Don’t hurt your personal injury case

Neither the other guy’s insurance company nor your insurance company wants to pay you following an accident, or at least they want to minimize how much they have to pay. Why help them hurt your case?

You had the right of way if:

• You had the green light.
• Your car was to the right of the other car at a 4-way stop and you were T-boned or broad-sided.
• You were rear-ended.
• The oncoming car crossed into your lane and you were hit head-on.
• You were side-swiped in your lane.
• The other car ran a red or stop sign and you were T-boned or broad-sided.
• If you had the right-of-way, call the police to the accident to document that you had the right-of-way and to ticket the other driver.

Do NOT admit any fault to the other driver, your passengers, your family, your insurance company, the other driver’s insurance company, or the police. It’s legal for both the other driver and the police to record your statement.

If you have a personal injury, DO go to the emergency room or an urgent care the same day.

DO carry UM insurance, it protects you, not other drivers.

Once you have hired an attorney and are in regular treatment with a physician or physical therapist, do NOT skip appointments. Your insurance company and the other guys are looking for a gap in treatment.

The insurance companies will look for your criminal history and hope you get arrested for anything after the accident. They will use this to try to prove you are a dishonest person. Do NOT get arrested after the accident.

The insurance companies hope that you get in another accident or have another injury before your case settles. They will attempt to prove that this subsequent accident or injury is the cause of your continuing treatment with the doctor or physical therapist. Do NOT get into another accident until this case is settled.

An insurance company will probably hire a private detective to do surveillance on you. They want to prove that your back, knees, or arm isn’t as bad as you say it is. They will film you in your driveway or yard picking up your grandchild, or bags of groceries, or working on your car, or building a shed in your yard, or bowling; going to an under-the-counter job when you have said you are hurt too badly to work; anything that would indicate you don’t have a personal injury that hurts as bad as you say you are. DO not give them any ammunition.

The insurance companies will check your social media for anything that makes you look dishonest or uninjured. Setting them on private is not enough because they will ask for your passwords and a judge will make you produce them. Do NOT post anything on social media that you don’t want a judge or jury to see.

Help your case, don’t hurt it.

Call the experienced attorneys at Ellen Cronin Badeaux, LLC, immediately following your accident in Ascension, E. Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Livingston, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Orleans, Tangipahoa, or Washington parishes.

985-892-1955

office@ecbadeauxlaw.com

The insurance companies hope you don’t.