No. You should not talk to the other driver’s insurance company without an experienced personal injury lawyer. Choosing the right lawyer can be the most important factor in the successful resolution of your case.
The insurance adjuster knows what information they need to deny your claim, and their questions are going to be centered around how to deny your claim.
What if I’ve already given my statement to the insurance company before meeting with a personal injury lawyer?
Under Wisconsin law, we are entitled to get a copy of that statement right away from the insurance company. When someone is injured in a car accident and comes into our office, we automatically request any statements made to that insurance company.
Often, those statements are ordinary and don’t include information that we are very concerned about.
If, however, there is something in that statement that is unclear, we will usually send a letter on behalf of our client to the insurer indicating that the statement is incorrect or incomplete and we provide the additional information would be needed to make it more complete.
Is there ever an instance where you see an insurance company offer that is reasonable from the start, or do they low-ball every time?
I have actually turned down cases where an insurance company has made an offer that was sufficiently reasonable that I advised a person to take it. While I would certainly say that it can happen, it is extraordinarily rare, and the most common situation are ones like our recent trial where the pretrial offer on a brain injury case was $30,000 and the jury later determined to be worth $846,000.
