The following are five strategies frequently used by a First Coast personal injury attorney to move a case forward with an insurance claims adjuster:
1. Keeping in Contact with Questions. A First Coast personal injury attorney often engages in strategic questioning of insurance adjusters to get them to commit to time frames. For example, your First Coast personal injury attorney might say, “If we do x, then can we anticipate your response by x?” For this approach to be successful, it is very important that your First Coast personal injury attorney is in a position to respond to and follow through with any sorts of contingent demands and questioning.
2. Enforce Unfair Claims Practice (UCP) Laws. UCP laws provide time parameters for when an insurance adjuster must investigate claims. A First Coast personal injury attorney can call the adjuster’s attention to these laws, so as to prompt the completion of the investigation, and then advance settlement negotiations.
3. Establish deadlines. Your First Coast personal injury attorney can attempt to put pressure on an insurance adjuster by establishing reasonable deadlines for the adjuster to complete investigation tasks. Whether or not the adjuster adheres to them is another matter.
4. Contact up the Chain. In situations where a claim’s adjuster is simply not responding, or doing so unreasonably slow, it may help to contact that person’s supervisor. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if the adjuster is the problem, or if it is the company as a whole.
5. File a Lawsuit. Sometimes insurance adjusters just drag their feet. There may be strategy from their end not to settle, especially if they know that the injured person is in a bad financial situation as a result of the injury. If an adjuster is being non-responsive, filing a lawsuit can prompt settlement activity. Not only do things often become more time intensive and expensive once a case gets files because formal trial preparation begins, but also, a clock starts ticking. An approaching trial date may prompt an adjuster to finally settle the matter.
Contact John Fagan at John Fagan Accident Lawyers, today at (904) 215-5555 for a free initial consultation regarding your personal injury matter.
