If you’ve just been involved in an auto accident and you’ve been injured then it’s important that you contact a personal injury lawyer right away. The insurance companies are not looking out for your best interest. Here are some fatal mistakes that can ruin your car accident lawsuit.

1. By: Bobby Saadian ESQ

2. If you’ve just been involved in an auto accident and you’ve been injured then it’s
important that you contact a personal injury lawyer right away. The insurance
companies are not looking out for your best interest. Here are some fatal mistakes that
can ruin your car accident lawsuit.

3. 1. Lying:
You should never lie when it comes to your personal injury lawsuit. The reason why is
because insurance companies are well trained at zeroing in on lies, and that can ruin
your whole case. There is no reason to lie. The truth is you’ve been injureid in an auto
accident and you deserve compensation.

4. 2. Surveillance:
You should expect that the insurance company of the at-fault driver will conduct some
type of surveillance on you. You may be having a good day and be able to do activities
are aren’t congruent to what you are claiming the injury of your accident has caused to
your body. That’s OK, a jury will understand if you’re having a good day and you’re
taking advantage of that. What a jury won’t understand is if you deny that you did any
of those activities and they have surveillance of you performing these activities. This
goes back to telling the truth as well.

5. 3. Do not talk about your case:
Insurance adjusters, defense lawyers, and sometimes jurors may try to contact you. Do
NOT talk about your case with ANYONE hired by the at-fault driver or insurance
company. If an adjuster wants to ask about your case, have her call your auto accident /
personal injury lawyer.

6. 4. Facebook, Twitter & more:
Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys will investigate your Facebook, Twitter and
related social media accounts, blogs or web pages – even when set as ‘private’ – and
look for things that can help them avoid taking full responsibility for the harms they’ve
caused, and severely minimizing your compensation. The purpose of this Internet
research is to attempt to show that you are not as injured as you claim. Please be very
careful about postings and photos of your activities. Avoid posting new items.

7. 5. Signing your rights away:
Do NOT sign anything until you check with your car accident lawyer. Even simple minitort releases sometimes have fine print waiving future injury claims or allowing an atfault insurance company to access your medical records and violate your privacy. Check
with your lawyer first. Call Wilshire Law Firm if you have any questions.

8. 6. Doctor appointments:
Listen to your doctors, and follow through on their advice. There’s never a reason or
excuse to miss a doctor’s appointment. Not going to the doctor may be interpreted as a
sign that you are not hurt, or don’t take your car accident lawsuit seriously. It’s very
important for you to show that you are working hard to get better and keeping
appointments is an important part of that. Also, when you are at the doctor’s, be
mindful of what you say. For example, never say “My attorney said…”.

9. 7. Disposing of important evidence:
Save all pill bottles, casts, braces, prescriptions and any other items from your doctors.
This is evidence of your personal injuries, and it must be preserved.

10. 8. Pictures:
Anytime you have a surgery or a visible injury, take pictures. Or contact your car
accident lawyer and he will send a photographer to document your injuries. Videos are
also great tools to show a jury or an insurance company adjuster just how difficult
things have been in time following your personal injury or after a surgery. In
addition, take pictures of car damage. Crash repair estimates are often misleading and
don’t reflect the full amount of vehicle damage.

11. 9. Insurance medical examinations
(IMEs):
You will be sent to an insurance medical examination (IME) at some point. Sadly, these
doctors are not “independent” and this is really an insurance company physician who
makes a lot of money finding “nothing wrong” with auto accident victims. You must call
your car accident lawyer immediately when your insurance adjuster tells you to attend
a medical exam.

12. 10. Poor communication:
The best advice remains the simplest: call your car accident lawyer at if you have a
question, and certainly before doing something that can have an important impact on
your case.