In the world of personal injury law, navigating the claims process can feel like a game of chess. The insurance adjuster is often not only your first opponent, but they can also feel like every personal injury lawyer’s biggest nemesis. Fortunately, there are some great ways to not only get ahead of but counter insurance company tactics. As seasoned personal injury litigators, we understand the strategies adjusters use to reduce payouts. There are 5 crucial tips for dealing with insurance adjusters and countering insurance company settlement tactics always to be one step ahead.
Our expertise isn’t just in winning cases, but in helping fellow attorneys secure the best possible outcome for your clients. So, let’s dive into the next installment of “The Lawyers Toolbox” series to help you build your courtroom arsenal and secure better outcomes for your clients.
5 Tips for Dealing with Insurance Adjusters | The Lawyers Toolbox
As seasoned personal injury litigators, we have decades of combined experience representing clients and dealing with insurance companies. As such, we have considerable insights into how they move and the strategies they employ that we can share with colleagues like you. Here are 5 key tips for dealing with insurance adjusters and countering insurance company settlement tactics:
- Trust, But Verify
- Have a Heart–to-Heart with Your Client
- Dismantle the Pre-Existing Condition Defense
- Prepare Your Client for Deposition and Trial
- Be Prepared to Go to Trial
“The best way to think about this for lawyers is to approach the case chronologically. After a lawsuit has been filed, you get into discovery, and a crafty defense attorney is going to start picking apart your case. They’ll be looking for holes. First, ensure the case is buttoned up tight and that all the information gathered to create the case and file the claim is accurate and complete. Basically, you just want to start on a good footing – you need a good foundation that doesn’t have any cracks they could drive a pry bar into. This is, ultimately, the first tip,” explained Campbell Williamson, Co-Founder & Partner at Schneider Williamson.
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1. Trust, but Verify
The first rule of thumb in personal injury litigation is to trust, but verify. As attorneys, we are ultimately responsible for the facts of a case, and we can’t afford to be caught off guard.
Remember – a plaintiff’s credibility is one of the most powerful assets in a personal injury case, but it’s also the most vulnerable. Therefore, you must ensure that you do your due diligence.
“A great way to think about this is like unforced errors in tennis. With tennis, if you don’t get the ball over the net with your serve, then you’re out of the point. And there are only so many potential unforced errors before you run out of points to give, and it’s game, set, and match. You can count on the defense to do its investigation, so you need to do the same. You need to have access to your client’s medical records, employment records, witnesses, family friends, and all that to build that credibility and verify their story,” said Jason Schneider, a Co-Founder & Partner at Schneider Williamson.
It’s important to always keep in mind that insurance companies are looking for cracks in the foundation of your case. Don’t blindly accept what your client tells you just because it makes sense and they seem forthright, because we guarantee your opposition will never do that.
Taking the time to build a comprehensive case file and gather all available information yourself is the best way to get ahead of the defense.
“Don’t wait until you’re putting together a list of witnesses for trial to reach out, and don’t wait until then to really dive into your client’s history. If your client lies about something or maybe didn’t think something was related or relevant because it was 10 or 20 years ago or they wanted to keep it private and didn’t want to disclose a certain fact, it can derail everything. It’s your job to go back as far as you need to go to gather and verify key information. Sometimes, it’s just something a client forgot, but what your client forgets is the most valuable information an insurance company knows. It’s their biggest advantage. So always conduct a thorough investigation of facts to corroborate what your client is telling you,” cautioned Schneider.
This meticulous approach is a primary way to increase the settlement value of a case. We’ve seen firsthand how a well-documented and verified case can significantly strengthen your position and make it far easier to achieve a larger recovery.
“The word of the day for this is impeachment. In Georgia, as elsewhere, the trial judge will instruct the jury that if it finds the plaintiff has been untruthful about one thing in their testimony, the jury can extrapolate this to question the plaintiff’s entire testimony. This is the foundation of credibility, and this perception can make or break a case,” said Williamson.
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2. The Heart-to-Heart with Your Client
Building a comprehensive case file extends beyond simply gathering documents; it requires a deep, trusting relationship with your client. This should entail a candid and transparent conversation about their complete medical history, prior incidents, and any potential past indiscretions.
“You need to build that relationship – it’s a very underrated aspect of all this. Your client has to understand that they have to share everything with you, but that means they have to trust you and feel comfortable. Because sometimes it’s personal information, and sometimes it’s embarrassing for them. You can’t do that in the first meeting with a client – it’s a never-ending process,” said Schneider.
An insurance adjuster will use any omission, no matter how minor, to suggest your client is being dishonest or exaggerating. A candid conversation is the only way to avoid surprises.
“At the end of the day, you don’t want the only person in the courtroom who doesn’t know about a detail to be your own attorney. We’ve seen that time and time again, and it all comes down to that trusting relationship,” added Schneider.
A good lawyer makes sure their client understands the importance of sharing everything, no matter how embarrassing or private they might feel it is. This is a crucial step for increasing personal injury settlements.
“It’s all about building rapport. You ask questions. You ask who their primary care provider is, and there are different ways of asking that. You can ask if they’ve ever had an injury before, or you could ask who their doctor is and how long they’ve been treating them, what other doctors they’ve been treated by, what emergency rooms or hospitals they’ve been to for any reason. That way, you can try to find that information, and you might even jog some memories. This is where you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work,” said Williamson.
A thorough “heart-to-heart” empowers you to prepare control the narrative of your case.. This is part of the work that is essential for increasing settlement value for your clients.
