Personal injury attorneys understand the risks associated with medical releases and how they can impact your car accident injury claim. Do you? Sharing all your medical records with your insurance company can jeopardize your case. It’s crucial to only provide the medical records from the hospital and the treating physician who saw you after your accident.
Giving all your medical records to an insurance adjuster can negatively affect your car wreck case for several reasons:
1.Loss of Control Over Your Information: When you provide complete access to your medical records, you lose control over which information the insurance company can see. They may access unrelated medical history that doesn’t pertain to your injury, which could be used against you.
2. Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance adjusters may scrutinize your entire medical history to find pre-existing conditions or past injuries that could be presented as contributing factors to your current pain or disability. This could reduce the perceived severity of your current injuries and weaken your claim.
3.Exaggeration of Claims: Insurance companies may use your medical history to argue that your injuries are exaggerated or that you have a history of similar complaints, undermining your credibility.
4.Settlement Negotiations: If the insurance company sees information in your records that they can capitalize on, they might offer a lower settlement amount than you deserve, believing that your case is weaker based on the additional medical information.
5. Privacy Issues: Sharing all your medical records raises privacy concerns. There’s a risk that sensitive information could be misused or improperly disclosed, impacting your reputation or personal life.
6. Strategic Disadvantages: The more information the insurance adjuster has, the easier it is for them to develop strategies to minimize liability. It can ultimately give them an upper hand in negotiations.
In short, being cautious about what medical information you share with an insurance adjuster is crucial. It’s wise to consult a personal injury attorney like Henry Queener to navigate this process.
To car insurance companies, it makes more business sense to pay out a minimal settlement amount rather than work with you to resolve your claim. Insurance adjusters may try to coax car wreck victims into settling their claims quickly with low-ball offers or quick checks. Having your claim open costs the insurance company time and money. Bottom line: Don’t fall for a quick check from your insurance company. It may cost you later.
Unfortunately, what most car wreck victims don’t understand is this:
When car wreck victims sign a quick check, they have entered a binding contract representing themselves. They have settled both their bodily injury and property damage claim for one lump sum.
Often, car wreck victims will start seeing unresolved issues, like unpaid medical bills. They may begin to receive collection notices for past medical bills for which they are responsible. Their health insurance company may refuse to pay due to injuries sustained in a car wreck. Their medical treatment may be more intensive than initially thought.
When car wreck victims represent themselves, they may find themselves in a trap they didn’t know existed with car insurance companies. Even a minor accident with minor injuries can result in a financial downfall when uninformed decisions are made. Hiring a personal injury lawyer like Henry Queener will ensure that car wreck victims get the best outcome. Let our highly experienced legal team work for you while you focus on recovering.
Contact Queener Law today for a free consultation.
Car wrecks in snow and ice happen in the mountains, on highways, and even on your way to work.
Drivers have important duties when driving in snow and ice. All drivers have a duty to drive at a safe speed for the conditions, even if that means going well below the posted speed limit. Drivers also have a duty to maintain control of their vehicle, even if they hit an icy patch. And equally importantly, drivers must follow at a safe enough distance to stop without hitting the car in front of them, regardless of the road conditions.
When people get in car wrecks in snow and ice, the at-fault party almost always blames the weather.
They say it’s the ice’s fault they crashed into you and caused you injury. That’s not how the law sees it. When a driver hits you during snow and icy conditions, they are still responsible for the injuries and damage they cause.
At Queener Law, we regularly represent people who have been injured in car wrecks in snow and ice.
The injuries from these types of wrecks can be severe and long-lasting. We will ensure that the insurance company for the responsible party takes accountability. The team at Queener Law will get you compensated for the harms and losses you suffered because another driver failed in their duties.
After nearly four years of fighting, Queener Law won a jury verdict in Arapahoe County, Colorado, against Starbucks.
For years, Starbucks Coffee Company knew that its roof and downspout leaked onto the sidewalk. In the colder months, the water on the sidewalk froze solid, covering the entire corner of the pavement. Customers walked across that pavement to get to their cars after spending money on coffee and tea at Starbucks. Employees complained. Customers fell and were injured. Yet Starbucks did nothing to fix it.
Sometimes Starbucks threw ice melt on the sidewalk. Sometimes they shoveled it. Most of the time, they did nothing.
In 2019, our client stopped at Starbucks to get tea on his way to a business meeting. When he was walking back to his car, he came around the blind corner and stepped on the sheet of ice. His feet flew out from under him and he landed on his back and outstretched arm. He tore his shoulder and suffered multiple, severe injuries to his spine. Our client went to the emergency room and a series of specialists. He had shoulder surgery, spinal procedures, and years of rehabilitation.
What did Starbucks do? Nothing. They did not make an incident report. They did not offer to pay his medical bills.
