When you hurt someone, chances are you have a natural inclination to make sure they’re alright—to limit the amount of immediate pain and injury they experience, to make sure they receive any medical attention necessary as soon as possible, and to help them heal so that their injury doesn’t become a lengthy or even life-long burden. This is how most people feel; humans are naturally good at heart and want to live in fair, friendly, and happily reciprocal communities.
Of course, in a world where everyone fully lived up to their mistakes and was there to offer quick and comprehensive compensation for the injuries they caused, personal injury lawsuits would be all but non-existent. Those responsible for injuries would pay up, and injury victims would get the assistance they need for a swift and effective recovery.
So what went wrong? Well, a few things, really. First, it’s difficult even for the best of people to agree on fair compensation for a given injury. Second, not everyone always maintains the purest motivations when money is involved, and there are people who try to get out of paying—or want to pay less than they owe—just as there have been cases of fraudulent injury victims or those attempting to collect more than they are due.
But the biggest reason behind injury lawsuits in Calgary and throughout Alberta—throughout much of the world, in fact—is the insurance industry.
Insurance Companies Put Profits Ahead of Calgary Personal Injury Victims
Insurance companies provide a very useful and valuable service, there’s no question. Injuries caused by car wrecks, slip-and-fall accidents at a home or place of business, and other incidents of negligence that result in injury can be very expensive in terms of medical costs, lost wages, and compensation owed for reduced capabilities and quality of life.
Most people, in Calgary and elsewhere, would not be able to pay a fair amount to injury victims following a serious accident. Insurance companies help by pooling everyone’s resources together to pay for the relatively small number of accidents that occur, meaning those responsible for causing personal injuries won’t be hit by a sudden and devastating financial loss while those who suffer personal injuries can get the assistance they deserve.
The problem is insurance companies don’t just exist to make sure their clients are taken care of; they also have shareholders who want to see a profit. This profit-minded perspective makes most insurance companies try to pay out as little as possible for every injury claim brought against one of their customers. Their desire for a fatter bottom line is in direct conflict with injury victims’ desire for fair compensation, creating an adversarial system that the average Calgary citizen would find overwhelming.
Calgary Personal Injury Lawyers Put Knowledge and Experience by Your Side
When you partner with an experienced Calgary personal injury law firm, you’re evening the playing field. You’ll have a lawyer—or lawyers—-who know how the insurance companies work, and know how to to make them pay what injury victims are rightly owed. If you or a family member has been injured in an accident in the Greater Calgary Area, you don’t have to face the insurance companies on your own. Call dedicated Calgary personal injury law firm Cuming & Gillespie LLP today to get the help you need and the justice you deserve.