Top Three Insurance Company Tricks After Car Accident

The following post was from John Cooper, a Virginia Beach attorney. We just think Mr. Cooper's analysis is excellent, and worth repeating here......

I have seen how all of the insurance companies play games when people have been hurt on the road in a car crash. It does not matter whether it is State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, GEICO, Progressive, USAA or The Hartford. They all try these stunts when they can:

1. "You don’t need a lawyer." The reason they say this is that they do not want you, the injured person, to hire an attorney. If you find out all of what your rights are by getting counsel, then the insurer is going to have to pay more. If you hire an attorney, that means they have already lost control of you and that you will have equal information and power by having someone on your side who knows how the insurance and accident system works.

2. Delay, delay, delay. The claim representative for the insurance company will often be very hard to get on the phone. When you do manage to reach them, the insurer may well say that they are still investigating the accident and have not made a decision yet as to whether their driver was at fault in causing the wreck. If they can slow you down by preventing you from getting a rental car and being able to get to the doctor, it saves them money. The insurance companies also hope that you will give up some of your rights to get medical help and lessen the value of your case. The longer they hold onto the money that they owe you, the more interest the insurance company will make in the long run.

3. Pump you for information to use against you. The insurance company will demand that you give them a recorded statement. The purpose of the recorded statement is to gather information by which they can defeat your potential lawsuit or reduce how much money they will have to pay you on your injury claim. They will not tell you that you do not have to give a recorded statement to them, the adverse insurance company for the at-fault driver who hit you with his car. They will not tell you that under Virginia law, you have an absolute right to get a copy of any recorded statement that they took from you. The insurance agent is hoping that by close questioning they can show that their driver was not negligent or that maybe something you did may have contributed to cause the accident so they can get off the hook. At a minimum, they want to find out what they can to try to get out of paying for your doctor and hospital bills by trying to establish that maybe you had been in a prior car wreck or had a prior health problem, or any other excuse they can use to say the bad driving of their insured did not cause your injuries.

The answer to avoiding these tricks of the insurance game after a car accident is to hire a competent, experienced attorney as soon as possible. That attorney will then help you to cut through the red tape and inform you of your rights. Charlottesville personal injury attorneys, like my law firm, do not charge anything for the initial consultation and do not require up-front retainers. Rather, we get paid out of the increased money that we obtain for you from the insurance company.

Tucker's Real Estate Tip 2-2008

Regarding Short Sales: Short sales can take a long time to complete. If you have a listing agreement which may require a short sale, have your sellers contact their lender now instead of waiting on a sales contract. Most lenders have the short sale forms online. We have discovered that some lenders can take several months to process a short sale, and the sooner the lender can assign someone to start reviewing the preliminary documents, the less likely there is to be a delayed closing.

If you should have any questions, please feel free to call me at my direct number 434.951.0858 or my cell number 434.981.1946 or email me at Tucker@TGBlaw.com.

Tucker's Real Estate Tip 1-2008

Tucker’s Tip #1-2008

Regarding foreclosure contracts where the foreclosure lender is the Seller:

Make sure that the contract states that Purchasers have the option of choosing their own attorney. Recently, our Charlottesville Real Estate Department discovered that many lenders have a clause in their sales contracts requiring Purchasers to use the foreclosure lender-selected attorney for their closings. In a foreclosure situation, I find it best for each party to select his own attorney.

If you should have any questions, please feel free to call me at my direct number 434.951.0858 or my cell number 434.981.1946 or email me at Tucker@TGBlaw.com.

Social Security Disability Seminar

Mary Ann Barnes will conduct a free social security disability seminar on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 2:0 pm at the Martha Jefferson Center on Proffit Road, Charlottesville, VA. Come learn what the requirements are to qualify for disability, have your questions answered and see if we can help you. We accept cases at any state: initial, reconsideration or hearing level.

If you can't make it, call to schedule an individual free consultation with our Charlottesville social security disability attorneys - 434.973.7474

Women and Blogging: what you can do right now

More opinion on blogging.....

Women and Blogging: what you can do right now

Posted: 06 Oct 2008 02:02 PM CDT

BALKINIZATION : It was hard to know what to say when a law blogger asked "Do Women Blog?" a week before the women bloggers convention. I just kept blogging... READ MORE

Where Are All the Female Law Bloggers?

The following opinion is from Law.com Newswire.......

Where Are All the Female Law Bloggers?

Special to Law.com It seems true that the majority of high-profile legal blogs, whether in academia or the practice of law, are helmed by men. So what's behind this apparent disparity? Three theories are in circulation. It's difficult to judge their merit empirically, but they're worth exploring.

Visit Legal Technology

A Different Perspective On Bail-Out

Real Central VA

Still Trying to Find a Correlation Between the Shift and the Residential Real Estate Market

Posted: 01 Oct 2008 02:00 PM CDT

This letter from John Allison, BB&T’s CEO helps explain my inherent, gut opposition to the bailout (read the whole letter) - PDF here

9. It is extremely unclear how the government will price the problem real estate assets. Priced too low, the real estate markets will be worse off than if the bail did not exist. Priced too high, the taxpayers will take huge losses. Without a market price, how can you rationally determine value?

10. The proposed bankruptcy “cram down” will severely negatively impact mortgage markets and will damage well run institutions. This will provide an incentive for homeowners who are able to pay their mortgages, but have a loss in their house, to take bankruptcy and force losses on banks. (Banks would not have received the gains had the house appreciated.) This will substantially increase the risk in mortgage lending and make mortgage pricing much higher in the future.

Of course, I received this in an email from a friend yesterday -

… if a form of this bill doesn’t fly it won’t matter what happens to real estate prices….nobody will able to get a mortgage anyway.

Read the bill here tell Congress to read the bill first, and see a nifty cartoon here.
We’re all amateur economists now - as a Realtor, I need to figure out how my clients will be/may be affected.

And finally, perhaps my favorite Tweet of the week -

My thought is this - anyone who purports to know what is going on and how to solve the current crisis is either ignorant, delusional, lying or trying to sell you something.

People still need places to live. People still have kids and need more space, still are downsizing, still are moving. The sun is still coming up this morning. Figuring out how we will all be impacted - in as calm, rational and non-panicing manner - is crucial.

Member of TGB Continues Non-Profit Support

First Night Virginia Announces its 2009 Board of DirectorsFirst Night Virginia announced Wednesday, June 18, 2008, the completion and expansion of its Board of Directors for the 2008-09 First Night event, including the addition of eight new members.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome to our Board - Ms. Bruce Costabile, Mr. Jay Crawford, Ms. Karen Davis, Ms. Billie Dietz, Mr. Matt Rohdie, Mr. Marc Turner, Mr. Drake Van de Castle and Ms. Patricia Wolfgram," says Joan Horn, 2009 FNV President. "Their experience and knowledge will be an invaluable asset as our Board and the First Night event continues to grow. Joining our existing Board members, these individuals provide a great deal of depth to our abilities and talents, which, in turn, enables us to improve and expand nearly every aspect of the First Night experience - for our thousands of guests, for our hundreds of performers and for our community of volunteers."

Longstanding members include VP Jennifer McCune, Secretary Andrea Bledsoe, Treasurer Mike Griffin, Annick Salomon, Chauncey Hutter, Judy Malone, Bob Mosolgo, and Carrie Taylor. Two part-time staff members include Executive Director Barbara Lundgren and Booking/Production Manager Chris Munson.First Night Virginia enters its 27th year by celebrating a "Night of Possibility" on the Historic Downtown Mall, and remains a family-friendly, alcohol-free event that is fun for all ages.

posted by Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce @ 7:45 AM