The insurance company can be expected to extensively investigate not only the facts surrounding the accident itself, but also to investigate the claims for medical treatment, any past injuries, and previous claims and obtain copies of all past medical records.
It will help your case to share with your attorney information about any prior injury or prior accidents. Good cases can be lost by an injured person who forgets to disclose a previous injury or accident. Again, your attorney can help you to avoid such pitfalls based upon experience dealing with insurance companies here in Alaska. You will want to provide your attorney with the names and addresses of all the doctors who have treated you in regard to your accident which has injured you and to provide all of the medical bills to include bills for prescription drugs.
Apart from medicals, an important part of a personal injury claim is lost wages. Just because you may not have been working at the time of the accident does not mean that you may not still be entitled to compensation for loss of earning capacity under the laws of the State of Alaska. You will want to provide the name and address of your current and past employers.
The other major component of a personal injury claim is for compensation related to your pain and suffering. An experienced personal injury lawyer can be of help in assisting you to evaluate and present same with regard to the unique facts and circumstances of your case.
It is also important to determine whether you will have future medical expenses, future loss of earnings, future loss of earning capacity as well as future pain and suffering. If you have been disabled to any degree in an accident the likelihood of such future losses could extend for many years after your accident. Again, an experienced personal injury lawyer can provide you valuable advice and direction with regard to seeking compensation for such future losses.
There may be more than one type of insurance available to provide compensation to you for your personal injuries and this is something you would want to explore with an experienced personal injury lawyer. For example, in the State of Alaska there are minimum requirements for liability insurance but the driver who injured you may not have kept his insurance in place or the compensation you are entitled to for your injuries may exceed what insurance he has. In such a circumstance you may be entitled to compensation from your own automobile insurance company under what is termed uninsured or under-insured motorist coverage. You will want to provide your attorney with the face pages of any health insurance or automobile insurance policies that you have or if you are covered on the automobile policies that others in your household, such as parents, to bring copies of the face pages of those policies to your attorney as well.
You should be aware that insurance companies keep records of all claims and that this information can be and is shared between companies by computer technology. It is important that you keep your attorney informed of anything that might impact your case and your attorney is available to consult before you sign anything related to your case. These would include applications for benefits from the insurance company, reporting to the State of Alaska, changes in medical providers, returns to work as well as changes and discharges with regard to your medical treatment.
With regard to communications between you and insurance companies regarding your accident and personal injuries, once you have hired a lawyer those communications can be taken care of by the attorney once you have retained and hired a lawyer.
Many personal injury claims are resolved by settlement and a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney can provide valuable assistance through negotiations on your behalf which may even include mediation or arbitration.