Each case is different and you have to draw your own conclusions about whether or not you need to hire an attorney for your claim.  However, we will keep recounting for you the stories of dealing with various insurance adjusters.

This accident occurred on December 21, 2006 in Virginia near Dulles Airport. The defendant had just left a Washington Redskins game and was very drunk. The vehicle our clients were riding in was hit from behind and rolled and destroyed.

The defendant hired a good drunk driving attorney and avoid going to jail on a technicality. The judge in traffic court actually said “not guilty does not mean innocent-the next time you do this I hope you go off a bridge by yourself.” (We have the transcript.)

The clients hired an attorney and made a claim against Allstate. At the time the case was referred to Ben Glass the male driver had been offered $20,500 to settle his claim and his wife had been offered $12,000. We thought these offers were ridiculously low and at a northern Virginia jury would see otherwise.

We filed suit and shortly before trial the case is settled as Allstate finally offered fair value for the cases. The case in which Allstate offered $20,500 settled for $85,000. The case in which all state had offered $12,000 settled for $55,000.

Again, each case is different and must be judged on its own merits. Here, the defendant lied in deposition about his prior drunk driving experience and conviction. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether hiring an attorney to prosecute your claim against Ball State is necessary.

This case was handled by attorneys David Marks, Brian Glass and Manuel Leiva, who are of counsel to BenGlassLaw.

According to published reports, a 55-year old Virginia woman has settled her case against a trucking company for $2.5 million. The names of the parties have been withheld as part of the settlement agreement.

The plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle that was struck by a tractor-trailer owned by the defendant trucking company. The crash caused massive damage to the plaintiff’s vehicle and caused multiple injuries to the driver and other passengers. She claimed physical and psychological trauma, including a closed head injury, and multiple orthopedic injuries which disabled her from working.

The brain injury resulted in dizziness, loss of balance, post-traumatic seizures, and cognitive deficiencies including exacerbation of her ADD. Her severe orthopedic injuries included spinal and knee injuries.

We recently spoke to a gentleman who had settled his personal injury case six months ago. He had been injured in an accident where the other party was clearly at fault. He was contacted early on by the other person’s insurance company.

This man had incurred about $20,000 in medical bills, most all of which have been paid by his health insurance plan from his employer. The man told me that he did not want to pay an attorney a fee because his case was “simple” and he thought he could save the attorney fee. The insurance adjuster even said some things along these lines during discussions.

The insurance adjuster asked him how much his out of pocket medical expenses were and he told them that they were pretty low since his insurance company had paid the bills. The injury victim went on to the Internet and thought that he found some “formula” for settling his case by himself. Looking at his out-of-pocket expenses and his lost wages he settled his case for around $30,000.

Now he wanted to rescind his settlement. Since he did not use an attorney he was not aware that his employer’s health insurance company might seek to be repaid the medical bills that it paid. Yes, there it was, right in his contract. Of course the adjuster from the car insurance company did not mention this to him nor did they have a duty to. The adjuster did not misrepresent anything but didn’t volunteer anything anyway. The victim had to repay his health insurance company nearly $20,000, wiping out the great bulk of his settlement.

Unfortunately there was nothing that we could do for him. He had signed an “full and final release” acknowledging that he had not relied on the insurance adjuster for any legal advice.

If you are insured by Allstate, Unum or AIG, you should be aware that your insurer has made the top ten list of worst insurance companies in America based on a study conducted by the American Association for Justice (AAJ).  Researchers investigated thousands of SEC and FBI records, state insurance department investigations and complaints, news accounts, former insurance agents and adjusters’ testimonies and court documents.

According to the AAJ report, “The Top Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America,” insurance companies often put profits over policyholders.  The report states that “the name of the game is deny, delay, defend—do anything, in fact, to avoid paying claims.”

The list of insurance companies includes homeowners and auto insurers, life insurers, disability insurers and health insurers.  The company that was identified as the worst of them all was Allstate.  In the report it states that Allstate’s approach to claims is “a combination of lowball offers and hardball litigation.”  A former insurance adjuster with the company stated that they were instructed by supervisors to lie.

Ready for the list of the worst insurers in the country?  Here you go:

1.    Allstate
2.    Unum
3.    AIG
4.    State Farm
5.    Conseco
6.    WellPoint
7.    Farmers
8.    UnitedHealth
9.    Torchmark
10.  Liberty Mutual

For information on how you can avoid becoming a victim of insurance company’s bad tactics, read our blog, “What You Can Do If the Insurance Company Becomes Difficult to Work With.”

If you read our blog, “Insurance Companies Looking to Protect Themselves at the Expense of Consumers,” then you are aware of a report by the American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) that identifies some of the unsavory tactics used by insurance companies. According to the AAJ report, insurance companies have been denying claims, delaying until death, confusing consumers, discriminating by credit score, abandoning the sick and cancelling for a call, all in an attempt to save money.

The report, titled, “Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse,” gives some tips to consumers so that they can protect themselves from insurance companies.  These tips are summarized below:

1.    Know what is covered. You need to know what is covered in your insurance policy and how to appeal a denial.

2.    Fill out forms carefully. An honest mistake can result in a denial.

3.   Don’t cash a premium refund check. If your insurer decides to rescind your insurance coverage, it may send you a refund check for the premiums that you paid. By cashing the check, you are basically saying you agree to the decision.

4.    Make sure everything is in writing. Save all correspondence with the insurance company, along with any bills.

5.  Contact your state insurance department, if needed. Although this department cannot represent you with a private complaint, you should still report the problem you are having.

