Let’s assume that you were riding your motorcycle on a street and the oncoming driver makes a left turn right in front of you, causing you to hit the car and suffer serious injuries. The driver (assuming he or she is insured) will call his or her insurance agent to inform the agent of the accident and the injuries. As soon as the agent hangs up the phone, he or she will call the insurance company and inform them of the accident. The insurance company will then assign the claim to one of its adjusters to handle. The adjuster chosen to handle your claim will determine on the type of claim being made and the extent of the injuries. If you have been seriously injured in a motorcycle case, the insurance company will assign one of its motorcycle claim experts with considerable experience because of the potential amount of money that will be involved.

As soon as he or she receives a copy of the police accident report, the adjuster will be calling you or visiting you in the hospital within days. Lawyers are prohibited from soliciting or contacting potential clients, but there is no such restriction on insurance companies. They can call you as soon as they learn of the claim. And make no bones about it: the adjuster will contact you very soon, often telling you that you don’t need to hire a lawyer to represent you, that the lawyer will drag the case on for years and take a big chunk out of your settlement.

Keep this in mind at all times: THE ADJUSTER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND AND IS NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR BEST INTERESTS. The adjuster works for the enemy, the insurance company. The adjuster’s only job is to settle the case as quickly and for as little as possible. The adjuster may seem empathetic or sympathetic to your situation, but this is all an act. The only thing the adjuster is really concerned with is keeping his or her job, which means settling the case fast and cheaply.

The insurance adjuster will pressure you to give a recorded statement as soon as possible. The seasoned adjuster has taken hundreds of statements and knows how to manipulate the questions so that it comes across that you were partially or wholly responsible for the accident or that you are not really injured all that badly. These words will come back to haunt you when your lawyer is negotiating a possible settlement with the insurance company. Do NOT give a recorded statement to the adjuster until you have talked with an experienced personal injury lawyer, who will likely advise you either not to give a statement or to tell the adjuster that you will be willing to give a recorded statement, but only if you can have your lawyer present. Once you are represented by an attorney, the adjuster must deal directly with him or her, and is not allowed to contact you directly without your attorney’s consent, which is rarely given.

If you have been injured or a loved one killed in a single motorcycle accident due to the carelessness of another person or defect in the motorcycle, you should contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible. When deciding on which attorney or law firm you should hire to represent you, you should be guided by several factors. First of all, you should choose someone with experience in your type of injury. Second, you will want a lawyer or law firm that is competent, able to handle the case. Third, you want a lawyer or law firm with integrity. Fourth, you want to retain a lawyer or law firm that has the highest ethical standards.

It is also important to contact an experienced personal injury law firm promptly, as the law firm may want to send its own investigators to examine the evidence before it is lost or changed. In a vehicle-motorcycle accident, the lawyer’s investigator may want to go to the scene of the accident to inspect and take pictures of the damaged motorcycle and car, the accident site, and any dangerous condition that caused or contributed to the accident, especially before there is a change in the condition of the area or vehicle. Finally, the investigator will want to talk to any and all witnesses to the accident as soon as possible, while the facts are still fresh in their minds. Depending on the facts of the case and the insurance company’s denial of the claim, the lawyer will want to have an expert in traffic reconstruction examine the facts and recreate the events to prove the other driver was in fact liable for the accident.

Unlike some of the law firms out there, we are not a “settlement mill.” We are prepared to take each and every case to trial. Insurance adjusters tend to low-ball settlement mills, knowing they will not take the case to trial and therefore will accept a lower settlement figure.

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