Your Travelers Injury Lawsuit Questions Answered
If you were involved in an accident caused by a driver with Travelers insurance, it can be challenging to know who to sue, how to negotiate with Travelers, and whether you need a lawyer for a Travelers injury lawsuit.
You have several options for pursuing compensation after an injury. For each of these, having an attorney can help you increase your chances of getting the settlement you deserve. Attorneys can also make the entire process much easier.
Here are answers to some of the frequent questions we see about Travelers Insurance and personal injury lawsuits:
As of December 2022, the CEO of Travelers is Alan Schnitzer.
The headquarters for Travelers Insurance is located in New York City.
According to multiple surveys and claims handling data, Travelers has a very good score for paying out claims and a low complaint index. In fact, while they might have below-average customer service, they are rated number one for claims handling.
Still, you can have issues with the best-rated companies and perhaps not get the communication or compensation you think you deserve after an injury.
Travelers has claims data for clients with existing policies and third parties filing a claim because another party has a policy with Travelers Insurance. On their website, there are easy ways to access quick questions about whether you qualify for a claim, an upload center for files, and resources for things like worker’s compensation.
If you’ve had an accident with a driver insured by Travelers, you should typically start by going through your own insurance company, which will contact Travelers for you.
Still, getting the right escalation when you need it can be difficult. And if you feel that Travelers is stonewalling you or that your insurance isn’t standing up for you, that can be where legal options might be your next step.
Travelers does not have internal information on challenging an insurance payout. At best, they have information on evaluating losses and resolving claims, so you can try to escalate your claim or consider alternative legal options.
Yes, there are circumstances where you can sue Travelers Insurance if you are injured. If you are injured by another party who has Travelers as their insurance provider, you would sue Travelers for compensation. If you have a policy with Travelers insurance, and they are not honoring that policy, you can also sue them.
If you suffer a personal injury, you can sue the person responsible for compensation. But do you sue Travelers or the other party like a negligent driver?
Sometimes multiple parties overlap. If you are involved in a car accident where the other party was negligent, instead of suing the other party, you might sue a business if the other party was driving a company car.
If you don’t like how Travelers is handling your injury claim, you have a few ways you can still lodge a complaint.
Travelers has settled class action lawsuits in the past, like the American Association of Public Insurance Adjusters suit, which claimed Travelers denied claims even though they were covered under customers’ policies.
There may be other Travelers class action lawsuits as well. If you are eligible for a class action lawsuit, the court will typically attempt to notify you through the mail with instructions on how to determine if you are owed compensation.
To pursue a personal injury lawsuit against Travelers:
This depends entirely on your situation. In a Travelers lawsuit, you can claim damages for things like:
What you claim is based on your situation. You can work with an attorney to determine how much you can ask for in damages and what categories of damages you can claim in a Travelers lawsuit.
For example, if you are a dancer and you break a foot, you might be able to get compensation for medical bills, loss of income, loss of earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress. By comparison, if you work in an office at a desk as an engineer and you break a foot, that broken foot doesn’t necessarily interfere with your earning capacity, but you could still claim compensation for medical bills and loss of income.
In any personal injury claim, you can request two types of compensation:
Both types have limits. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average winnings for tort cases—which include personal injury claims—in 2005 was $31,000, but for car accidents, it was $16,000.
Insurance companies like Travelers typically calculate a settlement offer based on multiple factors.
First, they evaluate proven costs. Proven costs refer to the compensatory damages you can prove. Travelers will look at any invoices or receipts for damages, repairs, medical bills, pay stubs, etc.
Second, they evaluate your injuries. Travelers will look at all the medical reports and medical bills to see that your injuries were a direct result of the accident and the accident was a direct result of negligence for the party they insure.
Compensation for injuries is usually between one and five times the total cost of your medical bills.
If you think Travelers is offering an unfair settlement for your injuries, it may be time to consider an attorney.
Insurance companies like Travelers typically determine pain and suffering based on a lot of factors too. Travelers will investigate your injuries primarily. They will look at the proven costs and evidence of how your injuries have impacted your daily life and resulted in pain and suffering.
Every case is different, and the compensation you can get in this category will vary. The engineer with the broken foot won’t necessarily get as much pain and suffering as the dancer with the broken foot.
It might feel like Travelers is ignoring the emotional impact of your injuries or the pain you have suffered. An attorney can help you calculate pain and suffering and seek more than what Travelers has offered.
