The vast majority of vehicle accident claims in Colorado will reach a resolution through a settlement with the insurance carriers involved. However, that does not mean a claim will be straightforward. Insurance carriers will do what they can to limit how much money they pay out, and this could include watching a claimant very closely. In some cases, it may seem like insurance carriers are spying on claimants to avoid paying compensation.
It is important to understand that insurance claims are usually fairly straightforward, but that does not mean anyone should let their guard down. There are certainly situations where the insurance carriers will use various means to “spy” on a claimant, though it will never be called spying.
Insurance carriers want to “protect the integrity of the claim,” or at least that is what they say they want to do. The reality is that insurance carriers want to pay as little as possible out for a claim, so if they even begin to think that the claimant is not being truthful or if the claim is for a relatively large dollar value, they are going to scrutinize the situation more closely.
What could this look like?
It is certainly possible that an insurance carrier will watch an individual. This could include them hiring a private investigator to follow a person from place to place. This investigator would be looking for any inconsistencies in the claimant’s story. For example, if a person has claimed an arm injury and a doctor has prescribed that they wear a sling for a specific amount of time, but the private investigator notices that they are grocery shopping and using both arms to carry groceries, this would not bode well for the claim.
If a claimant is supposed to be on crutches or wearing a cervical collar but they have scheduled a ski trip, this also would significantly jeopardize the injury claim.
One other likely route that insurance carriers will use to spy on claimants is through a digital footprint. It is not uncommon for individuals to put just about every aspect of their lives online, typically through some sort of social media outlet. This can include outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and other outlets.
Individuals need to be very careful about what they post about the incident that caused their injury, their recovery process, and any other daily activities they participate in. Posts as simple as talking about taking children to a ball game could be enough for an insurance carrier to scrutinize an injury claim more closely than they otherwise would have.
Even if individuals think that their social media posts are on a private setting, there are always ways for insurance carriers and other parties to see these posts. All it takes is for one friend or family member to like a post or reshare a post for the entire claim to fall apart.
If you have any questions about the steps you should take to successfully recover compensation after sustaining an injury, we encourage you to reach out to a car accident attorney immediately. A lawyer will walk you through the entire process and help you understand what the insurance carriers may do to undermine the validity of your claim.
