Disbursement day! This case is special because the fight was my client’s OWN insurance provider, GEICO. They went months refusing to recognize his lost wage claim on his own Personal Injury Protection.
He got into a big wreck that landed him in the hospital. He went and saw his company’s workman’s compensation doctor who took him off work for a day and put him on light duty for 2 weeks. GEICO refused to recognize that he lost out on a bunch of wages that he should have earned. Even though we had overwhelming evidence to prove his lost wages (months worth of pay stubs clearly showing loss of income, a letter from his doctor putting him on light duty, and his boss confirming by a statement to GEICO), they still refused to recognize his loss wage claim. Instead of accepting their position, we fought them and gave them everything they needed to prove his loss wage claim. Eventually, GEICO caved and agreed with our position and tendered their limits.
It shouldn’t have been this hard but that’s how insurance companies like to treat their own customers. This was HIS OWN insurance company that he pays premiums to every month denying him money that he is entitled to for this exact situation. Last week, we finished a similar case where the client’s own insurance company GEICO flat out called the client a liar and refused to pay anything even though their own internal documents proved otherwise. This is why we go to court and fight for our clients. Companies like GEICO make it easy by the way they treat their own customers.
Sometimes clients wonder why they need to involve their own insurance in car wreck cases. We are all brainwashed by the insurance company to fear ever using our own insurance coverage even though it’s there for that exact situation. We always hear, “won’t our insurance go up?” This is just fear and propaganda created by the insurance company. Then clients believe that their own insurance company should just pay the money without any real fight or work. Why does an attorney even need to be involved? Even though that’s how it is supposed to work in theory, that’s not how it actually works in real life. Even these sometimes end up in a huge fight. That is why we tell our clients, if you have the coverage, use it. Otherwise, why have the coverage in the first place? If you aren’t going to use it, get rid of it and save yourself some money. Not using the coverage is only letting the insurance company win. They won’t be so nice to you when you do decide to use it. Don’t let the fear of your premiums going up deter you from using a coverage that you have already paid for.
We are very happy for this client and the results and honored to have represented him. Thank you. Now on to the next one where our client was wronged by GEICO!
