Most of us are good citizens and buy liability insurance to cover us in case we cause an accident. Some people buy minimum liability coverage and some buy more.
When you buy this insurance, you do so not only to comply with the law, but to protect you and your assets in the event that you cause a car، motorcycle or other motor vehicle accident.
Now let’s say you get into an accident that is your fault; you report the accident to your insurance company، do you think your insurance company will cover you according to your insurance policy or not? ERROR!
If you read the fine print on your insurance policy، you will notice a bunch of language that most non-lawyers would not understand. The gist of the language in plain English is that by accepting the insurance policy, you agree to cooperate with the insurance company if they decide to dispute، and the insurance company is the one who decides whether a case will be settled، not you.
Insurance companies are all about making a lot of money and paying as little as possible. Since the advent of legally mandated insurance coverage “Proposition 213 in California” insurance companies have become much stronger because their coffers are full of your money.
Instead of settling meritorious claims، they are forcing claims to settle in court in an attempt to stop personal injury attorneys from getting a fair recovery for their clients.
They know full well that personal injury lawyers don’t have as much money to argue as they do، so their ploy is to drive away personal injury lawyers and ultimately make it harder for people who are injured in accidents to get a recovery. In the end, the consumer and accident victims get hurt, while big business makes more money at your expense.
Even people who cause accidents and have adequate liability insurance to cover the damage are being victimized by insurance companies.
Insurance companies are experts at fraud. With your money, insurance companies contribute money to politicians and run media ads blaming personal injury lawyers for driving up insurance rates. What they don’t say is that the stalemate in Court is due to insurance companies not settling claims properly in the first place.
Now let’s go back to the example of causing an accident. If the insurance company is unreasonable and refuses to settle a case at or below the policy limits، then you will be dragged through the legal system. You may have to respond to discovery, appear for depositions, and even take time to go to trial. This is a long and arduous process that you never thought you would have to go through when purchasing liability insurance. Surprise!
If you lose at trial، the insurance company will in most cases pay the judgment، but guess what; YOU WILL HAVE A JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT، and in the Court File! Thanks to your insurance company, your credit just went down through your fault.
Is this right? I submit to you that it is not so. You have paid the insurance; the insurance company could have settled the case for you within the limits of your policy، instead، they decided to counter in an effort to minimize what they have to pay so that their profits remain high. They did this without considering your credit report, or having your name appear in the public registry as a judgment against you.
Many insurance companies have in-house lawyers; some use outside lawyers. These lawyers are supposed to have a duty to do what is in your best interest. The reality is that they do what is in the best interest of the insurance company. This is the ultimate conflict of interest. Ethically, the attorney the insurance company uses to represent you has a duty to you, not the insurance company. The reality is that the attorney gets his marching orders from the insurance companies.
A worst-case example is the recent disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Have you read about all the poor people who are going broke because they are not being covered by their insurance companies for the insurance they paid for?
It’s time for America and consumers to wake up and smell the roses. It’s not the lawyers who are the problem; its big business that wants to screw the little guy so they can get more profit at your expense. Some have made this a political issue. I’ve even heard President Bush talk about criminal reform and blame trial lawyers for the nation’s health care problems.
Whenever you condemn the reform, remember one thing; you are about to get drunk! Whenever your right to recover damages in a court of law is violated، you will be the victim, while big business is robbed in the mula!.