What Is an Insurance Attorney?

An insurance attorney typically is and should be involved in every step of the insurance claim process. The earlier you hire an insurance attorney, the more they can do for you, and the more likely it is that you will get every dollar you deserve.

While you may not think you need an insurance attorney to file a claim, you might be surprised to learn that the best time to hire an insurance attorney is before you file your claim. This is because it isn’t always obvious what insurance company you should be making your claim with or what insurance policy you should be making a claim under. Your insurance attorney will carefully evaluate your case and ensure that you make the proper claims from the start.

Furthermore, your insurance attorney is experienced at collecting evidence critical to your claim. All too often, people will fail to preserve important evidence, making it hard for them to prove their claims. But your insurance attorney will gather that evidence immediately and preserve it for as long as it is needed. The right evidence can go a long way toward convincing an insurance company to pay you the money that you deserve.

Another important benefit of an insurance attorney is that they can take the lead in communicating with the insurance company, police, witnesses, and other involved parties. This benefits you in two ways: It reduces your stress during the insurance claim process, and it ensures that you don’t accidentally say something or sign anything that harms your insurance claim.

You should always carefully follow the instructions of your insurance lawyer. Plenty of people have been reckless with what they say or do after filing an insurance claim and have lost money due to that recklessness. Something as simple as a post on social media or a seemingly innocent statement to an insurance company can cost you thousands of dollars in potential compensation. Your attorney will make certain you don’t accidentally cost yourself money.

But possibly the most important value your insurance attorney brings is the ability to negotiate. The experience your attorney has with the insurance industry and with insurance law allows them to accurately determine the value of your claim. This value determination includes the value of:

• Current and future expenses
• Current and future wage losses
• Loss of reputation
• Mental and/or physical pain and suffering
• Decrease in life expectancy
• Replacement costs

Your insurance lawyer calculates all of these values before negotiating with the insurance company to get you compensation. An attorney can negotiate better than you because they have the facts, statistics, evidence, and records of past claims to make a compelling case. 

Also, the fact that they are an attorney implies that you are willing to go to trial if the insurance company refuses to negotiate in good faith. The implicit threat of a lawsuit encourages insurance companies to negotiate a fair settlement just to avoid the time and expense involved in a trial.

Finally, if the insurance company refuses to make a fair settlement offer, your insurance lawyer will represent you in the trial. Insurance attorneys do all the work during a trial, responding to and filing all paperwork in your stead. In fact, much of the work will happen behind the scenes, without you having to do any work. Your lawyer will keep you informed, but you won’t have to spend unreasonable time on the case.

If your case goes to trial, it is absolutely critical that you have an experienced and proven insurance attorney in your corner. If you win a trial, you will probably get more compensation from a jury award than you ever could have gotten from an insurance settlement. If you lose, however, you get nothing.

Your insurance policy is a specific type of contract. The contract states that if something detrimental happens to you or your property, the insurance company will pay you restitution, usually based on the costs to replace, repair, or recover. Like any contract, numerous details limit and define the contract. But despite this, insurance policies are usually relatively easy to understand.

If they’re easy to understand, you would think that it would be relatively easy to make an insurance claim. Unfortunately, nearly all insurance companies make the claim process intentionally confusing. This helps limit the number of claims that are made and lowers the amount that insurance companies have to pay to claimants.

And a confusing claim process is just the start of how insurance companies limit the amount of money they pay out. When claimants are willing to navigate the process, all too often the insurance company will flat-out deny their claim. The power to deny a claim is almost entirely controlled by the insurance company. There is an appeal process, but that too is controlled by the insurance company.

One way that insurance companies make it easy to deny your claim is the fact that they usually control the investigation process. An investigator is supposed to be determining the facts regarding your claim, but investigators are usually more concerned with finding evidence that can either be used to deny your claim or minimize the value of your claim.

Hiring an insurance attorney from Morgan & Morgan is one of the best ways to take power back from the insurance company. Our attorneys will perform an independent investigation that is focused on finding evidence that supports your claim. While we don’t control the claim or appeal process, our familiarity with it allows us to navigate it better than most people and often get positive results for our clients.

Most importantly, though, is that we can bypass the process with a negotiation or a lawsuit. When we negotiate for a fair settlement, insurance companies can no longer rely on their complicated processes to prevent them from making payments. And when we go to trial, insurance companies are at the mercy of the legal system and juries.

So if you were wondering what is an insurance attorney doing for you, the answer is that they are evening the playing field.

An insurance attorney is paid on contingency. This means that your Morgan and Morgan insurance attorney will get a percentage of your compensation if you are awarded money. If you do not receive compensation, your attorney doesn’t receive any pay. This encourages your attorney to work as hard as possible to get you all the money they can.

Every insurance company has an appeal process, and insurance lawyers are familiar with those processes. If your claim is denied, your insurance attorney will attempt to appeal by presenting evidence that proves you have a legitimate claim and that you deserve the money you are requesting. Even if that appeal is denied, you still have the right to file a lawsuit against the insurance company to recover damages. Your attorney can file that lawsuit the moment your insurance company denies your appeal.

Some insurance companies will attempt to avoid a lawsuit by offering binding arbitration. This can be a good option if your interests are protected throughout the arbitration. An insurance lawyer may represent you during the arbitration process and should if you agree to arbitration.

Just because you aren’t the one paying for an insurance policy, that doesn’t mean you lose the right to file a lawsuit if the insurance company refuses to properly compensate you. If your damages should be covered by an insurance policy, the insurance company is required to pay for those damages. 

When any insurance company denies your claim or tries to undervalue it, you have the right to file a lawsuit. A Morgan and Morgan attorney can fully explain these rights to you during your free case evaluation.

If an insurance company offers to pay you money, you don’t have to accept that offer. If the offer would not fully pay for your losses or expected future losses, you can refuse to accept the offer. This is important if you want to file a lawsuit. Usually, if you accept an offer, even if it is substandard, that will prevent you from later suing the insurance company for additional money.

In some cases, if you are liable for an accident, you won’t be able to collect insurance. But in some cases, even if you are liable, you are still eligible to make a claim. If an insurance company tries to refuse your claim because of liability issues, speak with an insurance attorney. You may be able to file a lawsuit to get compensation despite your liability.

A Morgan & Morgan insurance attorney will protect your rights while ensuring you get the money you deserve from an insurance company. With an excellent track record of getting money for our clients, when you hire one of our insurance lawyers, you can trust that you are getting good value. If you need to make an insurance claim, contact us using our online form before starting the claim to get a free case evaluation.