By Shirley Reilly

 If you simply watch television, open a phone book, read the paper or drive down the street, ads will accost you. Did you get hurt in an accident or have a car crash? Do you have whiplash? We can help! The phone book has several pages filled with promises of free help until your claim is settled, bloody red headlines and photos of hurt people on stretchers. You?ll even see ads that offer claimants a short-term loan against the future claim.


An insurance bureau is claiming that such advertising, made by personal injury lawyers, is driving up claim cost. As a matter of fact, some insurance companies will no longer sell auto insurance. The insurance bureau's regional service manager states that there are more people coming in with little damage to their vehicles and receiving huge claims due to their injuries. She said that the insurance company wants to pay people for their actual injuries, but that people have started expecting way too much compensation for their injuries.

Depending on the insurance company in question, insurance premiums are rising to new heights. If you are at a good risk you may even be seeing an average increase of 15 to 35 percent. And, if you've had the misfortune of getting a ticket or having an accident, your auto insurance premiums can go up even more.

Many personal injury lawyers don't believe that there is any correlation between their advertising and the higher cost of claims. As one lawyer describes, he doesn't get the connection between the increased number of claims and his advertising methods. If a person has been injured by another driver, they should be able to make a claim for compensation. Lawyers associations are looking into the short-term loans being offered claimants. These may be a violation of their code of conduct.

By advertising personal injury services, law firms will get business from those already considering a claim. This is one personal injury lawyer's opinion. He also states that he doesn't see what the problem is with it. He doesn't see the problem with letting a person know what their rights are in the event of a car accident, and letting them know how to exercise them in order to get compensation. He says that the insurance industry has rebuffed its efforts to work with his association and address the changes that could be used in the system, due to higher insurance company costs.

It is the opinion of one bar association president that those in the insurance business are going about reducing claim costs the wrong way. Instead of blaming lawyers, they should focus their efforts on accident prevention. He'd like to see the insurance folks lobbying for increased fines for infractions caught by photo radar and bans on cell phone use by drivers. He goes on to say that there is a question of why insurance companies aren't trying to increase roadway safety and aren't trying to come up with ways to decrease accidents. Profits have been cut and investments have not paid off for insurance lately, he notes.

What the insurance bureau is trying to do to help is asking for limited double dipping by victims. This means preventing the victims who have already been compensated for their loss of wages by certain benefit plans offered through their jobs from also receiving compensation from the insurance company for the same thing. What's more, the time lost pay doesn't take out income tax or deductions. This makes it harder for the employee to want to go back to work. A longer absence from work means a higher pay off.

Lawyers doubt that many places will allow such lawsuits as this, but they also are clueless as to how many personal injury accident lawyers are currently practicing this. For the most part, they just let motorists get pain and suffering money, and only then it's due to real, serious, crippling injuries. According to the insurance companies, aggressive advertising is attempting to boost demand for exorbitant claims, but nothing could be further from the truth. Lawyers should be allowed to work for free for claimants until the case is settled; they should also be allowed to offer to pay for any disbursements if the case is lost.

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