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3. Dismantle the Pre-Existing Condition Defense
Next in our tips for dealing with insurance adjusters and countering insurance company tactics is understanding and dissipating the pre-existing condition defense.
The pre-existing condition defense is one of the most common and effective tools in an adjuster’s toolbox. This defense seeks to blame your client’s injuries on a prior issue, thereby minimizing or outright denying the value of the current claim.
“Pre-existing conditions are how insurance companies make their money – it’s how they win these cases. It’s their bread and butter – that’s just a fact. They’ll say, ‘No, your client didn’t hurt themselves in this accident. They hurt themselves 10 years ago in this other accident.’ Even if there’s no record of it and something isn’t severe enough to require medical attention, there might be a record of someone getting physical therapy or something for a hurt neck, for example, and they might argue that your client has been going to physical therapy for a year and is just trying to cash in on this. A good trial lawyer massages that with the correct information, no pun intended,” adds Schneider.
You must dismantle this defense by using nuanced evidence. In our experience, one of the most effective methods is gathering testimony from objective third parties, such as friends, coworkers, or neighbors, who can attest to your client’s physical condition before and after the accident.
“As a lawyer, you’ll need to go and get evidence, probably testimony from people who knew your client, and can say, ‘Yeah, I know for a fact he’s been completely different since the wreck because I used to play golf with him and he was fine, and then after the wreck, it completely changed. He started canceling our golf outings, and when I did see him, he was so stiff he was basically immobile.’ It’s also important that you don’t just use family members,” said Williamson.
These witnesses can confirm that the accident significantly worsened your client’s quality of life, which is a key part of how to negotiate an injury settlement with an insurance company.
“What we’re talking about is better lawyering and an understanding of nuance to defeat the ‘blunt instrument’ of the pre-existing defense. You have to gather information. As much as possible, you need to paint the picture and give the case context. These accidents and injuries don’t just happen in a vacuum, and the onus is on you to demonstrate that. You have to be subtle and nuanced in your argument, but make no mistake – they will not be subtle about it,” said Schneider.
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4. Prepare Your Client for Deposition and Trial
A client’s deposition is the first and most critical opportunity for the defense to test the client’s credibility.
It’s a high-stakes, direct confrontation with the opposing counsel, and a poorly prepared client can unintentionally make damaging statements that weaken the entire case.
“You need to prepare your client to testify, but a lot of lawyers do a sloppy job of that, to be honest. Remember – In a personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff is always going to testify in a deposition, so they must be prepared for that testimony and know how to answer questions and what questions are going to be asked, because if the defense is going to start drawing blood, they’re going to make these cuts in the deposition. It’s usually not one big slice – it’s death by a thousand cuts. Sometimes, if they’re not prepared, a client can easily get trapped in a lie, even unintentionally. That’s what they’re trying to get them to do, ultimately. They’re adept at it, too,” said Williamson.
This is one of the most important tips for dealing with insurance adjusters, because it’s where their strategies often come to a head.
“It’s important to keep in mind that at this point in the lawsuit, information has been exchanged between parties, but it’s always been filtered through attorneys. A deposition is the one time in a lawsuit other than trial where the opposing party gets to ask your client directly, and you can’t answer for them. You can object to the way questions are asked, but you can’t answer the questions for them. You have to coach and prepare them to be ready for whatever might come their way. Many lawyers make the mistake of meeting the client just 15 minutes before deposition and telling them to ‘tell the truth,’” said Williamson.
Thoroughly preparing your client is a must for settling a personal injury claim with an insurance company.
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5. Be Prepared to Go to Trial
Ultimately, the most powerful defense against a lowball offer from an insurance company is the willingness and ability to take the case to trial.
“As a personal injury lawyer, you have to be ready to hold the insurance company’s feet to the fire, which means that if you don’t like what they’re offering, then take the case to trial. And when that happens, you’d better be ready and know what you’re doing. A big part of this is knowing what a jury would do with a case and how insurance companies treat information or certain pieces of evidence,” said Williamson.
Many firms, especially those that primarily handle pre-litigation cases, may not have the resources or experience to go to court. Insurance companies know this and factor it into their settlement offers, giving them a significant advantage.
For us, this means that if we don’t like an offer, we take the case to trial. Our firm’s proven track record of securing six, seven, and eight-figure verdicts demonstrates our commitment to this principle. As Schneider notes, it’s rare that a case we take to litigation results in a worse outcome.
“Any pre-litigation law firm that doesn’t try cases and just settles them should know that, nine times out of ten, litigation is going to result in a better settlement. So if you don’t like the offer or the client doesn’t like the offer, but you’re not sure about how to proceed, you should talk to a firm that regularly litigates these cases because your client is going to come out better and you’re going to come out better. That’s key to understanding how to increase a settlement value: knowing when to bring in the courtroom cavalry,” said Schneider.
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Do You Need More Tips for Dealing with Insurance Adjusters & Countering Their Tactics? We Can Help.
Successfully countering insurance company strategies requires more than just knowing a few tips for dealing with insurance adjusters. It requires a deep understanding of litigation and the experience to see a case through to its conclusion. The best way to secure the highest possible settlement for your client is to partner with a firm that is not afraid to fight. If you have a case valued at six figures or more and are seeking a referral partner to handle the litigation, we can assist. We are a trusted partner to law firms across Georgia, providing the expertise and resources necessary to secure the best possible outcome for your client.
We work in tandem with our referral partners and are committed to keeping you informed with regular updates as we handle the litigation. Contact us to learn how we can help each other.
