The insurance adjuster is supposed to help resolve the dispute that has been created by an accidental occurrence. Personal injury lawyers in Joliet often need to convince their clients that the adjuster is not in any better position than the lawyer-client team.
Adjusters specialize in claims
• Adjusters have gained extensive experience in the process of taking part in negotiated settlement.
• Adjusters’ experience has not helped them to gain an understanding for the details about various medical conditions.
• Adjusters’ experience has not provided them with great insight into the legal matters that relate to a particular case.
Tactics that might be tried by an adjuster
Stalling the negotiations: An adjuster’s decision to use that tactic usually gets made if a claimant lacks an understanding of the worth of that same claimant’s case. Not sharing information on the factors that limit the adjuster’s decisions
Every adjuster has only limited authority
The claims supervisor dictates the amount of money that each adjuster has a right to offer, during negotiations with claimants. The adjuster must check with the claim’s supervisor, before making any offer that would exceed the same adjuster’s limits.
Consequently, if a claim were worth more than the limited amount of money that was available to the adjuster, the adjuster’s reply to a claimant’s bid could get delayed.
Adjusters that were aware of the need for such a delay would normally ask for more time.
Actions claimants should take, after hearing a request for more time
Ask adjuster to give estimate of that time period. When should the claimant expect to receive a response to his or her offer?
After receiving that date, the claimant should wait patiently for the date’s arrival. That would mean that no effort should be made to introduce a new offer, because the other side has not put forward a new bid.
If there were no message from the adjuster on the stated date, then the claimant’s next move should entail the making of a phone call. During that phone call, the adjuster’s experience would be called upon, in order to account for the lengthening of the delay.
If any promise that an answer would come soon were to be fulfilled, then the 2 sides would be close to agreeing on a settlement figure. In the event of a broken promise, it would be time to contact the adjuster’s boss, the claims supervisor. That supervisor would probably seek to resolve the problem quickly.
A broken promise could be pointed to as an example of bad faith. No claims supervisor would want to have the company accused of bad faith, because that could lead to the initiation of a lawsuit. Insurance companies do their best to avoid a lawsuit.