Otorowski & Golden, PLLC

Insurance companies are often difficult when negotiating slip and fall claims. They may offer you a lowball settlement offer or decide to deny your claim in its entirety. If the latter takes place, please know that your case is far from over. There are still options you can explore to help receive the compensation you deserve for your slip and fall injury.

Common Reasons for a Claim Denial

There are several reasons why an insurance company may decide to deny your slip and fall injury claim. These include:

• A lack of evidence supporting someone else’s fault for your accident
• A lack of evidence supporting your injuries
• You did not file a complete claim or failed to provide certain critical information
• You asked for an unreasonable settlement amount
• You failed to mitigate your injuries

As to the latter, injured people have a duty to mitigate their injuries following a personal injury accident. This duty includes taking actions or precautions to help their injuries heal. People, for example, may fail to mitigate their injuries by avoiding medical care or not following a doctor’s advice.

Continue to Negotiate with the Adjuster

If an adjuster denies your slip and fall claim, this does not have to mean that your negotiations are over. You can continue to negotiate your claim with the claim denial being one more issue to resolve during the negotiation process. If you continue to negotiate, you can refer to evidence that helps support the reason why your claim should not be denied.

For example, an adjuster may deny your claim because you postponed seeing a doctor and therefore did not mitigate your injuries. But, if in reality, you did see a medical provider for your accident, make this known to the adjuster. Further, support your story with medical bills or medical records that include the date of your visit.

File a Lawsuit

If an insurance company denies a claim, injury victims can still turn to the legal process for help. If your losses are low, you can try to file a claim in small claims court. Most Washington State counties have small claims courts that can hear cases involving losses of up to $10,000. Small claims matters usually get resolved faster than if an injured person files a claim in a higher court.

If you suffered severe injuries, though, you would likely have no choice than to file a lawsuit in a higher court, usually a Superior Court. If you chose to do so, you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney for help. A lawsuit involves critical deadlines that must get followed and there are several important steps within a suit for which a lawyer is better situated to handle.

Please keep in mind that most attorneys offer free consultations, which means you can speak to a lawyer to get your questions answered with spending any money at all. Further, most injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. This means you will not have to pay them for their services unless the attorney wins your case in court.

Contact Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC

Please know that our firm is here to help. Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC provides free consultations to all our potential clients. The attorneys at our law firm have over 120 years of combined experience representing injured parties and helping them file lawsuits to get the compensation they deserve. Do yourself a favor and contact them now for the quality legal assistance you deserve.