Copyright (c) 2009 Benjamin Glass
“I want to rescind my settlement…”
We recently spoke to a gentleman who had settled his personal injury case six months ago. He had been injured in an accident where the other party was clearly at fault. He was contacted early on by the other person’s insurance company.
This man had incurred about $20,000 in medical bills, most all of which have been paid by his health insurance plan from his employer. The man told me that he did not want to pay an attorney a fee because his case was “simple” and he thought he could save the attorney fee. The insurance adjuster even said some things along these lines during discussions.
The insurance adjuster asked him how much his out of pocket medical expenses were and he told them that they were pretty low since his insurance company had paid the bills. The injury victim went on to the Internet and thought that he found some “formula” for settling his case by himself. Looking at his out-of-pocket expenses and his lost wages he settled his case for around $30,000.
Now he wanted to rescind his settlement. Since he did not use an attorney he was not aware that his employer’s health insurance company might seek to be repaid the medical bills that it paid. Yes, there it was, right in his contract. Of course the adjuster from the car insurance company did not mention this to him nor did they have a duty to. The adjuster did not misrepresent anything but didn’t volunteer anything anyway. The victim had to repay his health insurance company nearly $20,000, wiping out the great bulk of his settlement.
Unfortunately there was nothing that we could do for him. He had signed an “full and final release” acknowledging that he had not relied on the insurance adjuster for any legal advice.
Consumers should not be afraid to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney in their area.you wouldn’t think of taking out your own appendix, would you? Most personal injury attorneys will consult with you without charge on an initial basis. And many offer websites filled with useful information. Some have authored books to help consumers understand their rights.
An insurance adjuster is generally under no duty to give you legal advice. They typically are prohibited from misleading you but this can be very hard to prove. In most cases they are simply trying to close the claim and their duty is to their customer, not to you.
