Especially in serious injury cases; an insurance company might approach you and try to settle the case. Sometimes they might even offer to settle for the full amount of the policy. Most people would think, “why get an attorney and give the attorney some of my money?”
What the insurance companies don’t tell you is that you have to pay for everything related to the case out of that pot of money. Hospitals are going to put a lien against your case that you are required by law to pay. If you don’t pay it, they can come after your personal assets for the money. Sometimes these liens can be more than the amount of money available to settle the case. This occurs when the limits of the person who hit you are less than the bills you have to pay. So you may get the limits of the policy which may be $25k or $50k but after you get that check you end up owing $100k to the medical community for your liens.
If you have a good trial lawyer, they can negotiate all the liens and medical bills down so that you will get the most money available to you and protect your assets. So if the policy is only $50k and you have $100k in medical liens the trial attorney will get the liens reduced well below the policy limits of $50k to ensure you are able to keep most of the money from the policy.
A good trial lawyer can also make sure that you sign the appropriate documents so that you get all the money you are due and not release policies without knowing. For example, if you sign a full release when you get your money your case is over. When you sign that full release you have lost any claim to other policies available to you. Most people have money available to them on their own personal insurance policies even if they don’t have full coverage. If you sign a release that prevents you from getting that money, you are allowing insurance companies to keep the benefits that you have been paying for in preparation for this very situation.
Never sign any documents from an insurance company without taking the time to meet with an attorney. Consulting with a good trial attorney about your case is free to you even if it just reviewing documents before you close your claim. What do you have to lose?