I've been injured in a car accident. Should I settle with the insurance company?

Do not settle with an insurance company without talking to a lawyer first.

Q: I’ve been hurt in a car crash. The insurance company keeps calling me and asking me whether I’ve finished medical treatment. They also want me to settle right now. Should I?

A: No. You should not settle with an insurance company until you have reached “Maximum Medical Improvement,” a term that means your injuries have either healed or are not going to get any better. If you settle too early, you could be stuck needing more treatment, which you’d then have to pay for, or settling for much less than the reasonable value of your injuries. In Oregon, the statute of limitations on car crash injury cases is usually two years from the date of the crash, and in Washington it’s typically 3 years, so there is plenty of time to treat your injuries, get well, then deal with whether to settle with the insurer. However, it’s almost always a good idea to engage an attorney early on. KB Law can deal with the insurance company for you, so that you can focus on getting better. And, sadly, having an attorney is often the only way to obtain a realistic settlement from an insurer. The more severe the injury, the more this is true. Everyone at KB Law has worked for insurance companies in the past, so all of our lawyers know how to handle the insurance companies and their “tricks of the trade.”