Yesterday we covered the top five insurance company excuses for lowball offers in car and truck crash cases. They are used frequently because they are sometimes effective. The question today is what do you do to counteract them?
In a brief reiteration of the most recent blog, the five issues they raise are: insufficient vehicle damage to cause physical injury, at-fault driver's denial of fault even in the face of overwhelming evidence, medical overtreating, medical overcharging and prior injuries.
The first is best refuted by the medical expert you employ. Many will simply say that they have found that there is little correlation between the severity of the property damage and the injury to the person. All will say that they only treat patients who are actually injured. I find that this insurance company insinuation often irritates doctors to a degree that they provide stronger testimony on behalf of the injured plaintiff then they might otherwise.
The second, defendant's denial of responsibility in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is a blessing as jurors can be infuriated by the defendants failure to take responsibility. Again such cases often result in larger verdicts than might otherwise be warranted.
The third and fourth arguments suggesting overtreatment and medical overbilling, are also wonderful things to suggest to your own expert in direct testimony. It almost guarantees they will be more aggressively in the injured parties corner and also makes the defense making such an argument seem repetitive.
The final insurance company argument, that the plaintiff's present symptoms and treatment needs are really due to injuries sustained before the present crash, has a variety of refutations. Certainly the medical expert can explain the need for new treatment but also can explain how a new injury to a body area that had been injured previously, makes recovery far more difficult.
There are more nuanced responses as well that are case and fact dependent. Take a look at : https://www.maryland-law.com/blog/the-top-five-excuses-for-lowball-car-accident-offers.cfm
