If you have filed a legitimate claim for damages with either your own insurer or another individual’s insurer (e.g. if it was a personal injury claim), it can be frustrating to find that the insurer is not responding to your claim. There may be good reasons for this.
You may have not formulated the claim in the way you should have done, or not provided enough information or proof that your claim was justified. Another possibility is that the insurer is simply stalling.
You will find that whatever the reason for the lack of response, it makes sense to contact an attorney. The attorney will help you prepare a claim better and will approach the insurer to find out why they are not responding.
Who is Responsible for Paying an Insurance Claim?
If you have had a car accident, your car may have been damaged and you and any other occupants may have been injured. You will need to be sure who was at fault before you file an insurance claim.
If you were responsible, then you will make a claim against your own insurance policy. If you are in a no-fault state, you will still claim against your own policy as long as your injuries are not very serious, if someone else was at fault.
You will claim against the other driver’s insurance if that driver was at fault if you are not in a no-faults state. You also claim against their policy if your car was damaged even if you were in a no-fault state or if your injuries were very serious. One reason why an insurer does not respond to a claim is when you have filed a claim with the wrong insurer.
Calculating Damages in a Personal Injury Claim
An insurance adjuster is normally appointed when a claim is made with an insurance adjuster. The adjuster looks carefully at the information provided and may seek further information or arrange for experts to investigate a claim.
If you are claiming against another driver’s insurance, you will seek damages of both an economic and non-economic kind. The economic damages are usually the easier to substantiate.
They are comprised of medical costs, repair bills for the vehicle you were driving and replacement of any lost earnings. The more difficult damages to calculate are the non-economic damages. These are things like “pain and suffering” compensation and in some cases punitive damages.
Unless these amounts are carefully prepared with documentation to support them, you may find that the insurer is slow to respond or even ignores them unless you have an attorney working on your behalf.
How a PI Lawyer Can Help
Some insurance providers may deliberately be slow to respond, hoping they can avoid having to deal with your claim. A well presented claim with the back-up from a personal injury attorney is much more likely to elicit a response from the insurance provider.
The attorney can provide initial useful advice about how to frame your claim and can provide negotiating power throughout the rest of the process. To speak with a lawyer about your claim, fill out the Free Case Evaluation on this page today!
