Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorneys Caution Against Making Deals Immediately Following a Car Accident
Making a deal at the scene of a car accident resulting in personal injury is one of the biggest that a victim can make according to most personal injury lawyers. The fact is that you are permitted to wait until you get away from the accident scene and have some time to calm down before contacting your insurer. Ninety-nine per cent of the time there is no reason to make a quick cash deal with the other driver. If the other driver is clearly at fault, admits it, and offers a few hundred dollars to resolve the situation, injury attorneys’ suggest you do everything listed in the above sections and politely ask that you be given a day or two to consider the offer. You need to give your body and your common sense some time to relax and take inventory. If you leave with $200 dollars in your pocket and no information about the other driver, or even worse, no names of witnesses, you may be paying for your own medical treatment when your back starts to stiffen or your neck starts to hurt. Always take your time, and if a day or two later you are feeling fine, you can then decide whether a couple of hundred dollars is reasonable compensation. If the other driver really wants to keep his/her insurer out of the picture, the offer should still be available. If not, you have all the information you need to make an insurance claim. Of course the best cause of action in any automobile accident resulting in personal injury is to contact a qualified Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney.
If you are at fault and want to settle the claim at the scene, the cash you give away will not necessarily stop the other person from making a claim against your insurance policy. The only way to bar future claims relating to the accident is to obtain an enforceable "release from liability" agreement that has been drafted by a law firm qualified to handle insurance settlements. A verbal agreement to forego future claims in exchange for a small amount of cash, made in the heat of the moment after the accident, is all to often difficult to establish in court, especially if the person later proves to be seriously injured and is represented by reputable counsel.
Contributed by Dawn Turner
