Worried About Pursuing a Personal Injury Claim Against a Friend or Relative? Don’t be.

If a friend or relative is responsible for injuring you accidentally, you might feel like they will never forgive you if you pursue a personal injury claim. However, the truth is that insurance is designed to help your friend or relative take corrective action, typically in the form of compensation, for the injury or damage s/he caused.

The lawsuit does not need to be contentious, nor does it need to change your relationship with the person responsible. By hiring a personal injury attorney to advocate for your interests with the insurance company, you help de-personalize the situation, and extinguish potential anxiety between you and your friend or, family member.

After beginning this process, both parties in these situations often feel better because they know that the insurance company and personal injury attorney will work toward a resolution to compensate you for your injuries.

We Spend Significant Amounts of Time with Relatives and Loved Ones

Many people believe that most accidents happen at work or while out conducting business in public. However, the truth is, most accidents and personal injuries tend to happen when we are with friends or family members. These examples may seem familiar:

• Family get-togethers happen by the pool. Someone slips, falls and gets hurt.
• While visiting a neighbor or relative, you slip and fall on hidden ice beneath the snow on the walkway.
• While visiting your cousin, her newly adopted dog bites you.
• Your teenager is babysitting for a neighbor and slips on an area rug while chasing down one of the children.
• You’re a passenger in your friend’s car when he fails to stop at the intersection and gets in a car accident.

These scenarios unfortunately happen more often than many people realize. In one recent case, our Dunnion Law attorney recovered the homeowner’s insurance policy limit of $1 million limit for her client who was attacked by her ex-husband’s dog when she met him to pick up her children.

Why a Personal Injury Attorney Helps?

In these circumstances, it’s important to remember the injury wasn’t your fault. Insurance companies sometimes stonewall victims or use bad faith methods in these cases to deter you from getting the compensation your injury deserves. Your personal injury attorney can help soothe potential friction with your friend and/or family member by dealing with the often difficult conversations and paperwork from the insurance company.

It’s important to remember that you and your friend or family member are on the same team. In short, you’re looking for the insurance company to be fair and compensate you for things that were not your fault, while your friend or relative is ready to make restitution for the injury s/he caused. The right personal injury attorney can step in and deal with the insurance company, medical records, court procedures and other legal issues on your behalf. In the meantime, you and your friend or relative can get back to making better memories.

Contact Your Personal Injury Attorney

At Dunnion Law, we’ve been committed to serving injured Californians in our community and the surrounding areas for nearly 50 years. We know personal injury law and how to make insurance companies give your case the full attention and compensation it deserves. Don’t let an accident or personal injury involving you and your friend come between you. Contact us today through our online consultation form to help get your case started.