There is no reason not to have a highly skilled and experience lawyer at the very earliest moment when a catastrophe strikes. Insurance companies have had their teams of lawyers writing contracts and advising claims personnel for years. It is a hopeless mismatch when a victim decides to deal with a carrier.
The following is a true story. The victim's name has been changed at her request to protect her privacy.
When 70-year old Connie Jones left her home in Mountain View, California on May 3, 2002, she had no idea that her generous nature would bring her a devastating injury and a lesson in bad faith insurance practices.
Mrs. Jones was walking toward the neightborhood elementary school where she had been volunteering for almost 15 years. She was carrying food that she had prepared and was expecting to enjoy another pleasant day at school. But, because of the unbelievable misconduct of a motorist, she never reached the school that morning. Instead, she suffered a life-altering injury and woke up in a hospital with no memory of what had happened.
Mrs. Jones had crossed three of the street's four lanes when driver John Zhou, who had an unobstructed view for a quarter of a mile before the crash, hit her at a speed of 35 MPH or more. His attention was on a cell phone or a child in the back seat, but it definitely wasn't on the road in front of him, and drove through Mrs. Jones without even hitting his brakes.
The resulting injuries were horrific.
Mrs. Jones suffered a below-knee amputation of the right leg and other fractures. She spent more than 3 months in the hospital and at other rehabilitation facilities.
Then, she and her husband found themselves tormented by an insurance company that had refused to pay a valid claim.
In Mrs. Jones' case, there was no question of who was wrong.
The driver admitted that he wasn't paying attention, and the insurance company had no reason for not paying its policy limit of $100,000 immediately.
But three months after the accident, Farmers Insurance, which badfaithinsurance.org has rated the sixth worst insurance company for its payment of claims, still hadn't honored its obligation to Mr. and Mrs. Jones.
It could have been much worse if Mr. and Mrs. Jones had not hired me. Fortunately they did and ultimately received a full value recovery of $2.65 million instead of the policy limit of $100,000 that Farmers could have paid if it had acted in good faith.
Mrs. Jones' experience has clear messages for everyone who suffers a serious personal injury.
Everyone in this situation should call an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately. Don't talk to anyone, not even your own insurance company's adjuster, until you find out what you don't know, which is a lot.
In many cases, just like this one, it is possible to recovery "full value" even when that is many times the policy limit.
This amputation will affect Mrs. Jones every moment for the rest of her life, but after the crash it's insurance companies know try to take advantage of victims' to make force a settlement that will save the company money.
Everyone I have spoken with after a major loss believes they know all there is know, even though they have no claims experience and have never fought it out with a carrier.
My job is to provide full protection over the long-term and to minimize the financial disaster that always accompanies a catastrophic injury and sometimes help bring about a happy ending.
Onward,
Richard Alexander
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