We’re talking this week about one kind of premise liability: slip and falls. We know we’ve written a lot on the subject and that it can be hard to follow walls of text. Videos are a great way of exploring complicated subjects like slip and falls.
While we’ve talked a lot about what you should do if you are injured, there’s one very real accident myth we haven’t touched on. Fraudulent Claims. That’s why we wanted to share this video.
There’s a common myth out there, that many slip and falls are actually fraudulent claims. In the video above, you may have even found yourself agreeing with the spokesperson for the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
What you may not know, is that the NCIB isn’t actually a federal agency. The NCIB is made up of some 1,100 insurance companies. It works to protect the interests of these insurance companies by engaging in lobbying and developing relationships with local law enforcement agencies.
Those who file false accident claims are often breaking the law. This is called fraud. Fraud is a crime. Statements made by industry spokesman (like in the video above) might lead you to believe that fraud is a rampant in the insurance industry. It’s not just statements like that though, check out this video:
Videos like this one might terrify you.
According to the NCIB fact sheet, however, only about 10% of insurance claims are fraudulent. That same fact sheet makes the claim that ‘fraud,’ ‘raises our taxes’ and ‘inflates prices for consumer goods.’
It is not right of an insurance company to shirk their responsibility to their insured. It is in the best interest of the companies the NCIB represents to minimize their financial exposure to accidents. While it may be true that companies pass on their additional costs to their consumers, many feel that these accusations of fraud are overstated.
If this were a simple case of insurance companies and lawyers not getting along, we probably wouldn’t have written about it. Much research has been done on the subject of consumer fraud. One of the most interesting findings is that often times what a company calls “fraud” is actually a consumer’s reaction to deceptive advertising on the part of the insurer.
Want to Read More? Check out this classic Customer Fraud book HERE
When an insurance company you have regularly made payments to runs you ‘through the ringer,’ you’re not wrong to feel dissatisfied. You made your payments in good faith, and the insurance company has a responsibility to hold up their end of the deal.
