What is the scoop on insurance lawyers?
Like any lawyer that you are going to hire, you must make sure that you hire him because you need to. Many consumers think that a lawyer is like a shortcut, or a helping hand. This isn’t always true.
As a matter of fact, during many cases consumers might have been better off id they didn’t hire lawyers, but did the work that was needed to be completed individually.
Your insurance company will be obligated to defend you and will assign a lawyer to your case, if you cause an accident or are otherwise liable for a claim against you. If you are being sued, your insurance company will have to find a lawyer.
The lawyers that are going to be hired are either the in-house staff of the company, or a part of an outside law firm that was hired by your insurance company to help in suits against their policyholders, such as yourself.
If you received a “reservation of rights” letter from your insurance company, you will have something to worry about.
This letter will usually say that your insurance company is going to end its contractual obligation to defend you, but only if it determines that your suit is not covered by your policy. If your insurance company finds out that you misrepresented the facts of the case or if your insurer finds evidence that will prove that you fraudulently sought the defense.
How much time is your lawyer going to devote to your case? Before jumping to any conclusions, keep in mind that your lawyer might be dealing with more than 100 cases on his or her hands.
Did you ever wonder why insurance companies reserve the right to override policyholder wishes and settle a case in order to cover their own backsides? If policyholders think that their insurance company didn’t do a good job in protecting them they can sue for thinking that the case wasn’t handled properly.
When policyholders are being sued, they usually don’t know what’s going on around them and they usually aren’t very familiar with the litigation process. Then, they just depend on their lawyers for advice and consultation.
Because they don’t know the law very well, they probably won’t know whether to complain about their defense or not. Make sure that you know what the law is, in order to get a lawyer who will defend you properly.
Don’t get confused over the controversy over in-house lawyers. Get this straight: in-house lawyers that are hired by your insurers don’t work for you; they work with you, while taking the commands from the insurance company.