After sustaining an injury in a fall caused by negligence, you can expect high medical bills and potential loss of wages while recovering. Unfortunately, that will likely impact your financial situation. Obviously, you deserve to recover compensation if someone else was responsible for your fall, but insurance companies are less helpful here than you’d expect.
Why You Should Never Provide a Recorded Statement to Insurance After a Slip and Fall
Insurers only make money if they pay out less than they bring in. That means any insurance provider has a very clear interest in either paying you nothing, or in severely reducing the amount you truly deserve
You should be suspicious if the insurer continuously requests a recorded statement before covering your medical expenses or paying out anything for your other damages. Those statements are solely for the insurer’s benefit and don’t help you at all.
Thankfully, there are ways to protect yourself from these unscrupulous tactics. It’s unfortunate that these steps are even necessary to begin with, but there are crucial actions to take (and not take) in order to protect your legal rights after a fall:
- Avoid discussing the particulars of the accident with the property owner or on-duty manager. While you do need to report the fall to the home owner or the staff at a business, anything you say here—even a simple apology—can be used against you later. The at-fault party may twist your words and prevent you from recovering financially after a fall.
- Politely decline to provide a recorded statement to insurance if your adjuster requests one. The purpose of these recorded conversations is to trick you into admitting partial fault on the record so your payout can be reduced or fully denied.
- Refer the adjuster to your legal counsel. This simple act alone makes insurers more willing to provide a reasonable amount in compensation because they know you are serious about your claim.
You Need an Experienced Lawyer if You Were Hurt in a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall
These insurance tactics are one reason why it is crucial to retain an experienced slip and fall attorney after suffering an injury. Your attorney can help you investigate the accident to determine who is liable for your damages. From there, a lawyer’s job is to take over negotiations with the property owner’s insurer or even file a personal injury lawsuit if insurance isn’t sufficient to cover your damages.
An attorney can still help even if you’ve already given a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster. Regardless of where you are in the claim process, you should call to schedule a consultation with a qualified slip and fall attorney at 215-332-0300 or get in touch with the Heslin Law Firm online here.
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