When an Insurance Company Tries to Lowball Your Claim 

You’ve been injured in an accident and you require medical treatment. Your instinct is to, understandably, file claims with any insurance companies that have a stake in your situation. In addition to your own medical insurance provider, you may have filed claims with your auto insurer or the insurance company that represents another party involved in your accident. Although you expect your claim to be processed in a reasonable amount of time and to be valued reasonably, the result of your claims process turns out to be anything but reasonable – your claim has been lowballed.

Your first question upon receiving notice of a lowballed claim is likely, “Why?” followed quickly by “What do I do now?” All too often, injury victims assume that there is nothing to be done in such situations – that all of the power rests in the “hands” of the insurance company involved. Thankfully, this is rarely the case. Most of the time, working with an attorney can help you to right a lowballing situation. Under certain circumstances, an attorney may be able to both secure you any and all compensation to which you are rightfully entitled and to hold the lowballing insurance company accountable for conducting its business in bad faith.

If you’re concerned about exploring your legal options in the wake of receiving an improperly valued claim settlement offer because you can’t afford your medical bills – let alone an attorney’s services – don’t fret. Many attorneys, including those at our firm, offer free consultations. The free (and pressure-free) consultation process allows potential clients to ask questions, voice their concerns, and receive a complimentary case evaluation without committing to any action whatsoever. Therefore, you ultimately have nothing to lose by speaking with an attorney about your improperly valued claim situation – and you have potentially a great deal to gain by exploring your rights as an injury victim.

Protecting Their Bottom Line

When trying to understand why an insurance company has lowballed a claim, it can be helpful to remember that insurance companies are for-profit enterprises. Just as retailers, hospitality providers, banks, and other for-profit companies seek to protect their bottom line by cutting costs where they can, so do insurance companies. The primary problem with an insurance company cutting costs is that these money-saving measures often negatively affect those who are suffering in the wake of sustaining injury, property damage, etc.

Essentially, insurance company employees are trained to reject or devalue claims whenever possible. Most of the time, these training approaches aren’t “personal” or outright malicious… they are simply designed to protect the company’s bottom line. However, there are times wherein insurance companies intentionally try to take advantage of claimants in unlawful ways, and this approach can serve as grounds for litigation. Regardless of whether an insurance provider has pushed back on the value of your claim honestly or dishonestly, it can help to have a lawyer intervene on your behalf.

Responding to an Improperly Valued Insurance Claim Settlement Offer

There are two primary reasons that you may potentially benefit from connecting with an experienced attorney after you’ve suffered the figurative gut punch of a lowballed insurance claim settlement.

First, working with an attorney can help to ensure that your claim is ultimately paid out according to its true value. Too often, insurance companies get away with taking advantage of individual claimants. As a result, some companies actively try to lowball claims initially in the hopes that the individual claimant will not push back. However, when an attorney gets involved, many insurance company employees snap to attention. In an effort to avoid litigation and/or negative public relations challenges, insurance companies are often willing to “retrace their steps” and reevaluate the value of a claim once an attorney points out that an offer is unreasonably lowballed. Sometimes, the simple act of an attorney making a phone call to an insurer is enough to right the situation. However, in complex cases, having an attorney on your side can be helpful as well, given that attorneys know how to fight injustices in effective and efficient ways.

The second primary reason why you could potentially benefit from speaking with an attorney about a lowballed insurance claim involves a concept commonly referred to in the legal community as “bad faith.” Insurance providers owe both policy holders and other claimants certain obligations under the law. These obligations include a responsibility to properly investigate a claim before determining its value and a responsibility not to mislead policy holders about their rights per the terms of a policy in question. If an insurance provider deliberately fails to uphold their legal duties, those who suffer harm as a result of this failure may be able to hold the erring insurance company liable for bad faith conduct. When bad faith claims are upheld, those who file them may be entitled to significant financial compensation from the insurance provider named, above and beyond any readjustment to the value of the original claim. In short, you may be owed both the full value of your claim and additional compensation for the unlawful runaround that the insurance company has potentially put you through.

Legal Aid Is Available

When you’re frustrated in the wake of receiving notice that your insurance claim has been lowballed, turn that energy into action that you can take to the bank. With the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney at our firm, you may not only be able to recover your properly valued award amount, you may be able to recover damages related to any potential bad faith conduct on the part of the insurance provider in question.

You don’t need to know for sure whether your situation is “ripe” for an attorney’s assistance before scheduling a no-cost, risk-free consultation. Connect with our firm’s experienced team today to receive an objective evaluation of your situation and legal guidance concerning your rights and options under the law. We look forward to speaking with you.