I never really considered about workmans comp lawyer Mableton, GA or PEO's until a month ago when I experienced my very first occupational accident. I was taking inventory of the warehouse when it occurred. Someone in the opposite passage was employing the forklift to place a pallet, and in doing so knocked a crate of DVD's off the shelf. The container came crashing into my back. The impact hurled me to the concrete hard. Right when I collided with the concrete I knew something was horribly amiss. The agony was sudden and acute. But my thoughts drifted elsewhere, because as a person lacking insurance I assumed I wouldn't be able to afford health care in case my employer figured out some way to get out of footing my medical bills for my freshly dislocated shoulder. You can see I've never had much faith in upper-management. Luckily, that wouldn't be an issue. As it turned out, my company had wisely bought workman's comp insurance. So basically I had no rational reason distrust them. My hospital bills were soon to be paid. And the best part about being covered was the workman comp company reimbursed me for lost hours due to my injury.

workmans comp lawyer Mableton, GA

Subrogation is an idea that's understood in insurance and legal circles but rarely by the customers they represent. Even if you've never heard the word before, it would be to your advantage to know an overview of how it works. The more knowledgeable you are about it, the better decisions you can make with regard to your insurance policy.

An insurance policy you hold is an assurance that, if something bad occurs, the business on the other end of the policy will make good in one way or another without unreasonable delay. If your property is broken into, for instance, your property insurance agrees to repay you or pay for the repairs, subject to state property damage laws.

But since ascertaining who is financially accountable for services or repairs is typically a tedious, lengthy affair – and delay in some cases increases the damage to the policyholder – insurance companies often decide to pay up front and figure out the blame later. They then need a means to recover the costs if, ultimately, they weren't actually in charge of the expense.

For Example

You arrive at the doctor's office with a deeply cut finger. You give the nurse your health insurance card and she takes down your coverage details. You get stitches and your insurance company gets a bill for the medical care. But the next day, when you clock in at work – where the accident happened – you are given workers compensation paperwork to fill out. Your employer's workers comp policy is actually responsible for the expenses, not your health insurance company. It has a vested interest in getting that money back in some way.

How Subrogation Works

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the process that an insurance company uses to claim reimbursement when it pays out a claim that turned out not to be its responsibility. Some insurance firms have in-house property damage lawyers and personal injury attorneys, or a department dedicated to subrogation; others contract with a law firm. Normally, only you can sue for damages done to your person or property. But under subrogation law, your insurance company is extended some of your rights for having taken care of the damages. It can go after the money that was originally due to you, because it has covered the amount already.

How Does This Affect Policyholders?

For one thing, if you have a deductible, your insurance company wasn't the only one that had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you lost some money too – to the tune of $1,000. If your insurer is timid on any subrogation case it might not win, it might choose to recoup its costs by raising your premiums and call it a day. On the other hand, if it has a knowledgeable legal team and pursues those cases efficiently, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all $10,000 is recovered, you will get your full thousand-dollar deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found one-half accountable), you'll typically get half your deductible back, depending on the laws in your state.

Moreover, if the total expense of an accident is over your maximum coverage amount, you could be in for a stiff bill. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as workmans comp attorney Lithia Springs GA, successfully press a subrogation case, it will recover your costs in addition to its own.

All insurers are not created equal. When comparing, it's worth researching the records of competing companies to determine whether they pursue valid subrogation claims; if they resolve those claims quickly; if they keep their accountholders posted as the case goes on; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements quickly so that you can get your money back and move on with your life. If, instead, an insurance firm has a reputation of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then safeguarding its bottom line by raising your premiums, you'll feel the sting later.