Who Is Really on Your Side After an Injury?
Insurance companies have become more aggressive in their efforts to get people to accept their settlement offers. One of the practices they use is to tell injured people, "You don't need a lawyer." Stating concern for the injury victim, the insurance company may also claim that accepting their offer is a good idea because unlike a lawyer, they do not charge the injured person. The insurance company doesn't care what happens to an injury victim in the long term. The injury victim is just a claim number to them. The insurance company adjuster is under no duty to explain all the legal ramifications of your settlement.
At Vickery, Riehl & Alter, we fight against insurance deception and look out for our clients' best interests. The insurance adjuster is not an attorney, but they are giving legal advice, and they aren't looking out for what is best for your unique circumstance. For instance, they may not tell you that you are foreclosing on your ability to pursue other avenues of compensation when you sign their release form. This may close off your opportunity to recover from available uninsured motorist coverage and other third party liability. There are also complex issues such as statutory and contractual subrogation rights that they won't tell you about, and they will not explain that your settlement funds may not be yours to keep but must be paid back to entities such as Medicare, Medicaid, Bureau of Workers' Compensation, or health insurance carriers.
Don't sign an insurance adjusters release form until you know all of your options. If you or a family member has been injured, please call our Columbus office at 614-602-4153.
Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers
Our attorneys have spent their careers practicing personal injury law. We offer more than 100 years of combined experience in almost every type of personal injury case, including:
- Truck accidents, car accidents and motorcycle accidents
- Passenger injuries
- Severe injuries
- Explosion, fire and burn injuries
- Injuries resulting in a coma
- Workplace and OSHA injuries
- Defective surgical implants
- Wrongful death
We represent injury victims and their families throughout central Ohio.
Being Prepared Helps Us Build Strong Cases
Using medical experts, life-care planners, economists and human factors experts, we build strong cases that we are ready to litigate. In fact, our professional and thorough preparation and performance in the courtroom has led to referrals from members of the legal community, past jurors, insurance adjusters and even judges, as well.
As attorneys, we handle all aspects of each case ourselves. When you hire Vickery, Riehl & Alter, you work with an attorney throughout your entire case, not a paralegal.
For a free consultation, please call us at 614-602-4153 or send us an e-mail.
