A car accident injury attorney in Gonzales, LA is ready to represent clients who were seriously injured after another driver caused a collision, but the automotive insurance is denying the claim. Insurers sometimes deny claims or offer low settlements if the injured person was not wearing a safety belt. Insurance adjusters may cite that lack of compliance as the main reason for the serious harm that occurred.
Breaking the Law and Ignoring a Safety Feature
The issue is worsened because Louisiana requires everyone in a moving vehicle to wear a safety belt. Thus, the person not doing so was also breaking the law in addition to indulging in unsafe behavior. It may be necessary to hire a car accident injury attorney in Gonzales, LA to persuade the insurer to provide reasonable compensation, stressing that the injuries would never have happened if their policyholder had not caused the crash.
The insurance company adjusters will weigh the likelihood that a judge and jury would find their policyholder or the injured person more responsible for the injuries. Insurers normally do not want to proceed to trial, knowing that juries can be very sympathetic to injured individuals. However, the problem of breaking the law and disregarding an essential safety feature provides the corporation with some additional clout in this particular situation.
Negotiating a Settlement
A lawyer with a firm such as Pujol, Pryor & Irwin may be able to convince the insurer to pay at least for some of the costs after negotiating with the adjusters. With both parties having to accept some responsibility for the seriousness of the accident’s consequences, the insurer might be willing to pay for the person’s lost wages during recovery and any amounts that health insurance does not cover. That might include a deductible and co-pay fees.
This negotiation would be done in consideration of a legal concept known as comparative fault. The maximum possible settlement is lowered according to the percentage of fault assigned to the injured person. This can be done in court, but the insurer and lawyer may be able to work it out without proceeding to trial. Click here for details on this particular legal organization.
