72 Legal Defenses and Arguments in Jersey City, NJ

72 Legal Defenses and Arguments Used by Insurance Companies to Defeat or Diminish Your Claim

1. Your vehicle is not equipped with headrest, seat belts, rear view mirror, or other safety devices and it is your responsibility to provide in vehicle with such devices.
2. Seat belts or other safety devices were available in vehicle but not used by you at the time of your car accident.
3. Equipment defects in your vehicle: Tires bald, brakes not working, tail lights not working, turn signals not working.
4. Your driving ability and perception is impaired by use of alcohol, medication, or drugs.
5. You had hearing or vision defect and weren’t wearing glasses or hearing aid.
6. You had other physical defects, i.e., epilepsy, headaches, sickness, etc., which impaired your driving ability and perception.
7. You were under doctor’s orders not to drive.
8. You were not licensed to drive or you were driving with a suspended license.
9. You didn’t notice the wrongdoer until impact or immediately before impact and therefore were inattentive.
10. Your recollection of times, speeds, distances is so inaccurate as to indicate inattentiveness or incompetence in driving and at the very least diminishes your credibility.
11. You exaggerated the wrongdoer’s speed and other facts surrounding accident so as to diminish your credibility which makes you an unreliable or unbelievable witness.
12. You had warning of danger within a sufficient time to avoid accident if you had been paying attention.
13. You could have avoided the accident if you had not been exceeding safe speed for conditions.
14. You made an unnecessary and unexpected stop.
15. You made an unsafe lane change without warning.
16. You gave no stop or turn signal.
17. You were backing up under circumstances and/or at a location where a reasonable person wouldn’t have anticipated the same or where it was difficult for wrongdoer to see the same.
18. You were not in the intersection first.
19. If you and the wrongdoer were in the intersection at the same time, you were to wrongdoer’s left or exceeding speed limit/safe speed or inattentive.
20. You make a poor appearance as a witness.
21. You have verbal difficulty describing events surrounding the accident.
22. Wrongdoer was acting as “reasonable person” in the operation of their vehicle including safe speed for conditions and therefore is not negligent, i.e., wrongdoer’s conduct was not probable cause of accident.
23. Act of God or unknown person was responsible for accident.
24. No independent witnesses found substantiating your version of accident or witness cannot be found (You, not wrongdoer, have the legal duty to prove by a “preponderance of the evidence” each element of your case).
25. Witnesses dispute your version of the facts or substantiate wrongdoer’s version.
26. Investigating police officer makes errors in the police report or erroneous conclusions disputing your version of the accident.
27. Physical evidence (lights, brakes, tires, etc.) was lost and it is necessary to have it examined by an expert to substantiate your version of the facts.
28. You did not obtain the services of an expert to substantiate negligence of other parties.
29. Police were not summoned to scene inferring minimal or no injury.
30. No complaint of pain at scene of accident by you to anyone.
31. No indication on police report that you were complaining of pain at scene.
32. No objective signs of injury at scene of accident like cuts, bruises, etc.
33. No request by you at the scene for an ambulance.
34. You did not get examined at emergency room day of accident or soon thereafter.
35. Minimal property damage to either or both vehicles involved.
36. Your vehicle was equipped with shock-absorbing bumpers, headrests, seat belts, which were being used and which made low impact injuries, such as whiplash and neck injuries, impossible or improbable.
37. No other persons involved in accident had injuries.
38. You received no treatment for substantial period of time following the accident.
39. You made errors in recalling your medical and/or employment history to insurance company which can be “discovered” by defense during litigation.
40. No medical opinion substantiating medical causation between accident and your medical complaints.
41. Shortly after the accident, your physical/health condition returned to what it was immediately prior to the accident.
42. You had made prior complaints and received poor treatment to the same areas of your body allegedly injured in the accident and your complaints after the accident hadn’t changed.
43. You had a subsequent injury which was the cause of your continued problems instead of the accident and there was no treatment between first and second accidents.
44. You exaggerated your complaints related to the accident according to your medical records.
45. Your complaints to the doctor were minimal.
46. Your complaints to the doctor were bizarre, exaggerated, and lengthy per medical records.
47. Your complaints to one doctor different from your complaints to other doctor(s).
48. You had full range of motion at physical examinations.
49. You had no complaint of pain at physical examination
50. You were observed moving normally when not being examined by doctor.
51. Your family doctor’s opinion was minimal injuries, no physical therapy or any other treatment was prescribed; the doctor did not schedule an appointment for you to return or told you to “return in a month if you experienced pain.” You did not see the doctor again.
52. Your injuries were totally “subjective,” i.e., no indication of injury from x-rays, orthopedic tests or observation.
53. You received minimal treatment for minimal time period after accident.
54. Your doctor is no longer in area or otherwise unavailable.
55. You were examined by a doctor recommend by the insurance company soon after the accident and were found to be uninjured and not in need of treatment.
56. You had chronic-type complaints per past medical records or have unrelated medical problems such as arthritis or congenital problems such as spondylosis.
57. Cost of treatment was excessive and period during which you were treated was excessive in light of standard charge for such services in the community and normal period of disability for such injuries.
58. You went to work contrary to your doctor’s advice and thereby aggravated your injury and/or caused prolonged period of disability and/or treatment.
59. Your doctor did not recommend time off work yet you took time off work.
60. No doctor has stated that you would lose work time in the future.
61. You had a poor attendance record at work prior to accident.
62. You would have been terminated, on strike, or laid off even without accident.
63. You had no job at the time of the accident and can’t substantiate that you were applying for work.
64. Your earnings per W-2 and tax records indicate smaller earning history than claimed.
65. You were paid by cash for prior employment and can’t document past earnings and/or you have no tax returns.
66. Your employer has no official record (i.e., W-2 form) or other means to substantiate you.
67. You let various “Statutes of Limitations” run, thereby foreclosing possibility of recovering anything for your claim.
68. You were partially at fault and should recover less under the new Comparative Fault laws of Indiana.
69. You have a history of filing lawsuits for the purpose of collecting compensation.
70. You have a history of mental illness or emotional problems making you unreliable.
71. You made a statement to the insurance company that you were not injured in the accident.
72. You failed to give proper and timely notice to governmental bodies, thus your claim is barred.

And…There are hundreds more!

It is the insurance adjuster’s job and duty to seek out and find as many defenses and arguments as possible in your case. The adjuster will question you carefully. It all starts when the insurance adjuster wants to “take your statement.”

They know all the tricks; do you? Are you going to take them on by yourself, or would you like help from a Jersey City car accident attorney who has seen it all? If you live or work in Jersey City, Newark or anywhere in New Jersey, we urge you to contact the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone for a free, no-obligation, confidential discussion of your case with our experienced auto accident attorney.