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If you have suffered a personal injury, chances are your life has been disrupted, perhaps significantly. Medical tests and treatment, loss of wages, inability to perform your daily routine – these are just a few of the ways. Sadly, insurers are aware of your vulnerable position and may try to take undue advantage by stonewalling your claim.

When the insurance company stonewalls, in essence you are being denied benefits. The strategy is to delay and drag out the process in order to force you into settling for an amount lower than you may be due. The following are a few of the ways unscrupulous claims representatives may stonewall you:

• When a claim is being negotiated, it is fair for a company to assist the victim with immediate expenses such as food and rent. The insurer may refuse such an advanced payment, forcing you into a financial corner.
• If your claim includes multiple issues, the insurer may demand that you agree to settle all parts before any payment is made. You may have a claim to pay for damage to your vehicle, for example, and another for medical bills. In reality it is unnecessary that these issues are settled together.
• The insurer may insist that you use your own medical coverage, and then deduct that amount from any for which they are found liable.

If you have been injured due to the negligence or fault of another, you rightly should seek compensation for your losses. A good Dallas personal injury attorney will not allow you to be stonewalled.

For information on your case, call the law offices of Dean Malone today at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

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Suffering a personal injury can be a life-altering event. You may have medical bills, lost work time, difficulty in continuing with normal daily activities. You want your case to settle fast. What sort of time frame can you expect?

Because there are many extenuating factors that make each case unique, it is not possible from the outset for a Dallas personal injury attorney to give a target date for settling your case. It may be a matter of a few months, or as much as a year or two, before you will be remunerated for your losses.

The following list will give you some idea of the factors that may affect how long it will take to settle your case:

• How extensive are your injuries? Are they such that your lifestyle will be permanently affected?
• What other medical treatment is needed, and what might it cost?
• What is the total cost of your personal injury case, including lost work time, medical bills, etc?
• Does your injury affect your ability to earn a living in the future?
• What insurance coverage, if any, does the defendant have?

As your case proceeds your Dallas personal injury lawyer will have a better idea of how long it will take to settle. The most important thing is that you receive all that you deserve for your losses and suffering. If you have experienced a personal injury and believe you are entitled to compensation, contact Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 for a free evaluation of your case.

- Guest Contributor

When a passenger is injured in a car, truck, or bus wreck, the passenger is obviously rarely at fault.  Therefore, it is important for an injured passenger to understand the types and availability of insurance available to pay for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other categories of damages.  Insurance coverage might be available through liability insurance carried by the at-fault driver(s), and coverage might also be available through uninsured or under-insured motorist coverage.  A good personal injury lawyer will determine what coverage is available and how it might apply to an injured passenger’s claims.  If you were injured while a passenger in a car, truck, or bus, call our Dallas personal injury law firm at (214) 670-9989 to see if we can help.

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If your Dallas personal injury attorney is unable to reach a settlement agreement with the person who caused your injury (or that person’s insurer), you will have to file suit against that person. Before your case goes to trial, you will engage in what is called “discovery.” This basically means that each party (you and the person you’re suing) will gather information to prepare for trial.

The deposition is one of the most important parts of the discovery process. In it, you will need to testify out of court (but under oath). The answers you give can be used against you later at trial. In this and the next part of this blog post, we will provide some tips for making a better impression and making your testimony more effective.

At the outset, you need to be certain that you understand the question. It is acceptable to ask that the question be explained. Conversely, don’t interrupt the defense attorney, even if you believe you know what is being asked. Let defense finish asking the question. If you don’t feel the question is relevant, it is up to your attorney to object. Don’t take it upon yourself to argue with the defense. Your Dallas personal injury attorney will know what is relevant and appropriate; if he does not object, answer the question.

