies ideally want to settle for.

Both insurance adjusters and courts use similar metrics when deciding settlements, including current and future medical costs, lost income or wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress and suffering. The difference is that, with a personal injury attorney by your side, insurance adjusters are far more likely to formulate a more accurate assessment of these costs. For example, an insurance adjuster may claim that your pain and suffering is not as extensive or debilitating as it actually is, and therefore offer you less money. However, an experienced personal injury attorney will know how to push back and what evidence to present to the insurance adjuster to force them to revise their estimate upwards. The same is true for emotional distress: it can be difficult to quantify these damages, meaning there is ample opportunity for an insurance adjuster to try to manipulate them unfairly.

Insurance is a necessity, and while insurance companies are not necessarily motivated by a desire to cause you more harm, they are motivated by their bottom line. What’s good financially for an insurance company is rarely good for you. In the event of an accident, do yourself a favor and give J&Y Law a call immediately. Our personal injury attorneys have extensive experience working with insurance adjusters and will get you the compensation you deserve. If you have questions about filing a personal injury lawsuit regarding an injured child, contact us today.

 

author photo
About the Author
Yosi Yahoudai is a founder and the managing partner of J&Y. His practice is comprised primarily of cases involving automobile and motorcycle accidents, but he also represents people in premises liability lawsuits, including suits alleging dangerous conditions of public property, third-party criminal conduct, and intentional torts. He also has expertise in cases involving product defects, dog bites, elder abuse, and sexual assault. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California and is admitted to practice in all California State Courts, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. If you have any questions about this article, you can contact Yosi by clicking here.