Millions of personal injury claims are settled every year but not all injured people get the compensation they deserve. In this article, we discuss things that cause your injury settlement to be reduced. Injury lawyers at Foyle Legal help injured people get the most compensation for their claims. If you are uncertain about your compensation claim, we can dig deeper into your injury claim.
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Top 3 Reasons Your Injury Compensation is Reduced
Are you frustrated with the low offer you received from the insurer? You are not alone! The good news is in 9/10 cases, we can help you to turn it around. BUT you have to act now before it is too late!
Foyle Legal specialises in helping injured people to maximise their personal injury compensation payout. Injured people come to us at various stages with their personal injury claims, and we help them to maximise their compensation. In our observation, we found that the top 3 reasons that injured people fail to receive compensation, or had their compensation reduced are the lack of:
- Quality legal advice
- Quality evidence
- Quality claim management
Quality Legal Advice
For most injured people (plaintiff), you probably will only go through the process 1 or 2 times in your entire lifetime. When you are claiming personal injury compensation, like workers compensation claim or a car accident injury claim, you are claiming against an insurance company. Depending on the size of your claim, it is very often that the insurer is represented by an insurance law firm, which specialises in dealing with the type of injury claim. If you don’t have quality legal advice, you may be disadvantaged.
There are many law firms that offer legal representation in personal injury claims. But not every firm is specialised in personal injury claims. It is important that you choose a firm that is specialised in personal injury compensation in Western Australia.
Once you have chosen a quality personal injury law firm to represent you, please be sure that you: 1) disclose all information relating to your claim truthfully to your lawyer; 2) work with your lawyer to maximise your compensation. Please remember, getting quality legal advice only yields a positive outcome if you disclose all information truthfully, and follow the advice from the compensation expert.
No Win, No Fee Lawyers
Under the No Win, No Fee arrangement, you won’t need to pay Foyle Legal’s Legal fees (the fees that we charge for the work we do on your claim), unless we get you a settlement amount.
Your lawyer will take you through this arrangement in more detail including any terms and conditions in your obligation free first initial consultation.
For quick information on our No Win, No Fee terms and disbursements, please visit our No Win No Fee Lawyers Page
Quality Evidence
In Western Australia, strict time limits apply to most types of personal injury claims. If you are working with a quality compensation lawyer, your lawyer would advise you on when and how to obtain quality evidence for your injury compensation claim. The common issues we found on the medical evidence front are 1) incomplete evidence, 2) biased evidence, and 3) surveillance evidence. Please be mindful that getting the appropriate evidence is an art as well as a science. It often takes time and money to get better evidence. In most cases, the additional time and money you spend on evidence will result in a better compensation payout for you. However, there are times that such investment does not yield additional benefit to the overall compensation payout for your claim. Therefore, knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to proceed. If you are unsure about getting evidence for your injury compensation claim, contact Foyle Legal for an obligation free consultation. At Foyle Legal, your first telephone discussion is free.
Incomplete Evidence
For example, if you suffered a whiplash injury in a car accident when you talk to your treating doctor, there may be many conversations relating to your neck, or back pain. As a result, there will be evidence of your physical pain. However, it is not uncommon for car accident injury victims to suffer some sort of psychological impact as a result of the injury. Unfortunately, the awareness of psychological injury is less published compared to physical injury. It is not uncommon that injured people just simply did not aware of the impact until it is too late. If you have a good injury compensation lawyer, your lawyer would ensure all necessary assessments are performed by an approved medical practitioner prior to the statutory expiration period, and your compensation payout should be appropriate for both your physical and psychological injury.
Biased Evidence
Here is a common scenario for biased evidence. Your make workers compensation claim about workplace back injury. You received medical treatment which is paid for by your employer’s insurer. They then send you to doctors for medical review. Post the review, your insurer’s doctor provides a report stating that you have no work restrictions and are ready to go back to work. However, you know that you are not 100% there. For example, you found it difficult to perform certain pre-injury duties. So, you go to another doctor, which is not paid by the insurer to get a second opinion. Upon a second review, you receive another report stating that you are not fit for your pre-injury role. If you hadn’t received a second opinion, you may choose to make a return to work, which will have impact on your compensation payout. Furthermore, if you have returned to work when you are not ready, this may cause further injury to your back.
Surveillance Evidence
Surveillance evidence is often used in personal injury claims by insurance companies or employers. This includes physical surveillance by a private investigator and social media surveillance. If you have a personal injury claim, please be mindful of adverse surveillance evidence.
If you have a good compensation lawyer on your side, your lawyer would advise you on the proper course of action prior to the statutory limitation period.
Quality Claim Management
Once you have made a personal injury claim, it is often the case that the insurer will have a dedicated claim officer to manage your claim. Your claim manager is a well-trained professional with systems and supports to manage your claim. As for injured people, many of you may still be overwhelmed by the impact of the injury on you, and are trying to understand the claim process as you progress. It is our observation that many injured people are in a very reactive position once they made the claim. If you are working with a good compensation lawyer, your lawyer will manage the claim for you and provide you with timely advice to add value to your personal injury claim.
The above are the 3 most common reasons that we observed which have led to a reduction in compensation payout. Every injury claim is different and deserves individual attention. If you have made a personal injury claim, call Foyle Legal for an obligation free consultation. Foyle Legal provides No Win No Fee solutions to all qualified personal injury claims.