Maximizing Compensation In An Injury Case: A Guide To The Claim Process
Getting injured is an experience that is mentally draining, especially when it is fatal and you are fighting to live.
Many people have lost the will to live after a personal injury incident but they still have to survive, live one day at a time, fight to get compensation from their insurance company — or that of the at-fault party — for rehabilitation, medical cost, or replacement cost for their vehicle among other miscellaneous incurred during and after the ordeal.
Getting compensated for a personal injury is easy when it is covered by your insurance policy and that of the at-fault party, although it could be a dicey process requiring many back and forth. Obviously, insurance companies do not enjoy a lawsuit as it involves many uncertainties for them.
However, before you get a settlement payout from an insurer for a personal injury claim, you will go through some processes detailed below.
Gather Your Documentation
When you got involved in this accident, you may not have been in the right frame of mind, however, severe or not, you need to gather the evidence you will need to file for a compensation claim from your insurer or that of the at-fault party.
If they took you to a hospital for treatment, automatically, you have a medical record for the accident, the injuries sustained, treatment procedures, and medical bills which are requisite to file for compensation claims with insurers.
Also, if the accident was reported to the police, and they came to the scene to investigate they would have filed an accident report. Track down the officer on scene or check with the police station to get it, because you will require it for a personal injury claim.
Make a diary of your recovery process too, then consult a personal injury lawyer to know if your injury qualifies for compensation.
Hire Or Consult A Personal Injury Lawyer
This is a necessary evil if you want to get your compensation. You need a legal adviser to start this process. As it stated by personal injury lawyers at https://www.hamparyan.com/, you need a legal representative to help you investigate the accident, help you through the filing process and negotiate a fair deal with insurance companies or their adjusters.
Most personal injury lawyers work on a no-win-no-fee basis, so you do not need to worry, if your claim doesn’t succeed, you will pay nothing.
Pre-Action Protocols
After examining and investigating your case and they see it has merit, the lawyer values your claim, adds the accident and injury details including all financial losses suffered, then uses it to fill a Claim Notification Form (CNF). The CNF summarizes the accident, what happened and why you think the other side your accident.
They will send the CNF to the at-fault party’s insurance company and gives them twenty-one days to acknowledge it. After they’ve done this, the insurer has three months to investigate what happened and get back to your lawyers with their findings.
The Acceptance Or Denial Process
After submitting your reports and evidence to the insurer using the CNF, they must acknowledge the receipt. The at-fault party’s insurance company passes your case to its adjuster and investigator. Your claim is thoroughly investigated and evaluated.
The report from the investigation is what the insurance company uses as a basis to either accept liability for your accident or deny it.
If the insurance company admits liability, then your lawyer will begin negotiating your compensation settlement. When the level of damages and negotiations breaks down, your lawyer can apply to the court to have the decision made by a judge.
But when they deny liability, your lawyer gets experts and professionals to investigate the accident and evaluate you as a victim, take it back to the insurer, if they deny liability again, you and your lawyer head to court where a judge will assess the claim and decide who is responsible.
Settlement
When your claim is settled, the at-fault insurance company will pay you the negotiated or court-decided compensation money which usually comes through within a month or two. Recall that your lawyer works on a no-win-no-fee basis, so after your compensation is settled and paid you pay him or her the pre-agreed amount.
The experience of sustaining injuries in an accident is enough to destabilize anyone. Despite this, the payout for compensation claims in personal injury cases takes some time. Usually, it takes a few months for minor injuries and can take several years for more complex and serious injuries, especially when a lawsuit is involved.
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