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10 Questions Insurance Adjusters Don't Want You to Ask - YouTube
Channel: JZ helps (a Florida injury law firm)
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- I'm going to give you 10 questions
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that insurance adjusters
don't want you to ask
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in personal injury claims
and other types of claims.
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Watch the entire video so you can see
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all 10 questions that insurance companies
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get bothered when you ask them.
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JZ helps, a Florida injury law firm.
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I'm Attorney Justin Ziegler.
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The first question that
insurance claims adjusters
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don't want you to ask is,
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what are the insurance limits in the case?
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They don't want you to ask this question
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because it shows that you may be
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trying to get the insurance limits,
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and that you're more savvy
than your just average claimant
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and smarter than them.
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If insurance companies can do so,
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they want to avoid paying out the limits
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and pay as little as possible.
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Another question that
bothers claims adjusters
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and they don't like being
asked is if you ask them,
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how much check-writing
authority do they have?
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You're essentially asking them,
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how much can they write a check for
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without having to get supervisor approval.
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They may not want to answer that question
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because you may think
the value of your case
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is above their check-writing authority,
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and if that was the case,
you'd need a new adjuster
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assigned and they want to keep their file.
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The third question
insurance claims adjusters
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don't like being asked is,
what is the settlement reserve?
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The reserve is an amount of money
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that an insurance company,
an insurance adjuster
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sets aside to pay your case.
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They don't want to be asked that
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because then you have a better idea
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of how much they think
your case may be worth.
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The fourth question that claims adjusters
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don't want you to ask is,
how much have they paid
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for the exact injury that
you've had, in the past
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for other claimants for
their pain and suffering?
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Insurance companies
keep very specific files
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that show how much they've paid
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for pain and suffering
for certain injuries.
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You're not gonna have access to those,
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and if you ask the
insurance adjuster how much
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he's paid in the past
for pain and suffering
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for your same injury, he's
not going to tell you,
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and if he does tell you, rest assured
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that the number that he gives you
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is gonna be much lower than
what he's actually paid
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because they rarely
like to show their hand.
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The best thing that you can do
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would be to look up past
settlements and verdicts
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using a jury verdict search reporter.
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That's not gonna really give you the exact
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settlements and verdicts
with that particular
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insurance company.
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It's gonna give you a ballpark value
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of the pain and suffering component
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of many different types of injuries,
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which you hopefully use
that to your advantage.
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The fifth question that
insurance adjusters
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don't want you to ask is, "Mr. Adjuster,
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"how many cases have you
made an offer to a claimant
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"like myself, and then a jury has awarded
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"higher than that offer?"
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Rest assured that there's
not an insurance company
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in Florida that has had
a case where they haven't
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made an offer and at some point
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had a personal injury claimant go to trial
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and get a verdict in judgment
for higher than that amount.
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But there's gonna be a slim chance
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that the insurance adjuster tells you
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which cases that happened in.
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Insurance adjusters are not always right
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with their offers and their
valuations of your claim.
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That's why sometimes at a trial
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they get hit for large amounts.
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The sixth question that a claims adjuster
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does not want to get asked is,
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how many times has your
supervisor awarded a claimant
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and paid a claimant for an amount higher
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than you said your last final offer was?
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If you ask them that question,
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you're generally going
to get the responses,
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"Speaking with my supervisor
is not gonna do any good.
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"You're gonna hear the same thing."
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But there are certain
times, and it happens often,
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where the supervisor just
has more settlement authority
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and he may just want to
get the file off the desk
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and closed, and he may award more money.
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There's never a guarantee
it can happen all the time,
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but supervisor is a very powerful word.
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The seventh question claims adjusters
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don't want you to ask is,
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what are the bad facts for your case?
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Many facts go into a personal injury case
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and many things affect the value.
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Witnesses are one of them.
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There's a chance the insurance company
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knows about a witness that's
horrible for their defense,
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such as someone who thinks
they're insured with speeding
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or someone who saw a
substance on the floor
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a long time before you slipped and fell.
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Ask the adjuster what are
the worst facts in your case.
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You're gonna get a good
idea of how many cards
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the adjuster is showing you.
