Engaging an attorney in a car accident claim could be a tricky issue. In several cases, it could even prove to be counter-productive. Some of the problems in engaging a lawyer are presented below.
- If the claim amount is small, no lawyer would be willing to take up that case.
- The court process is lengthy and cumbersome to all the parties involved in the suit. Hence, the lawyer would normally try to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. This could result in a reduced amount that the actual claim.
- The attorney would normally take away about one-third of the settlement amount, which would be already lesser, thus reducing it further.
- When a lawyer enters the scene, the insurance companies would also be forced to engage their own attorneys. Hence, they would harden their stand and the court process could become a long drawn one.
The alternative to this situation could be the hiring of a subrogation company. The subrogation company should be a member of official ‘intercompany arbitration’. These companies specialize in recovering settlements from insurers. In this process, a panel of select persons would decide the party at fault and ensure that the damages are fully paid. This is a cheaper and faster process. Further, the settlement would be a complete one and the full claim could be recovered at the lowest cost. The only point in this process is that the subrogation company should be a member of intercompany arbitration.
