Do insurance companies provide lawyers? What do insurance lawyers do? What if you ever have a car accident? Can it seem like your fault? You have the option of being sued by the other party involved if they think you caused the accident when you were not at fault. So the most common question that gets asked is whether or not the auto insurance company will hire a lawyer for you? Today the question is answered by the cheapest car insurance companies that have been in business for a very long time.
Car insurance has to defend you; As such, they must offer legal representation if you are ever prosecuted. In some cases, the car insurance must pay the damage value to the declared victim. In some cases where the auto insurance company doesn’t pay out the value or the full value of the claim, there is a chance you could be sued.
Do Insurance Companies Provide Lawyers and how does car insurance protect you?
Generally, every auto insurance policy will have similar wording stating that if you are ever involved in an auto accident and are sued for damages resulting from the accident, the insurer will provide the policyholder with an attorney. The insurance company’s contractual “duty to defend” is to provide each part of the different types of liability coverage in your policy. Some consumers purchase liability insurance to ensure they don’t face personal financial difficulties in the event of an accident involving their property, automobile, or small business.
What Do Insurance Lawyers Do?
What does an insurance attorney do? Insurance attorneys can act on behalf of insurance companies or consumers. Both types of representation are very different. However, they still employ many of the same essential strategies.
An insurance attorney does the following:
- Gather and review the facts of the case
- Identify culprits and hold them accountable
- Determine the fair value of an insurance claim
- Find out about specific federal, state, and local laws
- Conducting negotiations and communication on behalf of the customer
- If necessary, represent the client’s case in civil court
- Ongoing legal advice for clients
- And more
An insurance attorney is the only professional who can provide advice or opinion on legal decisions. Try checking out different attorneys by searching “insurance attorneys near me” or “insurance claims attorneys near me.”
Situations Where Your Insurer May Not Provide A Lawyer
As with some legal norms, there are various exceptions to the duty of defense. Now let’s look at the different situations in which the insurance company is not automatically obliged to defend you in a car accident.
You didn’t report the accident
The duty of defense expires if the insured does not report the accident to the insurer at least within the periods specified in the insurance policy. This is true if the delay affected the insurance company’s ability to properly investigate the accident or minimize losses related to the other party’s driver’s claim.
This cannot be taken as an excuse for not informing the insurer within the prescribed time limit. Suppose you have been seriously injured and require hospitalization or are physically/mentally unable to notify the insurer of the accident. Then there is an extenuating circumstance about which you cannot be informed in good time.
Do not you dare. Always do this same day or the next day if you ever get into a car accident that you can’t report to the insurer.
A deliberate act caused the accident
If the insured is accused of willful misconduct or causing a car accident, he may terminate all coverage and his duty of defense.
The auto insurance policies only provide coverage for negligence for the acts and not for the acts done intentionally. Therefore, for whatever reason, the insured is accused of intentionally causing the car accident, since there is a real chance that the insurer will refuse to cover the accident and deny the attorney in almost every court case the opportunity to insure for the crash reported.
For example, you can drive under the influence of alcohol. Some insurance companies state that drunk driving is conduct intentionally committed on behalf of the insured driver; So if there is a DUI-related car accident, the insurer can deny coverage for any claims arising out of the accident.
Another driver’s accidental damage exceeds the policy limits
The other significant exception to the insurer’s duty is the provision of a lawyer who can file a claim. At the same time, the damage is already being paid out by the insurer that meets the coverage limit of your insurance premium. After a performance by the insurer, there are no further obligations towards the insured.
It is important to consider the insurance company’s legal obligations in these circumstances, which may vary from state to state. Therefore, while you are in a situation, it makes a lot of sense to talk to a personal injury attorney yourself.
What happens if I get sued after a car accident?
If you’re involved in a car accident and the other driver (and maybe even your own insurance company) says you’re at fault, you could face a lawsuit. It’s one thing that your insurance company doesn’t provide a lawyer to defend you in court, but if the insurer also claims that there is no cover for the accident (for whatever reason), the money that the other driver wins will come, of you in court.
Let’s say the other driver sues you in small claims court in Texas, where plaintiffs can seek up to $20,000 from the person they’re suing. The other driver is claiming the maximum amount for minor damages, claiming that his medical bills, lost income and punitive damages (collectively known as “damage” in the lingo of the law) add up that much. The judge looks at the evidence of how the crash happened and the nature and extent of the plaintiffs who claimed losses, and agrees that you are liable for the full $20,000. At that point, an enforceable lawsuit will be filed against you and you are legally obligated to pay the other driver $20,000 out of your own money. If you don’t have that much cash on hand, your salary may be garnished or you may have to deal with other debt collection measures.
Of course, if the accident results in serious injury, the other driver may decide to take you to court, where there is usually no limit to how much money they can ask for. If a court case occurs and the judge or jury finds you liable for the car accident, you could be sentenced to a six-figure fine or more. Find out what happens if you’re at fault in a car accident.
Having an auto insurance company that denies its duty of defense isn’t the same as a situation where you get into a car accident and don’t have insurance, but there are more than a few overlapping issues, as does personal financial responsibility for losses, as a result, The crash can occur in both scenarios.
What to do if the insurance company does not offer a lawyer?
You may be the one responsible for the car accident and you have encountered a lawsuit from the other driver. However, your insurance company states that they are not required to pay a lawyer to represent you in court. So what should you do? The first step would be a written statement from the insurer based on the decision.
After accepting the insurance company’s reasoning, you can decide how to proceed. Therefore, you just need to find the cheapest car insurance companies that can offer you a lawyer.
Get help if your insurer won’t defend you
If the insurance company refuses to provide you with an attorney (or tries to deny coverage) after a car accident that appears to be your fault, hiring your attorney can quickly reconsider their stance. The attorney may discover a problem with your accident that you overlooked, or develop a strategy that you didn’t think of. As we pointed out above, at the very least, an attorney can get the insurance company to reconsider their position and decide that defending the lawsuit against you makes more business sense than fighting it with you and your attorney.
An attorney may agree to represent you (and be paid on an hourly basis) to change the insurance company’s mind about their legal obligation to defend you. This might not be the cheapest option, but it can make financial sense when faced with the prospect of a major court judgment against you. Or, if it turns out that you may have a valid legal claim against your auto insurance company (due to a possible “bad faith” defense failure or other unfair business practice), an auto accident attorney can represent you under an unforeseen compensation scheme. This means that the lawyer will only be paid for his legal services if you reach a favorable outcome (through an amicable settlement or a court decision). If you do not receive money, the attorney will not receive attorney fees under a contingency fee arrangement.
Whatever perspective you are considering after the insurance company’s decision regarding your car accident, you can use the tools on this page to contact a car accident attorney in your area and get an idea of your best course of action. You can even get a free case assessment from a local auto accident attorney by answering a few questions about your case.
