Having an insurance claim rejected can feel like a double blow after you’ve been in something like a car accident or a dog bite incident. A personal injury leaves you to suffer pain and often to wrestle with a mountain of medical bills. Facing these consequences alone after someone else’s carelessness caused your accident can feel like insult on top of injury.
Thankfully, after a rejection, you have the right to a second chance in California. You should first try to figure out why your insurance claim was rejected. Then you can consider filing an appeal, filing a lawsuit, or reporting the insurer to state regulators. A California personal injury attorney is ready to help you with your redo. A good lawyer can help you strengthen your case and increase your chances of securing support.
The Steps to Take After a Personal Injury Claim Is Rejected
A rejected claim can leave you with unpaid medical bills and a lot of light paychecks while your injury keeps you out of work. It’s a double whammy for your finances. This economic storm with no relief in sight might cause you to fall further behind on your normal monthly bills, like your rent, your car payments, and credit card invoices.
If someone caused your accident or contributed to it, the insurance company for the at-fault party should be helping. But insurance adjusters are trained to look for ways to shift blame in accidents and to question the severity of your injuries. They can also make you wait without making any contact with you, while your doctor bills grow.
These tactics are meant to frustrate you and make you give up. A rejection letter is meant to discourage you. But having your case thrown out isn’t the end of hope.
Accident victims do have the right to know why they were rejected. It’s often the launching point for taking another stab at earning compensation.
Find Out Why Your Personal Injury Claim Was Rejected
The rejection letter you receive from an insurer should indicate the reason why your accident claim was rejected. This is important to note because it usually indicates what you could fix to give your appeal a better chance of succeeding.
The letter might point to a loophole in your policy. It might indicate that you didn’t provide enough evidence. In some cases, a reason may be left out, or the reason may be purposely vague or confusing.
If you don’t understand why your claim was rejected or the reason isn’t mentioned, you should reach out to the insurance company and demand an explanation. A skilled attorney can also help you understand why you lost your claim. Your attorney could also check behind an insurance company to determine if they’ve misrepresented a policy term used to deny your claim.
Filing a Personal Injury Insurance Appeal
In some cases, an appeal may be the best route to having your claim reconsidered and winning support.
If your claim lacked the necessary evidence to be successful, an appeal may be a great option. A personal injury attorney can make a huge difference in the amount of evidence you can force an insurer to look at.
Your attorney would fully investigate the accident. Your lawyer would contact witnesses for testimony, which can include hiring expert witnesses to explain what happened to you. Surveillance video can be requested. In traffic accident cases, Maison Law also relies on accident reconstruction teams who can show mathematically how a collision unfolded and who was to blame.
A lawyer can help you submit a new claim for internal review at the insurance company, with a better chance of winning compensation.
Filing a Complaint with the California Department of Insurance
Accident victims can also choose to file a complaint with state insurance officials.
The California Department of Insurance (CDI) protects consumers when they must seek support from insurance companies. There are laws governing how long insurers can keep injured victims waiting and what reasons they can legally use to reject claims.
An attorney can also help with this claim and make sure California administrators give your case the attention it deserves. Filing all paperwork correctly and presenting all evidence in a clear manner can make a big difference in getting results.
Filing a Lawsuit and Taking an Insurance Company to Court
If an insurer won’t accept full responsibility for an accident and/or rejects an appeal, it may be time to take the company to court.
Insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid going before a judge and jury. Court costs will be expensive, and they also hate the bad publicity. When a lawsuit is on the table, a personal injury lawyer represents the threat of a lawsuit; insurers often work harder to resolve a claim through a settlement.
If you want to sue an insurer, it’s a wise idea to have a strong personal injury lawyer handle your case. Lawsuits are very complex, and you’ll usually do much better when you have legal representation.
Contact a California Personal Injury Lawyer
After a personal injury accident that results in a serious injury, be sure to discuss your case with an experienced lawyer. We offer a free case consultation to all victims, so they can be aware of what their injuries are worth and what they should demand from an insurer.
If you’ve already been through the claims process and your case was rejected, don’t give up hope! If you feel your claim was dismissed unfairly, discuss your options with a real California attorney in a free case review.
There’s no obligation, but if you need our help to hold an at-fault party liable, you won’t need any money. There are no up-front costs to hire our lawyers. We also don’t get paid if we don’t win your case or appeal. If we win, our fee comes out of the settlement check that an insurer must write for you.
