Dealing With Insurance After a Texas Car Accident

Dallas—Fort Worth Injury Attorney Explains the Process

Video Transcript:

David Shuster: 

Well, really, if it's a serious accident or serious enough where you know you're gonna need medical attention, or if you've already gone to the hospital, it really is always best to get an attorney involved.

Molly Hendrickson: 

What do you need to know about insurance claims after a car accident? We're gonna talk to Attorney David Shuster about that on today's Ask The Lawyer. David, thanks for joining us.

David Shuster: 

Yeah. Great. No, thank you for being here.

Molly Hendrickson: So first off, if a person was injured in a car accident, what guidance would you give them while they heal and evaluate the aftermath of insurance claims and medical bills?

David Shuster: 

Well, really, if it's a serious accident or serious enough where you know you're gonna need medical attention, or if you've already gone to the hospital, it really is always best to get an attorney involved. It just can be maze and very difficult to navigate without an attorney. Dealing with insurance companies, you have to always have your guard up. And so the best thing to really do is, well, first and foremost, get treated, but really to find an attorney that's close to you, that's responsive, and will help just guide you through the entire process.

Molly Hendrickson: 

If you go to the hospital in the days after a car accident, who covers it? Is it your car insurance or is it your health insurance?

David Shuster: 

That's a great question, the answer differs. If you have health insurance, you can use that, if you go to the hospital actually within the first three days of the accident, within 72 hours, then the hospital is quite likely going to file a lien on any potential recovery that you have in that personal injury case, and so in the county where you go to the hospital, you can expect that they're gonna file a lean, in all likelihood, for more than they would charge the insurance company on your potential claim. And so most of the time with hospitals, using the insurance is really the best way to go, but again, another reason to have an attorney involved, because once you got... Everyone's gonna have their hand out and say, everyone... I mean, anyone that treated you after an auto accident will have their hand out and the law entitles them to be compensated for what they paid for, whether it's insurance company or for the hospital where you didn't pay the bill. They want a piece of the pie, so to speak. And so that's part of what an attorney does is help to make sure that at the end of the day, we get all your bills paid, and you also get compensated for pain and suffering.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Can you speak to your own car insurance company after a car accident, do you have to speak to the other driver's insurance company? How does that work?

David Shuster: 

Well, you definitely wanna report it to your own insurance company, you wanna give a statement. A lot of times you can do that now, just online, you just go online, you can do a written statement. And we do not recommend that you contact the opposing driver's insurance company, their goal is gonna be to try to, obviously, twist your words. So that being said, if it's already at the stage where liability has been determined, then it is fine to deal with the opposing driver's insurance company for purposes of resolving the property damage claim and getting your car repaired, et cetera. But yeah, again, having an attorney involved will get the letters of representation out and then you can... We'll even talk to you a little bit about your property damage claim, and so you'll talk to the opposing insurance company about that. But generally speaking, no need to give a statement to the opposing insurance company.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And David, can you tell us a little bit about the difference between an insurance claim and a lawsuit against an insurance company?

David Shuster: 

Yeah, insurance claims are... That's what's opened up to compensate you after an accident, I would say that about 90% or 9 out of 10 insurance claims are resolved without filing a lawsuit, or at least without going to trial for sure. So a lawsuit, you've got two years to file, so that's sometimes... There could be different reasons why you'd file a lawsuit right away. Sometimes that's necessary if you just... You get a non-compliant insurance company right away, but you definitely... The first thing, obviously, any attorney is going to do is calendar that to your deadline to make sure that if the claim is not resolved during that time period, the lawsuit is filed. So a claim is essentially pre-litigation and then a lawsuit is filed if necessary to preserve that claim.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And at what point in this process is it necessary to get a lawyer? Is it always necessary? Can people go this alone and in what cases?

David Shuster: 

Well, that depends. Certainly, there are cases where you don't have to get an attorney. But you'll find that you can try to do it on your own, it really depends on the level of seriousness. It depends on how badly you were injured and also how well you're being treated by the opposing driver's insurance company. And so, yeah, they certainly is navigable by someone on their own, it just kinda depends on the level of seriousness of the accident and how well they're able to deal with the insurance company with paying the bills.

It can be a sort of a part-time job. You have homework all the time to work on with this claim if you're handling yourself, and there's no need if you can get a competent attorney involved. Although yes, attorneys obviously do take a piece of the pie, so to speak, of course, there's a contingency fee arranged with the attorney's offices, but they know what they're doing and they know how to deal with these people and they know how to maximize the value in the claim. You're really gonna be better off getting an attorney in our office or another attorney's office will be straight with someone who's calling to say, "Look, I really don't think you need an attorney," but yeah, right away is the answer to that question 'cause we can automatically guide you to where to get treated, should you use health insurance, do you not have health insurance. If you don't have health insurance or if you contact an attorney right away, we have a referral system with medical providers who can offer treatment with no out-of-pocket expenses in imaging and all that good stuff, and so yeah, certainly tons of benefits to using an attorney for an auto accident. Even though you think it may not be necessary.

Molly Hendrickson: 

David, great information. Thanks for joining us today.

David Shuster: 

Yeah, thanks. Always a pleasure.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been David Shuster. If you wanna ask him your situation, call the number on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

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