In Part Two of our discussion regarding the differing factors between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, we begin with another example of where underinsured motorist coverage would come in handy.
Say, for example, you’re in a car accident with someone who has an insurance policy that will pay you $75,000, but you’re medical bills are $60,000. In other words, there isn’t enough money to cover your entire personal injury claim. In fact, your medical bills alone have practically exhausted the at fault driver’s insurance coverage. In this situation, you would file an underinsured motorist claim with your insurance company as long as you are able to prove that the negligent driver’s insurance coverage doesn’t fully cover your expenses. The amount of compensation you’ll receive from your insurance policy will vary depending on your unique policy. But at least you know that if you do have this kind of coverage available to you, it will provide additional protection to you and your family.
If you have any questions about uninsured or uninsured motorist coverage, please contact the skilled Arizona auto accident attorneys at Breyer Law Offices today. We can help you quickly determine if any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage is available. Call us today to schedule a free, no obligation consultation.
In the first blog of our two-part series, we will begin our discussion regarding uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is an automobile policy option that covers you for property damage and bodily injury caused by another motorist who does not carry car insurance.
Let’s look at an example.
Say you’re badly hurt in an auto accident in Maricopa County and the accident was caused by a negligent driver. Under Arizona law, that negligent driver is responsible for paying for your medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages. But what happens if that person doesn’t have any car insurance?
If that’s the case, then you could use the uninsured motorist coverage in your policy (if you have that kind of coverage). So your own car insurance would provide the compensation for your injuries and the expenses incurred.
Underinsured motorist coverage is similar, but it deals with situations where the negligent driver has insurance, but it’s not enough to compensate you for your injuries or damages.
Here’s an example.
Say, for instance, you’re involved in a car accident in Maricopa County and you’re seriously injured. Because of your injuries you require a lot of medical care. The bills rack up and get so high that the at fault driver’s insurance policy no longer covers the amount of the medical expenses, not to mention the wages you are missing out on because you can’t work. In this kind of scenario, you’d access your underinsured motorist coverage in order to make up the difference. Your underinsured motorist coverage can then help pay for your medical expenses, current and future lost wages, and any pain and suffering that you’ve endured.
Please refer to our next blog post to learn more about the major differences between underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage.
No, we don’t offer discounts, nor do we reduce our contingency fee. At Breyer Law Offices, we’re very proud of the excellent reputation that we’ve built over the years and of our track record of successful cases. If another lawyer wants to offer discounts or slash their fees, that’s fine. We have no problem with that. But we feel that by offering contingent fees we are able to provide exceptional legal representation to people who would not otherwise be able to afford it. So there’s a lot of value to what we do. You’d never ask a heart surgeon if they discount their prices. Likewise, as top attorneys in Glendale, we don’t discount our services at Breyer Law Offices.
With that said, we’ll work hard on behalf of you and truly fight to protect your rights and to secure a fair settlement. We will never try to lie, manipulate you, or sugar coat the truth. You can always expect honest answers, as well as exceptional legal representation, from us. Though this approach, we’ve been able to deliver great results for many clients. Don’t just take our word for it, though. Put us to the test. Give us a call if you’re looking for a top personal injury attorney in Glendale. We only get paid if we recover compensation for you. And we earn our contingency fee through excellence, expertise, hard work, and dedication.
To schedule a free, no obligation consultation to review your case, call the personal injury attorneys at Breyer Law Offices today. At this point, we can answer any questions you may have, determine if there is a legitimate case, and talk about the next steps moving forward. Call 602-978-6400, 623-930-8064, 480-753-4534, or Espanol 602-222-8787; or complete and submit a Simple Case Form.
One of the main benefits of contingency fees is that the settlement amount is just important to the law firm as it is to the victim. This means the lawyer will try to get the most amount of money possible for you.
With that said, contingency fees are not perfect. For instance, there are some lawyers out there who only negotiate and settle cases – they aren’t willing to take a case into court. As a result, they will accept a lower settlement amount in negotiations rather than risk taking the case to court and losing.
But when you hire an experienced Glendale personal injury attorney with a track record of success, who will fight for you in court if necessary, then the contingency fee arrangement is absolutely to your benefit. Because the lawyer is directly impacted by the amount of the settlement – since that’s how they’re paid – they will want to negotiate the most amount of money for you possible. The more money they get for you, the more money they are paid once the case is successfully resolved. So it’s really win-win situation for both the lawyer and the client.
How Does a Lawyer Get Paid From Contingency Fees?
