In Arkansas, you have three years from the date of the accident to file a claim. An exception to that is if you are a minor. If you are under 18, you have two claims within your personal injury claim; one for your bills, and then after you turn 18, you have an additional three years to recover damages for any pain and suffering. In an uninsured claim, you have five years to settle with or sue your insurance company because it comes to contractual issues.
What Is My Responsibility In Notifying My Or The At-Fault Party’s Insurance Company Of My Injuries?
The 3-year statute of limitations applies. If you decide you don’t want to make a claim or, for whatever reason, don’t want to pursue it, there is no duty to notify the insurance company. There is a duty to file a form with the state any time damage exceeds $500 if there is any bodily injury, but there is no duty to the other person’s insurance company. Often, in your insurance policy, there is a duty to notify them if they’ve been in a car wreck, regardless of injury, fault, or property damage.
Do I Have Any Chance Of Recovering For My Personal Injury Claim If I Was Hit By An Uninsured Or Underinsured Motorist?
Yes, you do. Often, if we can’t make the person who hit you pay through an insurance policy, we bring an action against them directly to have them pay you out of them their pocket. Suppose either one of those avenues doesn’t work. In that case, we can start trying to look at your own insurance company. Often, people will have coverage called uninsured motorist coverage, which protects you if somebody hits you that doesn’t have enough insurance or insurance to cover your damages. Your insurance company steps into the shoes of the person that hit you and pays out as if they were the negligent party. Then they go after the person that was not adequately insured to reimburse them for the policy. So, you don’t have to wait for the drawn-out lengthy legal process, and you get the money as if that was the insurance company with which you were initially dealing.
People need to remember that even though you are dealing with first-party insurance, your own insurance company is still an insurance company, and their job is still to devalue your claim. Even if you have an uninsured claim for your own insurance company, it’s essential to have an experienced personal injury attorney stick up for your rights and make sure you are receiving the maximum compensation or a fair settlement. At the end of the day, their lawyers are looking out for them, and that’s why injured people need their own attorneys. When you file an uninsured claim in Arkansas, it does not make your insurance rates go up. You cannot be penalized for filing a claim because it’s insurance you paid for, and you deserve to use it whenever you need to use it. There is no penalty if it’s not your fault.
What Are Common Defenses That Insurance Companies Use To Avoid Paying Out On Personal Injury Claims?
Common defenses that insurance companies use to avoid paying claims are the property damage wasn’t significant enough, and there wasn’t enough of an impact from the collision to cause an injury. Many insurance companies try to say your bumper was just barely dented. An example that I like to use and is fairly silly, but if you take a carton of eggs and drop it, the carton may look fine, but you will probably not buy the eggs that are on the inside. Property damage isn’t always indicative of what happened to people inside the car. They may also say that you didn’t get treatment in time.
There are many reasons for that delay in treatment, but they say you couldn’t have been hurt because you waited two or three weeks to get treatment, and if you were injured, you would have gone the next day. Another defense is that you didn’t get enough treatment. Maybe you only treated at the emergency room and then went to your family doctor a couple of weeks later. The opposite is also true if you got too much treatment. Maybe you went to the emergency room, and then you had three months of chiropractic treatment, and they may say you overtreated. Negotiating with a difficult insurance adjuster is never easy alone.
A final common insurance adjuster defense is that you gave a recorded statement initially, and they twisted your words and put you a percentage at fault. Another pitfall that people are falling into, at least around here, is that they recognize audio releases. If the insurance company gets them on the phone and promises a hefty sum of money, they accept releases based on the phone, and the client had officially agreed to settle.
They don’t have to cash any check or sign any release. They’ll offer paid medical bills and $1000. Buried somewhere in there is they will pay your medical bills up to today, but you are still hurting, and you’ve got another round of treatment scheduled. That is a dangerous mistake to make.
For more information on Statute Of Limitations For An Auto Injury Claim, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (479) 337-7077 today.
Call Now To Learn More About Your Legal Rights
(479) 337-7077