August 24, 2008 by Zale.

So you believe that the person that hit you did it intentionally.  You think that that fact will help you win over a jury.  Well, maybe so, but that does not mean their insurance company will pay up.  That’s right.  Insurance policies are designed to pay for the NEGLIGENT actions of the policyholder, not the INTENTIONAL acts of the policyholder.

So, when you are talking to the adjuster and you think that telling the adjuster that their policyholder INTENTIONALLY injured you, don’t be surprised when you promptly receive a denial letter from them.

If you have any more questions about this topic, or a similar personal injury or insurance related topic, contact the Dowlen Law Firm, PLLC, serving all of Middle Tennessee.

Posted in Injury Law, Insurance Practices, Insurance Law | No Comments »

August 24, 2008 by Zale.

Generally speaking, Med Pay is medical payments coverage that is found on your Automobile policy.  If you are injured in an accident, it can come in quite handy.  So, here’s some commonly asked questions regarding it.

Why should I use it instead of using the coverage of the person who hit me?  Well, the coverage of the person who hit you is NOT going to pay as you go to the doctor.  Your Med Pay will, up to its limit, and then it will get reimbursed when you settle with the other person’s coverage.  You probably don’t know how long you will be treating, so go ahead and get the bills paid.

Why does my health insurance coverage want to know if I have any Medical Pay coverage?  Well, normally Med Pay is the first coverage that is to be used when there is an automobile accident.  Chances are that your health insurance policy says that it is secondary to Med Pay coverage, and if you refuse to tell your health insurer about the coverage, they may be able to deny your claims until you comply.

Will using this coverage increase my insurance rates?  Generally speaking, it’s not supposed to.

Do I need an attorney to help me with my Med Pay claim?  Generally no.  Most insurers don’t mess around too much with this coverage.  But if you have filed a Med Pay claim that has been denied, then talking to an attorney is not a bad idea.

Do I have to fill out all these papers my Med Pay adjuster sent me?  Well, only if you want the claim paid.  They can require you to comply with the policy to get the claim paid.

If you have any other questions regarding Med Pay coverage or an injury claim, feel free to contact the Dowlen Law Firm, PLLC.  We are a law firm that covers all of Middle Tennessee.

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August 15, 2008 by Zale.

Yes.  According to a recently released case, if you walk up on your seriously injured child after a car accident and witness them lying lifelessly on the ground bleeding profusely, you can.  This was actually an Underinsured Motorist case, so the claim was against the aggrieved mother’s own insurance policy.

I suspect that this case will now be settled, instead of going back to a jury.

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July 24, 2008 by Zale.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I posted about Bad Faith?  Well, here’s an article discussing the fact that Allstate just decided to do what the court ordered them to do months ago by finally producing some documents in a Bad Faith case.  It’s amazing that Allstate advertises and wants the public to believe that they are the “good hands” people, when they have refused for so long to do what the court ordered them to do.

It seems to me that Allstate is creating evidence against themselves, within this case.  Let me explain.  They are being sued for not doing what they are supposed to do as per their policy, that’s called Bad Faith.  So what approach do they take?  They refuse to cooperate with a court order for months.  That’s real similar to what they are being sued for in the first place.  Shouldn’t that be evidence of their methods or motives?  I think so.

Allstate talks about the evils of fraud and how much it costs the public at large.  Well this decision to delay compliance with the court order added up to about $7M.  That amount makes you wonder just how bad those documents made them look as a company.

Strangely enough, it appears that Allstate is blaming an attorney handling the case for the delay.  I suspect that any court official would be happy to point out to Allstate that it’s not the attorney’s name on the suit, it’s their’s.  Therefore, they are charged with being aware of what’s going on in the case against them.

Allstate has now settled this case.   Allstate does not settle cases they can win.  Instead of spending millions on advertising, why doesn’t Allstate just drop the whole “Delay, Deny and Defend” philosophy they adopted in the 90’s?

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July 23, 2008 by Zale.

Simply put, Bad Faith is when an insurance company does not do what they promised to do.  Here’s an article that gives a good example of it.  One of the frustrating things about Bad Faith is that there are usually plenty of PEOPLE in these companies that want to do the right thing, but they get over run by the company’s greed for PROFITS.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe that insurers should make some profit.  But they shouldn’t cheat their policy holders to do it.

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June 30, 2008 by Zale.

I believe that I’m a bit of an authority on this topic. Why? I specialized in Minor Impact claims for both Allstate and Safeco. I’ve probably had some degree of involvement in thousands of these. There is an interesting two part news story by Anderson Cooper on the practices of Allstate and State Farm regarding minor impact claims. The story is worth watching, even though I’m not a big CNN fan.

I do not completely agree with the story, because there are a lot of folks who are trying to perpetrate fraud on the insurance industry. The story does not address that issue well. The problem is that there are some people who are truly hurt in their minor accident. The hard part is separating the liars from the fragile.

As an Adjuster, I believe that I developed a knack for picking out the liars, unfortunately, many adjusters never take the time to find the signs of a hard impact, such as dimples in the back cab of a pickup truck (indicating that the impact was hard enough to move the bed of the truck and damage the back of the truck’s cab) or damage occurring to an area that transfers energy as opposed to absorbing it (like a steel truck bumper, which transfers the impact throughout the vehicle vs. a composite car bumper, which isolates the forces and keeps them from traveling to the occupants compartment).

Ultimately, the jury system may still be the place for most of these cases to be decided. I like the fact that we can still “let the people decide” as opposed to letting some legislator decide.

Posted in Litigation, Injury Law, Insurance Practices, Insurance Law | No Comments »

June 27, 2008 by Zale.

In regards to a claim for property damage, a total loss is when the item is simply not worth repairing.  Normally, this occurs when the value of the repair is roughly 70% of the value of the item.  So, if your car is worth $10K and the repairs are $7K or more, then the vehicle is a total loss.

So what’s this mean? This means that now the defendant or insurance company owes you the fair market value of the property (usually an automobile).  There are different ways of calculating this value.  Most people think their vehicles are worth more than what they are truly worth.  Be honest with yourself when thinking about the value of your vehicle.  Those cigarette burns on the seats may not seem  like much to you, but they certainly are a big deal to anyone else looking at your vehicle.

Now, there’s one other point that I want to make here. ” Total loss” does not always mean “Take your vehicle”.  Even if your vehicle is a total loss, it’s still your property, so if you want to keep your vehicle, just tell the defendant or the insurance company that you wish to keep your vehicle.  They cannot take your vehicle just because they want to.  This is not a “forced sale”. What they do is once they have calculated the fair market value of your vehicle, they then subtract what the salvage is worth and there is your value.  So, if your vehicle was worth $10K and they could get $2K at auction for the salvage, then you get $8K and keep your vehicle.  Just make sure that your vehicle is not sitting at some wrecker yard, racking up storage charges.

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June 8, 2008 by Zale.

In case no one has told you, in the state of Tennessee, if you have an injury claim, in most cases, you only have a year to either resolve the claim, or file suit.  This is known as the statute of limitations.  That is a particularly short statute.  Most states are two or even three years.  So, if you have an injury claim, make sure and PAY ATTENTION to the statute and don’t let it run without getting your claim resolved or having an attorney help you with it.

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June 5, 2008 by Zale.

I was sworn in before the Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday.  The firm went “live” yesterday.  I hope that you will contact us to see how we can help you.  The office is based out of White House, Tennessee (Sumner County side), but we cover most of Middle Tennessee and will be happy to make a “house call” if needed.

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