When you’re fighting for compensation after an injury, every choice you make counts. It’s easy to make small errors that can slash your payout or even ruin your whole case.
Experienced personal injury attorneys can be your guides, leading you through each step. They’ll help you get the most money possible and sidestep expensive slip-ups.
1. Delaying or Avoiding Medical Treatment
Failing to seek immediate medical attention right after an injury could result in harm to your claim. Insurance companies may argue that your injuries aren’t that severe or aren’t related to the incident. Treatment is also harder to prove and might attribute the injuries to other variables.
2. Providing Recorded Statements to Insurance Adjusters
Offering recorded statements to the opposing party’s insurance adjuster can be detrimental. Insurance adjusters could try to turn your own words against you in an attempt to reduce their responsibility. Even statements that seem harmless at first glance might be misinterpreted to imply you were at fault or that your injuries aren’t as bad as you say they are.
3. Inconsistent or Incomplete Medical Information
If you don’t report all of your injuries to your doctor, you may potentially hurt your case. It doesn’t matter how minor the symptoms are; honesty about everything helps you achieve the right form of treatment and ensures the completeness of your medical records.
Accurate medical records make your case stronger because they clearly show the injuries you have sustained and the treatment required.
4. Failure to Obey Medical Recommendations
Ignoring your doctor’s advice or missing your appointments might make it seem like your injuries aren’t that bad, which could lead to a smaller payout. Following your prescribed treatment shows that you’re really committed to getting better.
Not following your doctor’s recommendations could give insurance companies a reason to say you’re not doing enough to recover, and this could reduce the amount of money you receive.
5. Posting on Social Media
You would think you could write about your injury or what you’ve been up to on social media, but those things can come back to haunt you. Insurance companies might be keeping an eye on your profiles, looking for anything they can use to challenge your claims. Something as simple as pictures from a night out could be twisted to make it seem like your injuries aren’t as serious as you say they are.
6. Settling Too Quickly
Accepting an early settlement offer might result in inadequate compensation. Make sure you know the full extent of your injuries and costs before accepting a settlement. Once you agree, you usually can’t ask for more money later—even if new medical expenses come up.
7. Admitting Fault
Apologizing or taking the blame at the scene of an accident could damage your claim. Even a casual “I’m sorry” might be interpreted as an admission of guilt. To safeguard your potential for full compensation, just focus on the facts and don’t get into conversations about who’s responsible.
8. Failing to Preserve Evidence
Neglecting to collect and preserve evidence, such as photographs, witness statements, and medical records, can weaken your case. Comprehensive documentation supports your claim’s validity. The more evidence you have, the harder it is for the opposing party to dispute your account of the accident and your injuries.