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The eighth question a claims adjuster
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doesn't like being asked is,
does your insurance company
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typically increase the offer
when a lawsuit is filed?
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They may say no, they may
not be telling you the truth,
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but the reality is, not in
every case but in many cases,
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when you file a lawsuit,
the case gets transferred
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to a different adjuster
who has more authority
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to settle your case,
essentially for more money.
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It goes to a higher level adjuster.
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Sometimes the reserves get increased.
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That's the amount of money
set aside to pay the claim.
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It doesn't always happen.
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There are certain insurance companies
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that stick to their final
offer before a lawsuit,
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but oftentimes insurance companies,
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particularly if they have
to pay an outside attorney
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and they're not one of
the large auto insurers
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that has their own attorneys on staff,
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will increase an offer after
you've filed the lawsuit.
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I had a case against a
very large supermarket
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and they denied liability and forced me
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to file a lawsuit for my
client, who was injured
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when something fell on
her, and as soon as I filed
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the lawsuit, the insurance
adjuster gave me a call
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and she said, "I don't know
what the other adjuster
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"was thinking," which we hear this often.
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And she offered $18,000.
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Now, we continued to litigate that lawsuit
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and settled for more money, but oftentimes
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insurance companies will not be fair.
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You'll file a lawsuit,
and the new adjuster
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will put all the blame
on the pre-suit adjuster,
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saying, "I don't know
what they were thinking,"
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or the defense attorney
that's assigned to the case
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will put blame on the prior adjuster
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who was handling the case.
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So sometimes a lawsuit can be huge.
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In one case, we represented a gentleman
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who slipped and fell.
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The insurance adjuster denied liability.
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We filed a lawsuit and
later settled for $300,000.
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So take what insurance adjusters tell you
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with a grain of salt.
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The ninth question that
claims adjusters don't like
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being asked is, how much
is your insured at fault?
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Insurance companies have an
insured, who is their client.
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You've want to ask them,
"What percentage of negligence
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"are you placing on your insured?"
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Sometimes I've had cases
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where the insurance adjuster will tell me.
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"In this case where our
driver hit your insured,
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"we're placing 60% blame on
our client, and 40% on yours."
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So some of them will tell you.
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Some of them will say, "I'm
not gonna go into that.
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"That's privileged information."
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But knowing their insurance
percentage of fault
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or at least what they're saying it is
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helps you understand why
they're making the offer
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that they're making, and you can see
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if what their percentage
of fault is in line
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with your evaluation.
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You need to know if their
insured is negligent.
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It's one of the main
factors when evaluating
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how much your case is worth.
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Number 10.
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Insurance adjusters
hate when you ask them,
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how much blame are they assigning to you?
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Just like number nine,
sometimes they will tell you.
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I have had cases where
I've filed a lawsuit
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and the defense attorney says, "Listen.
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"We're placing 25% to
50% blame on your client
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"for not seeing something
that she tripped over
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"that she should have
seen before she tripped."
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Sometimes insurance
adjusters will tell me,
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"We're placing 50% blame on your client
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"for crossing the road
in the middle of daytime
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"when she wasn't in a crosswalk."
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I actually had a case
like that where my client
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fractured her lower leg bone
and we settled for $70,000,
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but the insurance adjuster
let me get inside her head
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and she told me, 50% of the
blame they were accepting
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on their client and 50% on my client.
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As a bonus question, you
want to ask the insurer,
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if you had health insurance
that paid some of your bills,
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the health insurance is gonna have a right
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to recover money from your settlement
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if you reach a personal injury settlement,
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or may have a right.
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You're gonna ask the insurance adjuster,
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"What percentage of the
health insurance lien
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"are you paying me back for?"
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See if they're giving
you full reimbursement.
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The same is true with your medical bills.
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Ask them, if your medical
bills, out-of-pocket
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medical bills are 10,000, ask them,
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"Are you paying me for
100% of my medical bills?"
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They may tell you, they may not.
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I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Please subscribe to our channel.
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Please comment.
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Please like the video.
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I'm attorney Justin Ziegler
in Miami, serving Florida.
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Have a wonderful day.
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(hip hop music)
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