The risks of not retaining an attorney

If you are dealing with the insurance company without an attorney, then, as seriously as you are taking your injuries, the insurance company isn't -- you can be assured of that.Other people with similar injuries have retained attorneys to present their claims to that same insurance company. One thing that all those people have in common is an attitude of seriousness about what happened to them, and a driving desire to make sure they are treated fairly. The insurance company will pay the proper amount to those people, but not the ones who don't take the initial step of protecting their rights by retaining an attorney.

The person at the insurance company that you are dealing with (called the "adjuster") might well appear sincere and sympathetic -- a very, very nice person, a caring person. However, he or she has to report to other people you will never talk to: a supervisor, a claims examiner, a regional manager, and finally the corporate office. The adjuster is paid a salary and has a family. He or she wants to continue working for that company, and maybe get a raise and a promotion. None of that will be risked for you. 

Even if the adjuster wants to help you, because of some bond that you believe has developed between the two of you, you will not necessarily be treated fairly by the supervisor, claims examiner, regional manager, and corporate office. They don't know you. To them, you are nothing but a person without an attorney.

You are not dealing with the adjuster, you are dealing with a faceless corporation, and to that corporation you are nothing but a file, a liability, someone who wants money that otherwise would be distributed to the shareholders as profit.

If you do not retain an attorney, you are on your own, against all those people at the insurance company, and all of its lawyers. When was the last time that you heard a happy ending to that story?