State Farm is headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, and it’s perpetually the largest or one of the largest insurers in the extremely competitive national auto insurance market. On the other end of the spectrum, the American Association for Justice ranked State Farm as the fourth worst insurance company in the nation due to its delay, deny and defend claims model.
Delay, deny and defend
If you’re planning on bringing a personal injury claim against somebody who is insured by State Farm, you’ll quickly learn that you’re not with a good neighbor at all. Expect State Farm to delay the processing of your claim and then deny it sometime in the future. It’s likely to vigorously defend any personal injury lawsuit that you might bring against its insured person. State Farm is now the target of a $7.6 billion class action lawsuit brought under the federal Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). If State Farm is your neighbor, you’ll probably want to move.
Don’t get talked out of calling 911
From the onset, given State Farm’s claims practices, it’s far better for you to contact our offices for a free consultation and case review after being injured in an accident by somebody who was insured by State Farm. If we enter into a retainer agreement, we’ll handle filing your State Farm injury claim for you. You’ll need a police report though. Both State Farm and our offices will likely rely on the contents of that initial report. The reporting officer might end up being a pivotal witness on your behalf. Don’t get talked out of having police come to the scene of any accident. You’ll get nowhere without that report. If you were injured in the crash, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) will respond to the accident.
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The medical authorization
If you’ve yet to contact and retain us, you can expect to receive a medical authorization from State Farm for you to sign and return. Don’t sign it, and don’t return it. The law doesn’t require to do so. State Farm will only be looking for records of a prior injury to the same part of your body that you injured in your present claim. Then it will treat you like damaged goods. We can control what medical records State Farm receives in your claim.
The recorded statement
You can also expect the State Farm adjuster who is assigned to your claim to contact you “just to see if you’re doing any better”. Then the adjuster will ask for a recorded statement of the events. Don’t consent to giving a statement. Politely refuse it. The law doesn’t require you to give such a statement. Questions asked of you during your statement will be leading in nature, read from a script and framed to serve State Farm’s best interests. They’re designed to elicit answers from you to be used against you in the future to attack your credibility.
Mistakes detract from case value
Providing a medical authorization and giving a recorded statement are common mistakes that people make when they’re pursuing an injury claim without the benefit of an attorney. Those mistakes almost always end up costing them money. It’s unlikely that sometime in the future, a judge will allow you to cure those mistakes. You and your case are stuck with them. We don’t make those mistakes.
Contact a Los Angeles Car Accident Lawyer Today
Remember that the more you cooperate with State Farm’s adjuster, the more opportunity you’re giving State Farm to pay less than you deserve on your claim. It’s objective is to pay you as little as possible or nothing at all. That’s how it makes money. Contact us right away after being injured in any auto accident for that free consultation and case review. There’s no obligation at all, and if we’re retained on your injury case, no legal fees are payable unless we obtain a settlement or verdict for you. We don’t tolerate delay, deny and defend. We’re experienced and aggressive litigators.
Allen Vaysberg practices personal injury law and works tirelessly to defeat the tactics of insurance companies and large corporations who try to deny justice and fair compensation to injured people.