Of course, you should always do what your attorney says during the deposition. These blog posts provide some general information, but they are not a substitute for the expertise of a Dallas personal injury attorney. For a free evaluation of your claim, please contact Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

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As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, many Dallas personal injury claims may contain some element of emotional injury. Insurance adjusters are inherently skeptical of emotional injury claims, since they don’t show up on medical tests like X-rays or CAT scans. Though emotional injuries are common after stressful events like car accidents, insurers may suspect that a claimant is merely faking a mental problem to increase the value of his or her case. There are some factors that make a mental injury claim more convincing to a jury if your case progresses to trial. Insurers may be more inclined to settle depending on your answers to the following questions.

Is There a Physical Injury?

A physical injury, especially a serious one, can make an emotional injury claim more convincing. Though a traumatic event can cause emotional damage without a physical injury, your Dallas personal injury lawyer will have an easier time convincing a jury if there is a concurrent physical injury. If your accident resulted in a permanent disability, it would be surprising if there was not some negative emotional impact.

Who Is the Defendant?

It shouldn’t matter who the defendant is in your Dallas personal injury case in terms of proving a mental or emotional injury. An injury is an injury, and any traumatic event can cause emotional damage, no matter who caused it. As with most personal injury cases, though, the likability of the defendant enters into a jury’s considerations. Jurors may be more likely to award a large verdict in a case where the defendant is a big corporation (especially an unpopular one) than they are in a case where the defendant is a kind individual who injured you unintentionally.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Juries can return very large verdicts if the individual causing an emotional injury was someone who abused a position of trust to prey upon an especially vulnerable victim, such as in cases involving psychiatrists or nursing home workers.

For a free evaluation of your case, please contact Dallas personal injury attorney Dean Malone by calling (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

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Most personal injury cases do not proceed to trial. Instead, your Dallas personal injury attorney and the insurer for the person who caused your injury are able to come to an agreement about a settlement amount.

There are steps that need to be taken even after an agreement has been reached. You will have to sign a “release”: a document saying that you give up your right to sue the person who caused your injury. In exchange, you will receive a certain amount of money.

Next, your Dallas personal injury attorney will need to make sure your medical bills have all been paid. Many doctors and hospitals will agree to wait until your settlement to receive payment. If so, now is the time to pay them. You may also have to reimburse your health or auto insurance company if they paid for your medical treatment.

Finally, your attorney will deduct his fee and any out-of-pocket expenses related to your case. After all deductions have been made, the remaining settlement amount will be sent to you in the form of a check from your attorney. In all, this process takes about two to six weeks.

If you have been injured due to the negligence or intentional act of another person, you may be eligible for financial compensation for your medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Contact Dallas personal injury attorney Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 for a free evaluation of your case.

- Guest Contributor

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After you have met with your Dallas personal injury attorney and discussed the facts of your case, he will begin to think about what would be an appropriate settlement amount. This calculation will be based on factors like the medical costs of treating your injury, lost wages or other financial hardships, and your pain and suffering.

It is usually not a good idea to rush into settling your claim because medical complications could surface later on that dramatically increase the true cost of your injury. Once your condition seems stable and you and your attorney have agreed on an amount you are willing to accept, he will send a letter of demand to the insurance company.

This letter will include a summary of the factors that entered into your calculation and a formal request to initiate settlement negotiations. The insurance company will assign an adjuster to your case, who will meet with his or her supervisor and get authority to settle your case below some set dollar amount.

There will be some back-and-forth between your Dallas personal injury attorney and the adjuster, which will take the form of telephone calls, office meetings, and written correspondence. If the two parties can agree on a dollar amount that is above the minimum you are willing to accept and below the maximum the insurer is willing to pay, the case will settle. If no agreement is reached, you may proceed by filing a lawsuit against the person who caused your injury.

If you have been hurt due to another person’s negligence or intentional act and are not already represented by a Dallas personal injury attorney, please call Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 to schedule a free case evaluation.

- Guest Contributor

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Insurance adjusters have a number of reasons they may wish to delay making a settlement offer in your Dallas personal injury case. On a personal level, the adjuster may be overloaded with more cases than he can handle and hope that by putting yours off for a while, his situation will improve.

