Avoid Damaging Your Claim

Transcript: There is one thing that people often do, which can cause great harm to their ability to persue an injury claim. That one thing is to speak to the defendant’s insurance adjuster and give a recorded statement, without first talking to an attorney. Unless you’ve first spoken to an attorney and have some understanding of the significance of giving a recorded statement all kinds of harm can be the result of just speaking off-the-cuff, unprepared, with a trained insurance adjuster who is doing his or her job, which is to pin you down, to get you to speculate on information that you may know nothing about, and to damage your ability to bring a claim. Now, why is this so significant? Because once you give a recorded statement, it’s not possible to undo that. You have committed yourself on the record to a recording of your version of a particular event. Now, when an insurance adjuster for the defendant calls you, if you were to say, Well, if I give a recorded statement will you allow me to take a recorded statement of the other driver? The insurance company will immediately say, Absolutely not. We’re not going to allow you to take a statement of our driver. They might not give an explanation, but the explanation would be for the same reasons. If an insurance adjuster is asking you immediately after an accident and in one of these recorded statements, Hi. How you doing? How you feeling today? And you say, Well, I’m fine, but you’re really hurting, why, that has given a misimpression and that recorded statement can be used in court for you saying that you’re fine and that you were fine on that day. Then the insurance company will later say, Look, if you were fine on that day how come you went and obtained medical treatment? Or how did you end up going to a doctor if you were fine? So any little thing that you might be asked can pose a problem because it can be taken out of context and it is recorded in your own particular voice. Always consult an attorney before answering any questions in a recorded statement. And nine times out of ten, the attorney would suggest you do not give a recorded statement. Now if you have given a recorded statement and now you see this video, I would tell you still contact an attorney. Your cause may not be totally lost. You may have some rights and benefits. And the fact that you’ve given that statement doesn’t 100% in every situation destroy your claim, but don’t specifically give those recorded statements without contacting an attorney.