What a Victim Needs, Claim or Lawsuit - April 16, 2008
If accident occurs to you think of financial compensation. Of course financial compensation is your legitimate right as accident involves huge medical cost and wage loss. But in many occasions the victim has no knowledge about the claim. There are two ways a victim can get his compensation- claim and lawsuit. Therefore, as a victim you must know what is what. Unless you understand it you cannot proceed.
If you make an injury claim it will remain within you and your defendant. There is nothing to do with the legal system or the court. It sounds nice.
If the defendant pays right amount of compensation what is the need of going though the legal process. But always the defendant does not wish to pay according to your expectation. On the other hand, the other way of getting the compensation is the legal proceeding which we can say lawsuit. In this case, the victim takes the defendant to the court to get his right amount of compensation.
If you are victim then naturally you will ask your defendant about your claim. Here you will state your expectation, which is always dependent on the nature and severity of accident. If the defendant is the person who is mainly responsible for the accident will want to proceed further. Here comes the role of the insurance company. The insurance company checks the theory the victim has put on and the amount of claim he has made. The insurance company will go through all the medical report and bill; it will also check the police report. If you have not informed the police earlier about your accident, the insurance company will take decision against your interest. If the insurance company agrees with your claim, then thing will proceed smoothly. If not you have to state reason, why your claim is so high? In most cases the insurance company does not agree with the claim of the victim.
If the insurance company doesn’t agree with your claim, you can negotiate. If negotiation succeeded then it is fine. If not there is the legal ways open for you. You may file the lawsuit against the defendant. But before doing this think twice.