Tactics Used by Insurance Companies to Refute Toronto Premises Liability Claims

There are a number of different defenses that insurance companies may put forward in order to avoid paying a premises liability claim in Toronto. By working with our Toronto premises liability lawyers, injured accident victims may be able to fight back against the following unfair tactics.

Inconsistencies in Treatment

A common line of attack by insurance companies in a Toronto premises liability claim is to look at someone’s clinical records and to comb over them very carefully to try and find inconsistencies or emissions. That is why it is extremely important when people go to their doctors that they are upfront, honest, and accurate with them about what symptoms they are having. There are two key reasons for this. First, if a person’s doctor does not know about all of a person’s symptoms, they may not be providing that person with the best treatment and care possible.

That is why it is very important when a person is speaking with their doctors that a person tells them about all of their symptoms. They should not exaggerate or under-report them. They should just tell them exactly what they are experiencing and not leave anything out. If a person’s doctor does not know, for example, that the person has dizziness, memory, or concentration problems or numbness and tingling problems, then they are not going to be able to treat that individual properly. It also means that the clinical records for a person’s claim are not going to reflect what that person has actually been going through.

Argument of Negligence

Insurance companies will vigorously push arguments of defense against a Toronto premises liability claim that a person was negligent and that they caused their accident. Often, because it is their job and they represent the insurance company, they will overstate the importance of any steps that that person could have taken to avoid the accident. For example, they will argue that a person should have been looking down when walking before they fell. That is partly true, as everyone has an obligation to make sure that they are looking where they are walking and taking reasonable care when walking. But, nobody walks with their head down or looking down all the time.

Insurance companies will often push arguments like that to try and make them out to be more significant than they actually are. That is why it is important that an individual speaks with a premises liability lawyer to know what the law is, what a person’s obligations are, what level of the blame can be assigned to each particular accident, and what level of the blame can be assigned to everyone’s actions involved in the accident.

Pressure of Trial

As a defense tactic against a Toronto premises liability claim, insurance companies often want to scare people by suggesting that they are going to push them to trial. Generally, the vast majority, perhaps 98% or 99% of cases, settle before trial.

The reality is that trials are expensive and stressful for everybody and insurance companies generally do not like their lawyers to attend trials, because it is a very expensive way for them to adjust and handle a case. In the event that an insurance company does want to push it closer to trial, it is very important that a person has a premises liability lawyer on their side to make sure that that they are legally protected and that all the proper legal steps have been taken to ensure that there is proper incentive for that insurance company to not take their case to trial, because they know they are going to have to pay a lawyer to attend and if they lose, they are going to have to pay that person and their legal costs, as well.