Starbucks offered him a $50 gift card and their well wishes.
It took our client nearly $200,000 in medical debt to get his shoulder fixed and his spine back to the point that he could still work. His spinal injuries are permanent and he will never be the same. But all Starbucks offered him was that $50 gift card.
Queener Law’s history shows our team wins trials.
We took the case on his behalf and pushed Starbucks to take accountability.
During the litigation, Starbucks’ representatives testified that Starbucks maintains “a culture of safety,” but admitted that nothing was done on the day our client fell to treat the ice, warn customers, or make it safe. Nothing. Their team of attorneys created false scenarios about our client, claiming he was faking his injuries, exaggerating his losses, and maybe didn’t even fall in the first place. The Starbucks team tried any and every tactic they could to avoid taking responsibility.
At trial, our team showed video from the scene of the fall. We called our client’s doctors in to testify that not only are his injuries real, they are permanent. We had an economist testify about the financial hardships Starbucks’ negligence caused him. The proof was clear.
The Arapahoe County jury returned a verdict quickly and clearly.
They found that Starbucks was negligent and responsible for our client’s injuries. Their six-figure verdict put our client back on the road to recovery.
We are beyond grateful to our client for trusting us with his case and to the jury for bringing justice.
When Queener Law litigates cases, our team wins trials. We see justice done or we don’t quit pushing.
Queener Law had a major win for against a corporation that let snow and ice on a sidewalk get in the way of safety for a slip and fall client with permanent injuries! Our client worked and rental space at the building pictured here. She ran her own small business and depended on her business to pay her bills and support herself. Since buying the building, the corporation – which owned buildings all over Jefferson County, Colorado – did no upgrades to the building when it was purchased in the 1970s… or since.
The rain drainage downspouts were not only in disrepair, but they are no longer up to code. They pour water across the sidewalk, allowing it to freeze and cause a very dangerous condition for guests and renters. The downspouts and drains also froze over in the winter, causing them to burst and leak. Burst and leaking pipes pour water onto the sidewalk and create huge patches of black ice. In addition to failing to do any upkeep or maintenance on the downspouts and drains, the property owners also did nothing to take care of the lighting on the building. The lights on the south side of the building were out, making the sidewalk extremely dark at night, the same sidewalk with black ice.
Our client was walking to her car after a long day of work on an evening in February, came around the corner by the leaking, frozen downspout, and fell. Even laying on the icy sidewalk in the dark, she knew her wrist was badly fractured. Unlike my client who faithfully paid her bills and rent, the property owners who spent decades ignoring their building refused to pay their bill. They dragged our client through four years of litigation before a Jefferson County Jury finally held them accountable. While nothing will give our client her career back or the ability to use her wrist the same way again, having a jury award her a six-figure verdict showed her that the corporation was finally being held responsible for their decades of negligence waiting for a victim.
If you slip and fall on black ice in Colorado and are injured, it is your own fault… Right? Slip and fall injuries are climbing in Colorado as mild winters fade into history and the population grows in our state. According to the Denver Post, in 2019, injuries due to slip and falls on black ice soared due to residents simply letting their guard down. But is that because the pedestrian is letting down their guard? To the contrary. Slip and fall injuries account for over one million hospital visits in the US annually according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because of this Colorado not only has local ordinances about snow and ice safety, but our legislature saw fit to draft an entire Premises Liability Act to protect slip and fall victims.
Black Ice Law
City and county ordinances mandate that property owners, both commercial and residential, clear sidewalks and entryways of snow and ice quickly. But that is not where they duty to protect the community ends. In addition to those mandates, the Premises Liability Act requires that property owners consider measures like pre-treatment, continuous treatment, and post-storm treatment. The most common injuries sustained by our clients as a result of slip and fall incidents on ice are serious fractures, including to the wrists and spine. We have also represented multiple fall victims with traumatic brain injuries who sustained their trauma due to a fall on ice. Property owners must have a plan in place to take action to prevent, treat, and eradicate snow and ice dangers. And when that does not happen, and a person is injured as a result, the property owner must be held accountable for that injury.
Our Plan
Queener Law has been litigating against property owners for black ice slip and falls for decades. Our team has holding property owners accountable down to a science. That said, we also tailor all cases to your specific needs. Each of our slip and fall injury victims is assigned a partner, a paralegal, and a paralegal assistant who will work with them the entire way through the process. No assembly lines, no passing the file along. You and your team will be together from start to finish, every step of the way. We know your name, we know your case, and we know your specific needs. Our team will visit the site, hire the right team of experts for your specific circumstances, and build your case around you. The negligent property owner cannot be allowed to dictate the path ahead. We will keep you in the driver’s seat, with our team riding passenger.
