You may have noticed that we have mentioned once or twice (or a thousand times) that you cannot count on an insurance company to do the right thing when you have been injured in an accident. Usually, we are asking you to take our word for it, but this time we can show you exactly what we mean when we caution you about unscrupulous insurance companies. Check out this denial letter:
This letter was recently given to us by an elderly gentleman, John Doe for the purpose of this post. The background of the case is that a vehicle was making a left turn at an intersection and failed to yield to Mr. Doe's right-of-way. Mr. Doe had no time to react and crashed into the turning vehicle. It's rare that fault in a case is so blatant and obvious, but in this instance, Mr. Doe did nothing to contribute to the accident. He was injured because the other driver failed to follow basic traffic laws.
After Mr. Doe was injured in the accident, he contacted another law firm and they agreed to represent him. They filed a claim with the defendant's insurance carrier, and the case was underway. But once the insurance company sent out this letter, denying all liability, Mr. Doe's attorney dropped Mr. Doe as a client, figuring it was more trouble than it was worth to fight for him. Luckily, he came to us.
Despite Mr. Doe having zero liability for his injuries, in their omnipotence, the insurance company has seen fit to declare that they do not owe Mr. Doe a dime. Who knows their reasoning? Perhaps they think they can pull one over on an injured old man? Maybe they think Mr. Doe can be bullied? It certainly scared Mr. Doe's original attorney. It's impossible to say why insurance companies behave this way. What is certain is that the denial letter is almost Orwellian in how it perverts what actually happened.
We know it can be tedious on the blog sometimes to read about how most insurance companies are looking to take advantage of people every chance they get. We know that we are certainly not the most unbiased source of information. But, folks, we see insurance companies behave this way every single day, and we thought it would only be fair to share one of the many ridiculous examples of insurance companies trying to cheat people.
When even other law firms can be intimidated and drop a case over a letter like this, which is completely at odds with the facts of the case, it becomes a little easier to see the type of power insurance companies wield. Luckily, Mr. Doe came to us, because where some other attorneys may leave you hanging in the breeze when a case gets tough, that type of challenge is why we get out of bed in the morning.