Insurance Companies Take The Brunt Of The Blow From Lawsuits
If you simply watch television, read a paper, drive down the road or open a phone book
, you'll certainly be accosted by one of their ads. Did you get hurt in an accident or have a car crash?Do you have whiplash? We can help! Red hot headlines fill pages in the phone book and accompany pictures of injured victims. Ads offer free help until the suit is finished. You'll even see ads that offer claimants a short-term loan against the future claim.
According to an insurance bureau, this kind of hostile marketing on the part of personal injury lawyers makes claims more expensive. Some companies have been forced to stop selling insurance to motorists because of the increase.
Basically, the ratio of minimal damage to huge claim for the accident is seeing insurance rates go up, and the fact that they get the large rewards most of the time isn't helping. While insurance companies are more than happy to pay for real injuries, they feel that they are getting ripped off due to the number of large claims.
Depending on the insurance company in question, insurance premiums are rising to new heights. Even if you're a good driver, the average increases range from 15 to 35 percent across the board.
If you have been involved in an accident or have received a ticket in the last few years, the increase you will see is going to be even greater than that.
Of course lawyers say there isn't a connection between the amount of advertising and the amount of lawsuits. The connection between the insurance bureau and the number of claims and the lawyers advertisements is not comprehended by one lawyer.
If a person has been injured by another driver, they should be able to make a claim for compensation. However, there is the possibility of reform stemming form the offering of small term loans to people in lieu of settlement waiting periods.
One lawyer agrees that there is a proliferation of advertising by personal injury lawyers and that this may actually increase the number of claims filed. He does not see anything wrong with this.
To me, the troubling thing is the insurance industry group's implication that it is somehow improper for attorneys to inform injured people about their rights to damages and to help them assert those rights.
He does see the increase in insurance company costs and admits the system could be improved, but he notes the fact that insurance companies are not willing to work with association to make those changes.
A Bar Association president claims the insurance industry could better save costs by focusing on reducing the number of accidents that occur. He goes on to say he hasn't heard the first thing about insurance companies asking for a ban on driving while using a cell phone.
Also, he is curious was to why the insurance companies aren't lobbying for better road safety and more legislation to prevent accidents instead of pestering lawyers. Profits have been cut and investments have not paid off for insurance lately, he notes.
Insurance company advocates are lobbying for the passage of laws meant to prevent those injured in car accidents from obtaining multiple recoveries for the same incident.
Double dipping is when they want to get paid twice for their work time lost due to an accident, once from their company and again from the insurance companies.
Another bad thing about this is that the people receive gross wages, not wages that have been taxed. As a result, employees are more reticent to return to their job. You can make a lot more money in the long run as you stay off work.
The lawyers don't have current numbers on how many injury accident lawyers are currently practicing, but they agree there are few places that let so many lawsuits be filed.
The majority, actually, permit damage claims that are based on pain and suffering, but in certain jurisdictions, injuries need to be substantial and long-lasting.
The insurance bureau would like you to see that the advertising is creating the demand, but the exact opposite is true.
Nobody should have a problem with attorneys who are willing to shoulder the expense of litigation through to the point of settlement, or who agree to pay for necessary expenditures should the plaintiff not prevail.
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