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Doctor's Newsletter No. 11: Early Representation
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There are many reasons why a personal injury claimant is likely to get a better net settlement, and why a doctor more likely is paid, when there is early legal representation by counsel in personal injury claims. We cannot do them all justice here, but will mention the following few: (a) Even though your patient is clearly not at fault, an insurance company can aggressively challenge was "reasonable and necessary" medical bills will be paid; (b) Insurance adjusters are trained to defend claims and it makes it harder to later handle the claim if an adjuster has had six months to work up the defense to and unrepresented patient; (c) Early investigation of witnesses, property damage, etc., often makes the different in proving a claim; (d) Insurance companies like to quickly take "recorded statements under penalty of perjury" from the claimant. These pose special problems for patients; (e) An attorney will be much better able to place a real value on a personal injury claim; (f) A patient may not be aware of certain aspects to his/her personal injury claim that could greatly affect the value; (g) Some doctors we know were left unpaid, with no lien protection, after the patient collected as settlement on his own; (h) Insurance companies must set aside money ("reserves") to deal with personal injury claims made – they routinely set more aside to deal with claimants represented by attorney than those in which the claimant is unrepresented (insurance company manuals support this!). Please call Neal Sobol at 818-547-6650 for more info.
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