by Guest » Sun Dec 06, 2009 07:57 am
Hi,
I was stopped at a red light when a truck rear-ended me. Third party insurance sent me a "RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS" to sign in order for them to pay for the damage to my car. Some of the language in the release confuses me. Specifically:
"IT IS UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED that the payment of said amount by the said Payer(s) is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of said Payer(s), but that said payment is in compromise and settlement of my (our) claim which is not admitted but is denied and disputed by said Payer(s); that his release is being given by me (us) voluntarily and not based on any representations or statements of any kind made by the Payer(s) or his, or her, or their representative, as to the merits, legal liability, or value of my (our) claim or any other matter relating thereto."
Fault was clearly the other driver's-- here it seems they are saying they deny it? As I am still awaiting closure on the personal injury part of the accident claim, would signing this release give them reason to deny payment for my chiropractor bills?
Also:
"IT IS FURTHER UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED, that this release is intended to cover all actions, causes of action, claims and demands for, upon, or by reason of any damages, loss or injury, known or unknown, which may be traced either directly or indirectly to the aforesaid action, as now appearing or may appear by any time in the future, no matter how remotely they may be related to the aforesaid accident. And this Release is executed with the full knowledge and understanding on my or our part that there may be more serious consequences, damages or injuries or separate or distinct consequences, damages or injuries as a result of the accident aforementioned, which are not now known, and that more serious and permanent injuries or separate and distinct injuries, even to the extent of death, may result from the injuries sustained in the accident aforementioned."
Third party adjuster has assured me this settlement ONLY pertains to the property damage portion of my claim. Why are they mentioning "injury" and "death" in this paragraph?
Just trying to be an informed consumer. Am I too concerned here?
I was stopped at a red light when a truck rear-ended me. Third party insurance sent me a "RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS" to sign in order for them to pay for the damage to my car. Some of the language in the release confuses me. Specifically:
"IT IS UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED that the payment of said amount by the said Payer(s) is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of said Payer(s), but that said payment is in compromise and settlement of my (our) claim which is not admitted but is denied and disputed by said Payer(s); that his release is being given by me (us) voluntarily and not based on any representations or statements of any kind made by the Payer(s) or his, or her, or their representative, as to the merits, legal liability, or value of my (our) claim or any other matter relating thereto."
Fault was clearly the other driver's-- here it seems they are saying they deny it? As I am still awaiting closure on the personal injury part of the accident claim, would signing this release give them reason to deny payment for my chiropractor bills?
Also:
"IT IS FURTHER UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED, that this release is intended to cover all actions, causes of action, claims and demands for, upon, or by reason of any damages, loss or injury, known or unknown, which may be traced either directly or indirectly to the aforesaid action, as now appearing or may appear by any time in the future, no matter how remotely they may be related to the aforesaid accident. And this Release is executed with the full knowledge and understanding on my or our part that there may be more serious consequences, damages or injuries or separate or distinct consequences, damages or injuries as a result of the accident aforementioned, which are not now known, and that more serious and permanent injuries or separate and distinct injuries, even to the extent of death, may result from the injuries sustained in the accident aforementioned."
Third party adjuster has assured me this settlement ONLY pertains to the property damage portion of my claim. Why are they mentioning "injury" and "death" in this paragraph?
Just trying to be an informed consumer. Am I too concerned here?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 07:16 am Post Subject:
The PD release I used to use had all the wording you stated, but at the top in larger bold print it stated RELEASE OF PROPERTY DAMAGE CLAIM ONLY. Even then I had to explain every time that it did not affect their injury claim.
ALL releases have wording that says (in effect) "we aren't admitting to ANYTHING-NO WRONG DOERS HERE!"...that's standard..
This also was always a big pain in the but to explain to the claimant.
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 01:53 pm Post Subject:
I have done extensive inspection and am confident there is no additional damage beyond what we already know (rear bumper, taillight, upper valance, dent on upper corner above taillight, paint) which was all included in their appraiser's inspection. No other problems.
Maybe, but until a repair professional looks at it, that could be a completely different story. Remember the appraiser, wrote an estimate. An educated guess, which will in most cases will not reflect the true cost of the repair, until your vehicle is finished.
I am still interested what you and your attorney are discussing about moving your claim forward.
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 05:45 pm Post Subject:
They have not yet made any payment to me or body shop.
Atty. has sent back to the adjuster an amended release last Friday, replacing the injury language w/ property damage language, and also attempted to contact the adjuster by phone.
I did request the adjuster explain the wording in the PD claim, after a week of no response, that's when I forwarded it to my atty to have him look at it.
I must be one of those pains to the adjuster.
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 06:27 pm Post Subject:
I must be one of those pains to the adjuster.
Not really. He probably did what I would have done and that is reject it and tell the carrier to resubmit the proper paperwork.
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:50 am Post Subject:
I must be one of those pains to the adjuster.
No, the "pains" I was refering to (as they pertain to the few PD releases I've used)..are the people that have kept on and on and on with issues that I KNOW are not accident related...If they agreed with the shop to pay the repair bill, and your vehicle is under repair, I'd not worry about it...Ask the shop if this carrier is paying them direct...also are you in a rental?
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 09:58 pm Post Subject:
Adjuster emailed me today, a revised PD claim. Stated the release was a standard release but the injury and death language was left in by mistake.
Revision looks good. I signed and faxed it back.
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