BUISNESS MODEL
Insurance company profit can be derived in two primary ways: (1) Revenue and (2) Cost Cutting. On the revenue side, insurance companies earn money when policyholders make their premium payment and when interest is earned on the investments made by the insurance company. On the cost cutting side, insurance companies vigorously attempt to limit their costs by minimizing the amount of money paid to injured victims in personal injury claims.
DISPUTING LIABILITY
To accomplish this, the insurance company may first attempt to deny that their policyholder was responsible for the accident. Despite obvious evidence to the contrary, an insurance company will deny liability if there are any gray areas in the facts or circumstances surrounding the accident. If liability for a personal injury claim is denied, a victim must file a lawsuit against the person or business at-fault for the accident and prove fault beyond a preponderance of the evidence.
DENIAL OF COVERAGE
If the insurance company does not dispute liability, it may deny that it is responsible to pay for some or all of a victim's medical treatment. This form of denial is likely the most common tactic employed by an insurance company when defending a personal injury claim. Insurance companies oftentimes pay a lot of money to retain medical experts who review a victim's medical records for the purpose of denying that the medical treatment was reasonable and or necessary to treat an injury caused by the accident.
HOW WE CAN HELP
By employing these and other tactics against victims in personal injury claims, insurance companies are able to accomplish their objective of not only minimizing settlements but also delaying payment of the settlement to the victim. Every day the insurance company delays in paying a settlement, it earns additional interest on its money. When spread over the hundreds of thousands of claims each year, this delay can earn an insurance company millions of dollars in interest revenue.
It is for these reasons that an experienced personal injury attorney is a must when dealing with an insurance company. If an insurance company is dealing with a person who is not represented by an attorney, or if the insurance company knows that the attorney handling a personal injury case is inexperienced, then it may attempt to gain the dismissal of the case through a legal technicality or argument that would never be employed against an experienced personal injury attorney such as Jeffrey Foster.