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(314) 500-HURT[youtube]https://youtu.be/lNAZz2nuL4E[/youtube]
What do you do if an insurance company won’t pay you what you owe because of a car crash? You may think that they have
to, but they don’t. And then this happens all the time: insurance companies are in the business of taking premiums and
denying claims, and they often either won’t pay or underpay what should be paid to you. In fact, it happens so much that
I actually put a book out and put a book on my website on www.burgerlaw.com about this. My name is Gary Burger.
So, here is the book, “Essential Questions to Ask Before You Pick a Lawyer or Settle Your Case.” This is a PDF. You can
download it for free from my website. This is a black and white version that I just printed out because I just got a
call from my old friend who said their mother was in a crash, they said it was her fault, they won’t pay her any money,
and that is a typical tactic done by insurance companies even when it’s not true. Just because an insurance company says
it doesn’t mean it’s true. So, what do you do?
Well, first of all, you should document, in writing and emails, your communication. Get the insurance company say why
they’re not paying you. You can have them give them your excuse, or if they’re doing it on the phone, write it down and
then send them an email or a letter to confirm it, say, “Hey, you said that I’m at fault. You won’t pay me. Hey, you
said that I delayed too much in getting my medical care. Hey, you said that you had these witnesses that said something.
Hey, you said this.” There are a million things you can do.
You can go to Page 17 of this book, and I have a bunch of excuses that the insurance companies give you for why they
won’t pay you. They don’t have to pay for medical care if your health insurance won’t pay for it. They don’t have to pay
your wage loss damages because you got paid by your employer because of your sick time, not true. They only have to pay
the wholesale value of your vehicle, not true. You’re at fault, may or may not be true. The lawyer will only take away
your money and you won’t get any money by going to a lawyer, sometimes that’s true, sometimes it’s not.
The other part of this book that I did is try to figure out if you need a lawyer. Sometimes you don’t need a lawyer,
sometimes you do, and for me, I only take cases where I can add value to your case. I won’t take them if I can’t.
Insurance companies, sometimes, try to give you some type of urgency that, “You need to settle this case today, take the
$500, and after 5 o’clock tomorrow it’s going to be off the table, we can’t pay you anything.” Not true. “Because the
impact in your car crash was low and your property damage was low, you couldn’t have been injured by that.” It’s not
true. The forces in car accidents are major, and the level of property damage does not accurately reflect what can
happen in a whiplash motion and the injuries that can happen to your neck or your vertebrae about that.
So, the insurer only has a certain amount of insurance coverage, they only have to pay MedPay and don’t have to pay you
for your bodily injury. So, there are a lot of excuses that claims adjusters make that are not true, and if they won’t
pay you, you need to be, as I said, do emails, letters, stand up for yourself, but ultimately the only power you have is
to file a lawsuit, okay? And lawyers like me facilitate that. That’s what I do: I file lawsuits, try cases. We do it all
the time.
So, if it’s a small case, you can file your own small claims case for under $5,000 in any courthouse, depending on the
county and where the crash occurred. Or, you can come to a lawyer like me, Gary Burger, and I can tell you what I can do
for you, how much value I can add to your case, and whether it’s smart for me to do that. I often say insurance
companies are my best source of clients because when they don’t treat people fairly, they have to come to me.
No one gets in a car crash and says, “Now, I want to have to fight an insurance company. Now, I want to have to go find
a lawyer, and how do I choose a lawyer? I don’t know how to choose a lawyer. There’s a million of them out there.” And,
no one wants to go through that, but you only have one opportunity to settle this case or get a recovery from the
defendant who hit you, and the defendant who hit you broke the rules of the road that we have to protect drivers and to
protect all of us, and they broke the rules of the road, and they injured you and/or your family. So, if that occurs,
you have the right to full compensation for those damages — I’ve done other videos on that — not 50% compensation or 70%
but full 100% compensation for your injuries, and only by going to a lawyer can you do that many times in a serious
case.
So, if you have a question about whether you should get a lawyer or what me or my firm could do to help you, my
toll-free number is 866-599-2222. Our Illinois number is 618-272-2222. Our Missouri number is 314-542-2222. So, don’t be
afraid to assert your rights. Justice delayed is justice denied. We’ll answer any questions you have for free. We’ll
meet with you for free. I’m not a hard-sell person, so if you don’t like us, if you don’t want to hire us, you don’t
have to, but if we can help you, we’re happy to. Thank you.
Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO
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This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Gary Burger who has more than 30 years of legal experience as a practicing personal injury trial attorney. Gary’s robust legal knowledge is recognized by his peers as demonstrated by his industry awards and frequent Continuing Legal Education (CLE) lectures.
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