If you have been injured in a car accident in Cleveland, you are probably treating with one of our local doctors or chiropractors, and that is a good thing. However, you may also be getting calls from the insurance company pushing you to settle your claim. One of the questions people often ask after an automobile accident is, “When is it safe to settle my claim?” The answer is that you want to make sure you are feeling 100% better before you go ahead and accept any money from the insurance company. Once you accept that money, and sign the paperwork, your claim is over. You will not be able to collect any additional money, even if you discover down the road that you actually have serious lingering injuries.
Unfortunately, there have been many instances where an injury victim believes that he or she is feeling a lot better and so they go ahead and settle their claim with the insurance company for a relatively small amount of money. Then, a few weeks or months later, pain begins to return, they go to a doctor, and discover that there is something terribly wrong with their health that will require months of additional care and treatment. However, now that the claim has been settled, there is no additional way for the person to be able to recover any other money from the insurance company.
This is why it is so important not to “guess” that you feel okay after a car accident. You need to get absolute confirmation from a trusted medical professional that you are in fact 100% healthy.
For my clients that do not have health insurance and have difficulty seeing a doctor, I recommend that they go see one of the doctors that I work with who will see them without health insurance on a “letter of protection” basis. A letter of protection is simply a guaranteed to the doctor that lawyer will pay the doctor’s bill out of the settlement money when the case finally does settle.
If you have questions about any of the legal issues raised in this blog, contact Dodosh Law Offices, LLC at 844-253-5291. Or, you can fill out a contact form and Attorney Dodosh will get in touch with you.