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After an accident victim has filed a claim with the defendant’s insurance company, and after the insurer has given the insurance company’s adjuster the file for the new claimant, the adjuster’s efforts must focus on an evaluation of the filed injury claim. At the same time, the adjuster needs to serve as the new claimant’s point of contact.
Tasks that adjusters must complete while evaluating an injury claim
• Interview the witnesses and the drivers of the involved vehicles
• Review the police report
• Study the photographs taken of the vehicle damage and of the accident scene
• Request copies of the claimant’s medical records; carefully examine the same records
• Consider the potential benefits from a request that the claimant/plaintiff attend an independent medical examination (IME).
• Perform the calculations necessary, in order to make an estimate of the claim’s value
Adjusters’ eyes search for any evidence that the claimant might be held partly responsible for the accident’s occurrence. Such evidence could suggest that the victim/claimant had been guilty of comparative negligence or contributory negligence.
In those cases where victims have been hurt while engaged in a sporting event or a recreational activity, adjusters’ eyes search for any reference to materials that would indicate an assumption of risk on the part of the claimant/victim.
The above tasks should be completed prior to the start of negotiations.
The information obtained by adjusters, as they carry out their various jobs should help each of them to determine who should be named at-fault for the reported accident.
In addition, it provides the adjuster with some indication of the ideal size for the initial bid, at the start of negotiations.
During the negotiations, claimants could contact the adjuster’s office, if the adjuster’s response to a counteroffer has not come as quickly as had been anticipated. At that point, the provided explanation might call for highlighting the extent to which all adjusters need to communicate with their superior, before agreeing to accept any possible settlement figure.
Once the 2 sides have agreed on a settlement figure, the adjuster has one more job to tackle. That involves sending the release form to the claimant’s lawyer, so that it can receive the desired signature. The insurance company would not deliver the promised compensation, if it had not received the signed release form, as per personal injury lawyer in Sudbury.
If the claimant’s quest for compensation were to encourage the pursuit of a lawsuit, then that would create a new job for the adjuster. That job would entail studying the statute of limitations, in order to determine whether or not the court had received the required complaint before the stated deadline. Some victims delay submission of that complaint, and, thus, eliminate their chances for winning their personal injury case.