If the lawyer loses the cases, then they get paid nothing. They must eat what it cost them to take on the case. Period. But if the attorney wins the case, then they get a percentage of the amount of the settlement. In a lot of cases, the contingency fee is typically one third, or 33% of the amount of money recovered.
A personal injury attorney can help make the process a lot easier and a lot less stressful. An experienced car accident lawyer will know how to secure medical care and treatment, including surgeries, surgical facilities, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, pain specialists, and other medical providers, for their injured client. In these situations, a lien is typically put on the case. That means that the hospital, doctor, and any specialists who provided medical care will be paid once the personal injury claim is settled. So the doctors and hospitals aren’t providing services for free, they are simply allowing the injured person to “buy now and pay later.”
These liens are not usually necessary if the injured person has health insurance. If the insurance provides the injured person with good quality care, then a lawyer will most likely not have to get involved. And, in fact, it’s best for a lawyer not to have to get involved in the medical treatment of a client. Why? Because when a lawyer gets involved in the medical care aspect of a client’s personal injury claim and refers that person to a certain doctor or specialist, then the defense may try to argue that the lawyer sent the injured person to the most expensive doctor possible in order to recover more damages. At Breyer Law Offices, we’d never do this – we only send clients to quality doctors who provide the care that a client needs. But we still must be careful in these kinds of cases because we don’t want our referral to impact an injured person’s possible settlement. But when an injured client has no insurance, there’s really no other alternative and we must help that client find a doctor who can help them get better. We never want someone’s lack of ability to pay to impact their health and welfare.
So, at Breyer Law Offices, our first priority is ensuring that our clients are receiving the medical care and treatment that is necessary for them to recover from their accident. We would never want to see a client needlessly suffer simply because they didn’t have health insurance or couldn’t afford the treatment – especially when their injuries were caused by someone else’s negligence. As Glendale car accident lawyers, we’ve helped many injured victims who have suffered from just about every type of injury imaginable – for shattered legs to brain trauma. We are dedicated to not just obtaining the best legal results, but also ensuring that our clients are able to adjust to life after their injury. Part of this is ensuring that they get the best medical care possible, as quickly as possible – otherwise their injury or illness could get worse.
First of all, we want to state that doctors do not work for free – nor should they. Just like everyone else who does a job or provides a service, they have a right to be paid. Hospitals and doctors’ practices are businesses and if they aren’t paid for their services, then they will quickly go out of business. Unfortunately, though, there are times when a victim injured in a car accident by a negligent driver needs surgery that’s not necessarily an emergency, but is, nonetheless, urgent. However, they can’t afford this surgery because they don’t have health insurance and they have yet to be compensated for their injuries by the at fault driver’s insurance company. That means they must live through agonizing pain and suffering that a simple surgery could correct because they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffered at the hand of a negligent driver. So how can a personal injury attorney help?
If you’ve been badly injured in a car accident in Glendale – or anywhere else in Arizona – and you can’t afford to pay for the medical treatment and care you need, then please contact the car accident attorneys in Glendale at Breyer Law Offices today. We provide a free, no obligation initial consultation to discuss your case, determine whether you have a legitimate claim, and to answer any questions you may have. If we do take your case, we will go the extra mile to ensure that your claim is resolved quickly, efficiently, and in the fairest manner possible. In fact, many of our clients’ personal injury lawsuits result in our clients receiving the most compensation possible under the law. This ensures that they have the money necessary to pay for medical bills and any future medical treatment that they might need.
Think you can’t afford us? Don’t worry. At Breyer Law Offices, we work on a contingent basis, which means we don’t get paid unless we recover compensation for your injuries. Don’t wait. Call us today.
Unfortunately, lack of health insurance is becoming a larger and larger problem for many people who have been injured in car accidents throughout Arizona and in the United States. With the state of the economy, people losing their jobs, and the cost of healthcare and health insurance on the rise, more and more people are losing their coverage or simply can’t afford to buy good health care coverage.
If you are injured in a car accident, the very first thing you should always do is seek medical care for your injuries immediately. If you’re in life threatening condition, the hospital will treat you regardless of whether you have health insurance or not. But if down the road you need surgery to treat the injuries that resulted from the car accident, and you don’t have medical insurance, what can you do?
As Glendale car accident lawyers, part of our job is ensure that our clients are getting the medical care they need to effectively treat their injuries. For clients with good health insurance coverage, this isn’t a problem. Their health insurance company will simply pay the costs for medical treatment and care. In the future, their health insurance company might be reimbursed partly or completely for the cost by the at fault driver’s insurance company. But the point is that they have quick access to quality care. Not every client that we see is so lucky.
