Global Mediations and What To Do When Your Competing with Friends for Limited Funds?

If you’re in a Tampa car accident where multiple people are injured, it’s possible that the insurance companies involved may tender their policy limits. That means that one or more of the insurance companies have determined that the total value of the injury claims of all the people involved in the Tampa auto accident exceed their policy limits. In that situation, the insurance company may contact your Tampa car injury lawyer and tell them that they are holding a global mediation to determine how to split the limited available monies.  

So how does an insurance company decide to tender their policy limits? That’s something that the car insurance company decides for themselves. They may learn about the accident through various medical records or your attorney may provide that information to them. If they believe that the total amount of all the claims exceeds the amount of auto accident insurance that the insured purchased from them, they are likely to tender the policy. That’s because they wish to avoid what is known as bad faith, a situation where an insurance company wasn’t looking out for the rights of their insured who spent good money to make sure they are protected in just this type of situation.

Once the auto accident insurance company tenders the policy limits, they’ll request a global mediation to determine how to split the monies among all the individuals that were injured in the Tampa auto accident. If there were several people in the car that you were in at the time of the Tampa car accident, you will then be competing with your friends for division of the insurance monies. Of course, there might be others at the mediation as well who received injuries from the Tampa car accident, if for example the force of the vehicle that hit your car from behind pushed you into the vehicle in front of you.

The problem though with competing with friends for money at mediation is that it can cause a rift between friends. That’s why if you’re involved in a Tampa car accident, Tampa injury law firms will tell you that it makes sense not to discuss your injuries and treatment with the other people that were in the car with you. That may seem cold and odd, but it’s the best way to avoid problems between you and your friend. It will also help you to recover what’s fair at the mediation. If you talk about your injuries to your friend saying, “Today I’m doing pretty good.” Your friend may then tell his attorney who will be sure to tell the mediator and the insurance company, “Hey, so and so says he’s doing pretty good with their injuries. They deserve much less than my client for this Tampa car accident they were both involved in.”

If your friend directly asks you how you’re doing with your car accident injuries, you might share with them that your attorney asked you not to talk about your injuries with anyone including friends in case there is the need for litigation in the future. That way your friend will blame your silence on your attorney and not you. If your friend pushes for information past this point then you should REALLY beware because it’s likely your friend is pushing for information that can later be used against you.

Also, you should be careful when posting information on social media websites. The case of many Tampa injured clients have been compromised because they’ve posted pictures of themselves doing activities that can then be taken off the internet and used against them in mediation or trial. Of course, the viewers of the picture or video may have no idea that you had to take an increased amount of pain medication to even participate in the activity or that you suffered for days afterward with increased pain because you were involved in the activity. After a Tampa car accident, certainly continue to live your life, just don’t be so quick to publicly document it.

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