But, there is a type of insurance that, today, is almost a must for you and me to have. First, If I asked you how many people in Texas are driving around without any insurance, what would you say? How about two million! That crazy number is about people who are drivers in Texas who have zero insurance on their car. So, when you are driving in your own neighborhood or on I30 or Loop 12 or Belt Line Road or I20 or anywhere in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, every 3rd or 4th car driving next to you and not paying attention because they’re on their cell phone has NO insurance. When they finally veer into your lane of traffic and destroy your car and injure you, there’s no one to pay for the car or your medical bills. Now, getting back to insurance, which we don’t like paying for, there is this: You must protect yourself and your family with Uninsured Motorist insurance. And, Texas law requires it in all automobile policies.
Yes, Texas law requires it. Unless you, the person buying the insurance, reject it. Please read this: your insurance agent will put several documents in front of you when you’re buying your car insurance. One of those will be a reject form for Uninsured Motorist coverage. Don’t sign it. It is not expensive insurance to buy and it is, in my opinion, a must for you to have to protect yourself and your family. A must. Please get Uninsured Motorist insurance. Many people don’t and most are unaware that they rejected it. I hear “ I have full coverage “ all the time, but without Uninsured Motorist insurance, you may have protected the other guy in a crash, but not you or your family. If you want to discuss how this works in more detail, call me. You’ll get me and we can discuss. Here’s a good number. 800-448-6487. I answer that phone. If I can help with anything else that’s on your mind, give me a call.
Insurance adjusters negotiate to limit liability on behalf of the insurance company. They get paid by the insurance company to ensure that the insurance company pays as little as possible. Often this means that they are the initial point of contact someone that has been injured in a truck accident has with the insurance company. The insurance adjuster starts off knowing a few key things more than you. He or she knows what your case is approximately worth in dollars. They have access to comparables and lots of industry information regarding how much they are potentially liable for. To the insurance adjuster, you are a number. You are a number that they are paid to beat. It is not a matter of just making a low offer. The insurance industry is based on risk and limiting liability. In order to be profitable, the insurance company has an interest in getting the lowest possible settlement. That is why strong representation is needed from the outset.
One way that insurance adjusters try to limit liability is they try to get you to say things that will only benefit the insurance company or damage your case. “How are you?” The natural response is “fine” or “good.” It is so basic to respond this way that people learning English for the first time are taught the question and response as a greeting and a script. However, one must always remember who the insurance adjuster works for. How does that play out to a jury? “Didn’t you tell Mr. Adjuster that you were fine?!?” This may seem absurd, but this example is not far from the truth and is illustrative of the fact that the insurance adjuster is not your friend. Insurance adjusters may also ask questions about the accident itself. These are not innocent fact-finding questions. Their whole job is to limit the amount of money that the insurance company pays out. Inconsistencies in testimony or possible defenses, even if manufactured by the insurance adjuster, are just one strategy that the insurance company uses to limit liability in truck accident cases.
Insurance adjusters also have been given a certain amount of settlement authority. This means that the insurance company already has a pretty good idea of how much a case like yours is worth. Armed with this information they pay insurance adjusters a good amount of money to attempt to settle your claim well below the actual value of the case. This means money and profits for the insurance company. These experienced adjusters armed with data and experience are playing at a distinct advantage on an uneven playing field. Insurance companies authorize insurance adjusters to settle cases with an eye towards beating the value of your claim. Unfortunately, this means the possibility of being victimized a second time by a system that is very much set up in favor of the insurance company.
The best way to deal with an insurance adjuster is to hire an experienced Dallas truck wreck lawyer like attorney Herbert that is capable of beating the insurance company at their own game. The insurance adjuster must be dealt with during the process of settlement negotiations, but such interactions shouldn’t be done on the insurance companies terms. You should have the best representation possible. You deserve someone that will speak with the insurance company for you and prevent you from being preyed upon.
If you have been injured in a truck accident, the insurance company is sure to have insurance adjusters working for them to limit liability in any way possible. The Herbert & Eberstein stands ready to provide you the experienced representation you need to even the playing field. Dallas attorney Zach Herbert and his team will guide you through every step of the litigation process with honesty, honor, and communication in order to ensure that you get the settlement you deserve. Call Herbert & Eberstein in Dallas to schedule your free consultation today.
Learn the amazing story behind a Stowers Demand, and its impact on insurance companies and victims of car accidents.
Insurance companies have a duty to act in their policy holders’ best interest. They have a duty to accept reasonable settlement offers on behalf of the policy holder within policy limits where doing so would be in the policy holder’s best interest. This responsibility is due to the unique nature of the contractual agency relationship between an insurance company and the policy holder. Within the insurance contract, insurance companies reserve right to defend any suit for damages on behalf of the policy holder. Also, the policy holder may not admit liability or settle any case without the consent of the insurance company. Courts have found that insurance companies owe a duty of care and diligence to those that they insure. They are to act as “a man of ordinary care and prudence would exercise in the management of his own business.” But, it wasn’t always this way.
Mamie Bichon, Stowers, and American Indemnity Company
On January 23, 1920 at about 7:00 p.m., an G. A. Stowers Furniture Company (Stowers) delivery driver was traveling down Austin Street in Houston, TX when the truck collided with a wagon on the side of the road. The crash made the delivery truck inoperable. The delivery driver did not stay by the truck or light up the area to warn oncoming traffic. Mamie was a drug store employee who had just ended her shift when she got into a Ford Coupe headed down the same street the Stowers delivery truck was stopped on. Unable to see the delivery truck, her vehicle collided with the unlit and unmarked Stowers delivery vehicle and flipped. As a result, Mamie was severely injured.
