Car Insurance Adjuster Sends You a Check You Didn't Even Ask For! What Do You Do Now?
You suffered a significant injury and now you brought a lawsuit. And at the very beginning of the case, the insurance adjuster sent you a check that you didn’t ask for. What do you do in that instance? Do you send it back? Do you write no thanks? What do you do? Come join me as I share with you exactly what happens.
Hi. I’m Gerry Oginski. I’m a New York malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing law here in the state of New York. This will happen sometimes in car accident cases. You’ve suffered an injury maybe even before you’ve started a lawsuit the insurance adjuster learns a little bit about your injuries and they send you a check. But for you cash that check, be very careful.
Because on that check it’s probably going to say the following words: in full and final consideration for your accident. Now what does that mean? It means that if you now deposit it or cash that check, you are basically your claim or your case is over and you cannot come back and ask them for any additional money. Why would you ever want to do that? Well, from the insurance adjuster’s point of view they think that most people are not very educated and not very savvy when it comes to filing claims and getting paid.
And they think that if now all of a sudden they’re faced with a check of many of thousands of dollars – something that they were not expecting – that you’re going to go ahead and cash that check and deposit it and that will be the end of the claim. And if you ignore those words on that check, what will happen is you’re going to have a very tough time trying to show anybody, including a court, that that was not the end of your case and you had no intention of ending your case by depositing this particular settlement check.
However, the insurance company has a clear agenda. Their agenda is to get you to sign that check to get rid of this claim. Now, the better practice is to pick up the phone and call the insurance adjuster. And say, “Listen. Why would you send me a check when I didn’t ask for it? How do you know the true extent of my injuries? How do you know that I won’t need surgery in the future? How do you know that I’m not going to be disabled permanently?
Because clearly this check is not sufficient enough to compensate me for the injuries that I suffered. So why are you sending me a check at this early phase? You don’t have all my medical reports. You don’t have the reports of my treating doctors. So why would you ever send me a check to settle out my case for a number you have no idea whether or not truly represents full and fair justice – full and fair compensation – for my injuries?”
Well the reason they do that is that they expect and they hope that you will cash that check for a very small amount. They’re trying to get you to settle your claim for a very small amount to limit the payout. And they know the longer your case goes on, the chances are the greater they’re going to have to payout. Why? Because you now are going to support your claim with your doctors, your records, with all the detailed information about how you are disabled and injured.
And now the value of your case is probably going to be significantly higher than it was at the very beginning of the case. And that’s what happens when they send you a check like that. So why do I share this information with you? I share it with you because this is something that goes on a daily basis, especially involving cases involving accidents – car accidents especially.
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