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How Insurance Companies In Alberta Try To Avoid Paying Unrepresented Claimants August 5, 2019

An insurance company does not always have to play some sort of trick, in order to avoid paying an unrepresented claimant. Sometimes that unwanted action can be avoided by taking advantage of a claimant’s lack of knowledge.

The claimant does not know the exact deadline for filing a claim.

That deadline has been established by the statute of limitations. Lawyers are quite familiar with the statute of limitations; the average consumer is not. For that reason, an insurance company might tell a claimant that a claim was filed too late. If the victim of an accident files a claim on a date past the deadline, the court does not recognize that claim.

The claimant turns to the insurance company for advice.

If a claimant cannot ask an injury lawyer in St. Albert about the starting time and ending time for the statute of limitations, then he or she might ask the insurance company. Of course, that is a silly move, because the company’s representative might hand out incorrect information. Indeed, that would be a great way to get a claimant to make a mistake.

If a claimant thought a statute extended for a longer period of time then it actually did, the same person/claimant could file too late. As mentioned above, someone that has filed too late will get hit with the news that the court does not recognize the filed claim.

Claimant gets pressured to settle prematurely.

Smart claimants do not settle until they are certain that their injuries are on the mend, and will not trigger the development of any complicating factors. Yet almost any claimant can be tricked into thinking that the smart person goes after the quick settlement, the ready source of money.

Insurance companies know how to take advantage of the fact that policy holders like to get paid for a claim. Such companies often push a claimant to accept the terms of an early settlement. Typically, such terms call for the payment of a very small amount of money.

Why does legal representation work to impede the performance of such actions?

Personal injury lawyers get paid a contingency fee. Consequently, each of them wants to maximize the size of the client’s award. A lawyer’s ability to fight the insurance company helps to maximize the size of the client’s award. Some adults object to that approach. Some think it is better to self-represent. Adults that are parents must realize that they have to represent their children. Were any of those children injured during the accident? If so, their future could get clouded by a readiness to accept a premature settlement.