More fundamentally, insurers know that you have financial pressures mounting, including medical bills from your injury itself and lost wages if you missed work. They feel that the longer they can delay you, the more desperate you will be for cash and the more willing you will be to accept a lowball offer. Some of the stalling techniques unscrupulous insurance adjusters may use include the following:

Making You Jump Through Unnecessary Hoops

An adjuster may claim that he didn’t receive paperwork that you sent, or he may ask you to answer fundamentally the same questions on multiple forms. Alternately, he may ask you questions a few at a time drawn out over several weeks instead of just sending you or your Dallas personal injury lawyer a request for all the information at once.

Switching Claim Adjusters

Your case may not be handled by the same claim adjuster all the way through. Because each successive adjuster will take some time to get up to speed on the facts of your case, this can introduce unnecessary delays. Adjuster switching can be a stalling tactic, or it could be a sign that the insurance company has a high adjuster turnover rate.

Needing Approval for Offers

Although there are many levels of command in an insurance company, adjusters are typically given more authority for settling a case than they let on. If you hear that your case needs to be reviewed by a claims committee or sent back to the home office for approval, this may be a delay technique.

If you feel that the insurance company is stalling your claim for injury damages, a Dallas personal injury attorney may be able to help move it along and possibly negotiate a higher settlement than you would otherwise receive. Please call Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 for a free evaluation of your case.

- Guest Contributor

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Dallas motorcycle injury lawyers have seen insurance claims adjusters use a variety of tricks and techniques to try to decrease the value of your claim. One such technique is the “activity check” (also known as the “sub rosa investigation”). This involves a private investigator (or sometimes the adjuster himself) going to your neighborhood and gathering evidence that suggests you are performing activities inconsistent with the injuries you allege.

Most commonly, the activity check will consist of asking your neighbors about what they have observed you doing after your accident. They are looking for things like yard work (raking, mowing, etc.), working on your car, or exercising. Though this information alone probably isn’t admissible, if neighbors report a high degree of physical activity, it may raise a red flag for the adjuster and lead him to investigate further.

Looks can be deceiving, of course, and just because you aren’t bedridden because of your injury doesn’t mean you’re faking it. Your Dallas motorcycle injury lawyer may point out in negotiations that sometimes chores have to get done, even if doing them causes you pain. You may have also had to modify your routine in subtler ways, such as doing an activity less frequently or for shorter periods of time.

In some cases, an insurance adjuster will hire a private investigator to try to get photographs or video of you engaging in activities that discredit your claim. This requires long hours in a surveillance van, which can be expensive. Consequently, this technique is used primarily in high-value cases.

If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, you should be conscious of the fact that your actions may be under observation. Don’t push yourself to do physical activities that you can’t handle; doing so may be misinterpreted by the insurance company. Call Dallas motorcycle injury lawyer Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 to learn how you can avoid mistakes like this and present the best possible case.

- Guest Contributor

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The “elements” of a lawsuit are those facts that your Dallas car accident attorney must prove in order for you to win your case. If you have been injured in a car accident, you may be eligible to receive financial compensation if the person who caused the accident was negligent. In order to prove negligence, your attorney will need to show four factors: duty, breach, causation, and damage.

Duty

Whenever a person drives a vehicle, he has a “duty of care.” This means that a driver must take reasonable care not to harm others.

Breach

When a driver fails to act with reasonable care, he has breached this duty. The general rule is that a driver must behave as a reasonably prudent person would do under similar circumstances.

Causation

The defendant’s breach of duty must have caused your injury. If your injury would have occurred whether or not the defendant failed to act with reasonable care, he will not be considered negligent, and you will not be able to receive compensation.

Damages

Finally, you must show that your Dallas car accident somehow caused you damage. Damages can take many forms, but the most common ones include medical expenses, loss of income, and pain and suffering.

The defendant in your lawsuit will typically argue that one or more of these factors was not met, arguing, for example, that you caused the accident, that you weren’t injured in the accident, or that your injury wasn’t caused by this accident, but by some previous incident.

An experienced Dallas car accident attorney will examine the facts of your specific case and the evidence available and will determine the best way to establish that all four of these elements have been met. Call Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 to learn how he can help in your case.

- Guest Contributor