One important factor in the length of time for your personal injury case is how cooperative Travelers is, how much evidence you have, whether you get a settlement that suits your situation, and whether you have to go to court.
A good lawyer who has settled cases against Travelers in the past may be able to give you a helpful estimate depending on the specifics of your situation.
How you negotiate a personal injury settlement looks a little different for each person. For starters, if the responsible party has insurance from Travelers, you don’t just jump into a lawsuit after an accident. Instead, you submit a claim for compensation. You submit this claim by sending Travelers a demand letter. An attorney can help you with this letter and send it on your behalf.
The demand letter explains what happened, what injuries you sustained, how it was the result of negligence from the other party, and what you want in compensation. This is the opportunity to explain things like working as a dancer, qualifying for emotional distress, additional pain, and suffering from a broken foot that might otherwise seem like a minor injury.
Once Travelers has the demand letter, they will review it and start negotiations. What happens next is entirely up to Travelers. They might come back with a counteroffer, with a request for additional information, or no offer. An attorney can negotiate with Travelers on your behalf this entire time. If they refuse to pay, you can sue them in court with a personal injury lawsuit. This is something an attorney can help you with as well.
The best way to maximize your insurance settlement with Travelers is to have sufficient evidence to back up your claim and work with an attorney. With a personal injury claim, you have to be able to prove the following:
You also have to provide evidence for that injury. Spraining your wrist isn’t necessarily going to have any associated medical bills, and a slight fender bender with no damage to either vehicle won’t have any repair costs. However, spraining your wrist and breaking a foot in a fender bender with substantial damage to your vehicle will.
Generally, having a lawyer will often result in a stronger and more successful case with maximized settlements.
How long a Travelers lawsuit lasts depends on many factors:
A Travelers car accident lawsuit case can last between six months and two years. According to a study by the National Center for State Courts, personal injury cases average 16 months.
No, you aren’t required to have a lawyer for an injury claim against Travelers; however, having a lawyer will often result in a stronger and more successful case. If you are currently unsatisfied with the financial compensation that Travelers is offering, an attorney can help you maximize your compensation to include pain and suffering, loss of income, and more.
In a Travelers injury lawsuit, a lawyer does many things.
There is a lot of communication that happens during a personal injury case. If you submit a claim for compensation, you might need to call local businesses to ask if you can access their security camera footage outside where the accident occurred. You will have to communicate back and forth with the Travelers representatives, call police officers to get copies of incident reports and call hospitals to get copies of all the medical records. A lawyer will take over all communication.
A lawyer can do all this for you so that you don’t have to disrupt your work day or recovery by fielding phone calls. Phone calls aren’t the only thing that an attorney handles for you. They also handle all written communication, so when it’s time to collect physical copies of any receipts or invoices, they will do that for you. When it’s time to send your demand letter to Travelers, an attorney will draft it and send it for you.
Your attorney will prepare for court if an agreement cannot be reached during this time. They will do this by conducting discovery, deposing other people and asking them questions, interviewing experts and witnesses, and gathering as much evidence as possible for your trial.
During a Travelers injury lawsuit, you will have immediate upfront costs in the form of medical treatment, repairs to your vehicle if they aren’t covered by your private insurance policy, and so forth. As for the attorney, most personal injury attorneys work with a contingency fee, so they don’t charge you anything upfront but instead take between 30% and 40% of your total settlement.
So if a lawyer helps you get that much more—or reach a Travelers Insurance settlement when you otherwise wouldn’t have—then hiring them can be a good investment.
Finding a good lawyer for a traveler’s injury lawsuit takes time and patience. You need someone with whom you are personally comfortable, given how long Travelers personal injury lawsuits last. You can figure out if you’re comfortable with an attorney by going to an initial consultation.
Most personal injury attorneys provide free consultations. This is a chance for them to determine if you have grounds for a case and for both of you to determine if it’s a good fit. During this time, they’ll explain the fee schedule and what you can expect during the claims process.
You can ask friends and family for recommendations or use third-party businesses you trust who have relationships with good lawyers already. When you interview lawyers during the consultation, don’t forget to ask about their experience and qualifications. Personal injury is a broad field, so it might be best to work with an attorney who has direct experience negotiating with Travelers and handling the type of personal injury you sustained.
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