Being injured at sea can reshape the way you live your life. Your injury can be physically painful, and it may not only limit your ability to work but also your ability to enjoy life. Your income can drastically decrease at a time when your medical expenses are soaring, and your inability to work can make it tough to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.
What are you to do in these situations?
Your best option is to pursue a claim under the Jones Act. If you’re successful here, you can recover compensation for your injury. This means that your medical expenses may be paid, your lost wages might be recouped, and your pain and suffering could be compensated.
But as you navigate your claim, you’re going to come face-to-face with an insurance company that will try to pay you off in order to limit its liability as much as possible. You need to be careful here to ensure that you’re not taken advantage of.
How to protect your interests when dealing with an insurance company
As you move forward with your case, there are some key points that you’ll want to keep in mind. Here are some of them:
- Insurance companies are represented by attorneys: This means that the insurance company is going to aggressively advocate for the outcome that it wants. To do so, it’s going to implement negotiation tactics aimed at convincing you that your case is weak or that you’ll only be able to recover a reduced amount. Try not to fall for these tactics, as they can lead you into settling your case for far less than it’s actually worth.
- Insurance companies will try to get you to admit fault: Another way that insurance companies try to avoid liability is by shifting the blame back onto victims like you. Therefore, in your communications with the insurance company, you should be sure to watch what you say. After all, those who work for the insurance company are going to try to use your words against you as a way to try to deny your claim or pay you less than you’re actually owed.
- Insurance companies are focused on profits: Even if an insurance company seems friendly and like it wants to help make the situation right, they only want to do what’s best for them. This means paying people like you as little as possible so that they can increase their profits. After all, they’re probably beholden to investors who expect them to increase their profit margins, which is usually only accomplishable by denying claims.
- You may be forced to see a different medical provider: Before paying out a claim, an insurance company might require you to see a medical provider of its choosing. This means that the insurance company’s determination on your claim may rest in the hands of someone you don’t know and don’t trust.
Protect your interests throughout the process
Fortunately, you don’t have to give into an insurance company’s aggressive tactics. By working closely with an experienced maritime law professional, you can develop compelling and persuasive legal strategies that position you best for success. Hopefully, then you can achieve the outcome that you deserve, which, in turn, will give you the ability to remain stable while you focus on reclaiming your health and getting back to life as you know it.