If you do actually talk to an adjustor at your insurance company, please be aware that every statement you make could be used against you and opens the door for abuse. Through admissions against interest, also known as judicial admission, anything you say that is not to your benefit could be used to weaken your case in negotiations or in court.
Some aggressive insurance adjustors will even say that you admitted to them over the phone that you caused the accident – even if this is a lie. It’s shocking for people to hear this, but we’ve seen it happen before. And whether the statement is true or not, it will certainly hurt your chances for winning full compensation. Simply because you expected your insurance company to be as honest as you are, you must now deal with an issue that would never have come up otherwise. In addition to hurting the strength of your case, these kinds of issues will also prolong your case drastically – turning what might have lasted weeks or months into years.
You’ve probably watched enough police dramas on TV or in the movies to know what the Miranda warning is. If not, though, it’s the warning that the police issue to people when they are arresting them. It starts off by telling them that they have the right to remain silent and anything they say can and will be used against them in the court of law. This warning is a very real warning and can certainly be applied to car accident cases. Please understand that when you make a statement to your insurance company, even if you think that statement was innocent, it can and will be used against you to weaken your case and to minimize the amount of money that the insurance company has to pay out.
So, when it comes to dealing with the insurance company, don’t. Leave that to the trained lawyers who can expertly advise you when you do need to make a statement – and when you don’t.
If you’ve been injured in Glendale car accident, please contact us today. We’ve dealt with pretty much every insurance company in Arizona who underwrites auto insurance and we can help you ensure you receive fair compensation for your injuries. To schedule a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your case, please call our offices at 480-753-4534.
In our previous blog post, we began our discussion regarding what a person should do if they’ve been in an auto accident with a driver that claims to not have auto insurance. We continue that discussion by saying that the general lesson to be learned is that even if someone denies having coverage; don’t believe that it is true. Instead, hire a skilled Glendale Arizona car accident attorney – one who can help you investigate and uncover any insurance policies.
Unfortunately, there are cases where the driver has no insurance coverage at all. When you’re involved in a car accident with someone who doesn’t have insurance, you might be able to access compensation from your own car insurance policy. This coverage is called uninsured motorist coverage and its purpose is to provide protection in this exact situation where you’re involved in a car accident with someone who has no coverage. Compensation from your uninsured motorist coverage can be used to pay for medical bills and to compensate you for things like lost wages.
Unfortunately, though, many times we’ll see clients who are afraid to make a claim under their uninsured motorist coverage. That’s because they think they’re insurance company is going to raise their insurance premiums. But that’s simply not true. In fact, it’s illegal. Under the law in Arizona, insurance companies cannot raise a customer’s premium simply because that customer made an uninsured motorist claim.
The reality of the situation is that if you’re in a car accident with someone who doesn’t have any insurance, an uninsured motorist claim is the best way to receive compensation. Even better, if you’re in a friend’s car and get injured in an accident caused by someone without insurance, your uninsured motorist coverage should be able to provide protection and compensation.
If you’ve been in an auto accident in Glendale with someone who says they don’t have car insurance, it’s time to connect with an experienced personal injury attorney. Call the personal injury lawyers at Breyer Law Offices. We can help you uncover the negligent driver’s insurance policies and determine if you have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage available. Call us today to schedule a free, no obligation consultation.
Did you know that nearly one quarter of all drivers in Arizona don’t have car insurance? What’s worse is that because of the economy, many people are decreasing their insurance coverage or even going so far as to drop it altogether.
Because of this new trend, we are seeing car accidents in Glendale and throughout the State of Arizona where the person who caused the accident – and subsequent injuries – didn’t have any car insurance coverage. If you’ve been seriously injured in such an accident, this situation can be very frustrating. While there isn’t a magic solution if this happens to you, a skilled Glendale car accident lawyer may be able to help you get the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
First of all, just because the driver who caused the accident said they don’t have car insurance, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s true. They could be scared and overwhelmed and therefore lie about the situation. But with the help of a skilled attorney, you can quickly find out whether the negligent person has car insurance and how much compensation you can receive for your medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses you incurred because of the accident.
Other drivers may simply not know whether they have insurance or not. They could be driving someone else’s car or a car owned by their employer, and therefore not know if there is an available policy that provides coverage. But again, in these cases, it’s as easy for an experienced attorney to do some quick research to find out if the car being driven is insured and how much coverage there is. At Breyer Law Offices, P.C., we have many years of experience conducting this exact kind of research as well as handling many other necessary legal aspects of an auto accident claim. For more information regarding how we can assist you in your Glendale auto accident case, please contact us today for a free consultation.
