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Most of us are good citizens and buy liability insurance to cover us in case an accident happens. Some people buy minimum liability coverage and some people buy more.
When you buy this insurance, you do so not only to comply with the law, but also to protect you and your property in the event of a car, motorcycle, or other motor vehicle accident.
Now suppose you get into an accident which is your fault; You report the accident to your insurance carrier; You would think that your insurance company would cover you as per your insurance policy, right? Wrong!
If you read the fine print on your insurance policy, you will see a bunch of language that most non-lawyers will not understand. The gist of the language in plain English is that by accepting an insurance policy, you agree to cooperate with the insurance company if they decide to litigate, and the insurance company is the one who decides whether to settle a case. Will go or not, not you.
Insurance companies are all about making a lot of money and paying as little as possible. Since the advent of legally mandated insurance coverage (Proposition 213 in California) insurance companies have become very voracious because their coffers are full of your money.
Instead of settling meritorious claims, they are forcing personal injury attorneys to litigate the claims in court in an effort to prevent them from obtaining justifiable recoveries for their clients. They are fully aware that personal injury lawyers do not make as much money doing litigation as they do, so their ploy is to starve personal injury lawyers and ultimately make it harder for those who are injured in accidents. Gone, getting recovery. In the end the injury happens to the consumer and the persons injured in accidents, while big business makes more profit at your expense.
Even people who cause accidents and have proper liability insurance to cover the claim are still getting victimized by the insurance companies.
Insurance companies are experts at fraud. With your money, insurance companies contribute money to politicians, and run media ads that blame personal injury lawyers for making insurance rates so high. What they don’t say is that the backlog in court is caused by insurance companies not settling claims as they should in the first place.
Now let’s go back to the example of you causing the accident. If the insurance company is unfair and refuses to settle a case within or below the policy limit, you will be dragged through the legal system. You may have to answer discovery, appear for testimony, and even make time to go to trial. It is a long and difficult process that you did not think that you would have to face while buying liability insurance. Wonder!
If you lose at trial, the insurance company will award judgment in most cases, but guess what; Your credit report and court file will have the judgment against you! Thanks to your insurance company, your credit has been damaged through no fault of your own.
is it fair? I request you that it is not so. you paid for the insurance; The insurance company could have settled the case for you within your policy limit; Instead, they decided to litigate in an effort to get the minimum payouts so that their profits would remain high. They did this regardless of your credit report, or whether your name appeared in public records as a judgment against you.
Many insurance companies have in-house lawyers; Some use outside lawyers. These lawyers are expected to do what is in your best interest. The reality is that they do what is in the best interests of the insurance company. This is the ultimate conflict of interest. Ethically, the attorney the insurance company uses to represent you owes a duty to you, not the insurance company. The reality is that lawyers get their marching orders from insurance companies.
The worst example is the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster. Have you read about all those poor people who are getting worse because they are not being covered by their insurance companies for the insurance they have paid for?
It is time for America and consumers to wake up and smell the roses. It is not the trial attorney who is the problem; Its big business wanting to screw the little guy so they can get more profit at your expense. Some people have made it a political issue. I’ve also heard President Bush talk about tort reform and blame trial lawyers for the nation’s health care problems.
Whenever you make amends here, remember one thing; You’re about to get screwed! Anytime your right to recover damages in court is infringed upon, you will be the victim, while big business gets stuck in the mud!
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2007
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