Consider the scenario, a man was driving his family home. Not long after the family’s station wagon entered the city, the driver stopped at a red light, and was rear-ended by a drunken motorist. Because no insurance company had started selling an uninsured motorist option, the man with the damaged wagon submitted a 1st party claim at his own insurance company.
The insurance adjuster insisted that the company could not cover the full cost of the repairs, because the policyholder’s wagon had flown into the car in front of it. The driver’s wife refused to hire a personal injury lawyer in London, and proceeded to negotiate with the adjuster.
The wife felt confident about negotiating with the insurance company. Unfortunately, she failed to spend time researching the settlement process. As a result, the family received less money than it had hoped. Moreover, it overlooked an opportunity to seek compensation for an injury with late-appearing symptoms.
The above example illustrates the 2 drawbacks to a decision to handle a personal injury case without the aid of a lawyer.
Normally, the person making that decision has not given any consideration to the possible existence of severe injuries.In most instances, the person that has made that decision lacks suitable understanding of the legal elements that relate to that specific case.
Challenges faced by the victim that was injured in an accident, if that some victim has failed to retain a personal injury lawyer
The victim needs to negotiate a settlement with the adjuster at the insurance company.
Adjusters want to reduce any payout as much as possible. Adjusters can spot the weakness in the other side’s case, and can take advantage of that weakness. The absence of a legal representation is one glaring weakness. Insurance adjusters reduce the size of their initial offer, if the other party has not retained an attorney.
In addition to the effort that the victim must put into the recovery process, some of victim’s time and effort should be spent researching the settlement process. Certain strategies can persuade an adjuster to offer a larger compensation. Personal injury lawyers have become familiar with those strategies.
If the adjuster refuses to settle with the victim, the 2 parties could face each other in a courtroom. That could force the one party (the victim) to seek the services of a personal injury lawyer.
At that point, any attorney would face an uphill battle, because the adjuster had already exploited the case’s weak points. Yet, the inexperienced victim had failed to take advantage of any strong point. For example, during negotiations, it helps to call attention to any emotional aspect of the case.