If the insurance company is being difficult, you may want to consider talking with an attorney who will be able to step in to help you.

Order your copy of Ben Glass’s book, The Ultimate Guide To Buying Car Insurance In Virginia.

Insurance companies are increasingly using more tactics to increase their bottom lines and hold onto more of their money.  Due to the current economy, insurance companies are employing strategies that can harm consumers.  According to the American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) report, “Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse,” the insurance industry is attempting to make money at the expense of consumers.  The report identified some of the following insurance company tricks:

1.    Denying Claims: Even some of the large insurance companies, such as Allstate, AIG, and State Farm, have been denying valid claims as a way to boost their bottom lines.  Insurers have even been known to reward employees for successfully denying claims.

2.    Delaying Until Death: Insurance companies continue to delay claims in the hopes that you will eventually give up, and many people do.

3.    Confusing Consumers: Have you ever tried to read an insurance contract?  Insurance companies regularly use agreements that are incomprehensible to consumers.

4.    Discriminating by Credit Score: Credit reports are frequently used to determine premiums and insurance approvals.  Unfortunately, with the current economic conditions, many consumers who once had good credit now have low scores.

5.    Abandoning the Sick: Policyholders who are the most vulnerable and in need of medical coverage have been the targets of insurance companies.  Some insurers have been found to offer bonuses to employees who meet “cancellation goals.”

6.    Canceling for a Call: Very few people realize that insurance companies often view a telephone inquiry about possibly making a claim the same as they do actual claims.  When it comes time to renew, some of these companies are refusing to do so based on a phone inquiry.

Do your homework before applying for an insurance policy, by getting your copy of Ben Glass’s book, The Ultimate Guide To Buying Car Insurance In Virginia.

We spoke to a very nice gentleman today who called us because he was getting extremely frustrated with the insurance adjuster. This man had been rear ended in an accident and was trying to get the case settled on his own.

One of his items of damages that he was claiming was for his lost wages. The insurance adjuster asked him “did you use your sick leave?” When the accident victim answered “yes,” the insurance adjuster then lied to him: “since you’re employer paid for your time off we don’t have to pay you.”

This was a 100% boldfaced outright lie. The days that the employee “burned from his sick leave bank” are never his to use again. Moreover, in his company sickleave that is not used can be turned to cash.

Maybe it’s the recession. Maybe it’s the pressure of having too many cases on their desks. More and more I’m seeing insurance adjusters who are outright lying to claimants. It is the sort of statements that provoke claimants to call lawyers. It’s not about any “sue happy” environment. It’s about insurance adjusters (some, not all) who are deliberately misleading claimants in order to keep payments low.

In Virginia, if you’re even slightly at fault for an accident that causes you to become injured, then you do not have an injury claim. Many people are confused as to how Virginia views shared negligence.

Various states across the country employ a legal concept known as “comparative negligence.”  When comparative negligence is used, a judge or jury will determine whether the fault lies with one or more parties involved in the accident.  For example, if a jury decides that one person was 70 percent responsible for the accident and another person was 30 percent at fault, the damages awarded would be based on the percentage of liability.  In this example, if the damages awarded were $10,000, but you were found to be 30 percent at fault, you would only get $7,000.

Virginia is unique in that it does not use comparative negligence.  Instead it employs contributory negligence to injury cases.  With contributory negligence, if you contributed to your injuries in any way, then you will not be able to recover damages.

There is a lot of uncertainty following a Virginia accident, so don’t immediately assume you were at fault.  Many factors contribute to accidents and the exact cause may not be clear.  Therefore, you should not let anyone pressure you into admitting something before you know the facts.

The civil lawsuit filed against Hulk Hogan and his son, Nick, wouldn’t have held up in Virginia.  According to the lawsuit, Nick was allegedly responsible for his passenger’s injuries.  His passenger, who was also his friend, was left in a permanent vegetative state following the accident.

The case stemmed from a serious car accident, in which Nick was the driver.  Supposedly, Nick was driving drunk when he crashed.  His passenger was a member of his car racing pit crew and had also been drinking.   The passenger made the decision to get into the car with an underage drunk driver.  He had to assume that the driver would speed and possibly race his vehicle.  Nick’s passenger also chose not to wear his seatbelt.

In Virginia, if it is determined that you were even one percent negligent in causing your injuries, then your case is not worth anything.  A Virginia judge and jury would have probably found that Nick’s passenger made certain actions that contributed to his own injuries.  Consequently, there would have been no case against Hogan.

There is an important lesson that can be learned from Hogan’s case.   You have to be cautious.  If you decide that you are not going to wear your seatbelt and another driver hits you, chances are, your case will be pretty weak.  If you agree to get into the car with a drunk driver and an accident occurs, you will not have a case.

A new client recently received some very bad advice from his own car insurance company. He had been injured in an accident and had incurred medical expenses. The co-pays were adding up quickly. He called his own insurance company to find out if he should do anything with them and they told him to “deal with the other insurance company and if you have a problem call us back.”

Really bad advice. Our client had purchased “medical payments” or “MedPay” coverage from his own insurance company. This means that as soon as he has a bill or co-pay you can submit it to his own car insurance company and they will pay the bill. When he called his own company they should’ve told them this.

It is disappointing to see how much bad or deliberately misleading advice is dished out by insurance adjusters every day. Not all of them, of course but many of them are either deliberately misleading their own customers or they are not smart enough to be handling the phones.