Five Ways to Help Maximize Your Personal Injury Claim Recovery
By: Jeremy Schatz, Managing Attorney, Virtus Law Group, Birmingham Alabama.
- If you are injured, seek medical treatment.
Whether you feel pain directly after your injury or the pain isn’t felt until a short time after (insert link to article on delayed pain.) make sure you seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Far too often following a personal injury people try to ignore the pain. This is often due to job or family scheduling issues. The problem arises when there is an attempt to resolve the claim or the case goes to trial and there is little to no medical documentation or there is a significant gap in initial treatment from the initial injury which insurance companies will use to claim something else was the cause. - Follow your treatment plan.
In Alabama, an injured person has a duty to try and mitigate their damages. This simply means you must try to get yourself better. If you fail to follow a treatment plan prescribed, such as physical therapy, it may affect your ultimate recovery. - Be careful speaking to insurance companies.
Insurance companies are a business just like any other and their goal is to make money. They don’t do that generally by paying out claims. Everyone has heard of Miranda rights in criminal matters, “anything you say or do can be used against you.” The same principle can be used in personal injury claims involving insurance. When you give a statement, whatever you say could be used throughout the claim or litigation, even if you were confused by the question an adjuster asks. Often it’s best to have representation when speaking to insurance companies when injuries are involved. - Take photos.
A picture is worth a thousand words. This principle is especially true when dealing with personal injury claims. Pictures of initial injuries, damaged vehicles, scars, all help when trying to maximize the potential value of your claim. - Use a Journal.
While this may seem odd to suggest, personal injury claims can potentially take years to resolve and memories can fade. Having a journal can help tremendously when trying to remember specific events such as a particular day you woke up in severe pain or days you missed work etc. It doesn’t need to be particularly fancy, just something that you can readily have with you to jot down notes.
Virtus Law Group is a Personal Injury and Employment Law firm based in Birmingham that serves the entire state of Alabama.