Stowers had an insurance policy in the amount of $5,000 with American Indemnity Company. The insurance company had the contractual right to defend any suit on behalf of Stowers for damages or loss; and, prevented Stowers from admitting liability or settling any suit without permission from the insurance company.
Prior to trial, Mamie offered to settle for an amount of $4,000, well below the policy limits of $5,000. The insurance company refused to settle for anything less than $2,500. The case ended up in court where a jury awarded $12,207 in damages. With interest, court costs, and fees tacked on, Stowers furniture ended up paying Mamie Bichon $14,107.15.
American Indemnity Company admitted that the offer to settle the case for $4,000 by Mamie was a good one and that it should have settled on behalf of Stowers. American Indemnity Company’s position was that it had satisfied its contractual obligations to pay the limits of the policy and that it had no duty to settle the case, regardless of whether it was in their policy holders’ best interest. They also stated that they had the contractual right to defend any suit on behalf of the policy holder, Stowers, regardless of whether or not settling would be to the benefit of the policy holder. Their position put Stowers at considerable risk and ultimately cost them an extra $10,000. As a result, Stowers filed a claim against American Indemnity Company for the excess judgment.
The court found that the insurance company owed a duty of care and diligence to the insured to act as “a man of ordinary care and prudence would exercise in the management of his own business.” Mamie Bichon’s case was very significant at the time and permanently altered the relationship between insurance companies and their policy holders in Texas. It continues to be significant today.
Stowers Demands In Practice
A Stowers demand is an agreement by the plaintiff in a lawsuit to settle a case within policy limits. In practice, this can be less than actual damages. There are a variety of reasons that plaintiffs can offer to settle cases within policy limits rather than going to trial and seeking the full extent of possible damages. Often, a defendant will not have money to pay a claim outside the insurance policy and seeking more money that does not exist is an effort in futility. Additionally, an insurance company ignores a Stowers demand at their own risk. If they fail to settle within policy limits, then the insurance company is potentially liable for the full amount of damages adjudged at trial.
A Stowers demand requires that “(1) the claim against the insured is within the scope of coverage, (2) the demand is within the policy limits, and (3) the terms of the demand are such that an ordinarily prudent insurer would accept it, considering the likelihood and degree of the insured’s potential exposure to an excess judgement.” The claim must be covered by the insurance company, the demand must be within policy limits, and the duty to settle is triggered when it is reasonable that the insured could owe more than the insurance policy limits at trial.
Cases involving personal injury can be complicated. It is not enough to establish who was at fault, damages must also be proved and are subject to a jury determination. There are times in which you legitimately may be injured more than what the defendant can pay. A Stowers demand is something that should be carefully considered with your personal injury lawyer in the process of negotiation and litigation. Personal injury attorney Zach Herbert, has the necessary skill and experience to assist you in every stage of litigation to get you the best results possible. Call the personal injury law firm of Herbert & Eberstein in Dallas today to discuss your case.
“Insurance companies don’t want to pay claims. The business model of an insurance company is simple: take in more money than they pay out. So they hire people called adjusters that are rewarded for finding reasons not to pay claims. These reasons usually make no sense in the real world. However, the insurance world is so large, and the insurance companies are so big, that they can literally shape the way people think about personal injury lawsuits and claims. Here are some examples of excuses that insurance adjusters use: 1. Gap in Treatment – Insurance companies constantly measure how long it takes to get to a doctor, or how long between visits to a doctor, and have created a term of their own, called “gap in treatment.” Adjusters will say “there was a gap in treatment, so we reduced our valuation.” The thought process here is that if you were really hurt, you’d be sitting in a doctor’s office all day every day. Which brings us to our next example: 2. Overtreatment – Even if a doctor recommends physical therapy for a certain amount of time, adjusters will still consider more than x number of weeks of treatment to be “overtreatment.” No matter how different we all are, no matter how old or young, regardless of our medical history, adjusters typically apply some sort of “one size fits all” approach to medical treatment based on the next example: 3. Low Property Damage – This is mostly based on what the adjuster sees in a picture. If you have a lot of damage to your car, then they will just ignore it and look for other excuses. If your car held up pretty well despite the wreck, then that’s all the adjuster will talk about. Things like, “well property damage was minimal, we feel you overtreated, so we reduced our offer” are often said when the car only has a dent in the bumper. 4. Not Accepting 100% Liability – when all else fails, then the adjuster will find something that you did wrong to be able to reduce the offer. Even if the other guy ran a red light and t-boned you when you had a green light, the adjuster will say, “you had a duty to enter the intersection cautiously, so we only accepted 90%.” What this means is they will offer 90% of whatever they decided the claim is worth. Fight them! Fight them at every turn. Don’t give an inch. Call them out on their hypocrisy! And if they don’t budge, file suit! Insurance companies ultimately don’t decide cases – juries do. And juries are made up of regular people. People that know we all put off going to the doctor even when we are in pain. People that know we do what our doctor tells us because we want to get better. People that know you can be fine when the car is demolished, and hurt when the car has a few dents. People that know running a red light or rear-ending another person is negligent! The answer is to fight.” Call 214-414-3808 today if you need an insurance claim attorney in Dallas to fight for you. Attorney Zach Herbert is a Marine Veteran who loves fighting for his clients. Don’t hesitate to schedule a consultation with Herbert & Eberstein LLC to discuss your case.” Source
