“AV-Preeminent” Rated Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell & Personal Injury Lawyer for over 35 Years
Transcript
I’m Mike Hancock with Hancock Injury Attorneys and I want to answer the question that we frequently get: do I have to give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster?
If we’re speaking about an insurance adjuster for the person who was at-fault for the crash, then the answer is always no. You do not have to give a recorded statement to the insurance company for the at-fault party’s insurance company. Now, if we’re dealing with your insurance company, for instance, your insurance company requests to take a recorded statement from you, then yes, you do have an obligation under the terms of your auto insurance policy to cooperate with your own insurance company. That includes the obligation to give a recorded statement, and sometimes even an examination under oath. But in that situation, I always advise my clients never to give a recorded statement to their own insurance company until they have the opportunity to speak with an attorney. More specifically for our clients, we never allow a recorded statement to be given by our clients to their own insurance company unless I’m also in the room or on a conference call with my client.
During a recorded statement, remember that insurance adjusters are trained to ask questions in such a way that they are trying to elicit responses from you that will hurt your case in the long run. Answers that will be detrimental to a good outcome in your case, and they’re trained to do so. We never allow our clients to give a recorded statement to the at-fault insurance adjuster.
When our clients have to provide a reported statement to their own insurance company, I prepare them beforehand. We will usually meet on the phone, in the office, on Facetime or Zoom, and I discuss the range of questions that I would expect them to be asked and how best to respond. Obviously, truthfully, but how best to respond because a lot of times my clients just have no idea the scope of the questions that these insurance adjusters will ask. My client are always thankful for the amount of time that I spend with them prior to the recorded statement to get them prepared to do their best job in answering the questions in a way that’s going to be beneficial to their case, or at least not detrimental to their case. So in short, you never have to give a recorded statement to the other person’s insurance company, and second, there are times in which you have to give a recorded statement to your own insurance company because of the terms of your insurance policy.
If you have any more questions, give me a call at 813-915-1110. I’d be happy to walk you through any legal issue you have and represent you in your personal injury claim.