Giving A Recorded Statement
I'm going to answer the question: If I had an accident or a fall, should I give a recorded statement?
This is how it works. We get this a lot in car crashes and fall down cases, but also sometimes in workers comp cases.This is this is how it goes down. You have an accident, you probably don't want to call a lawyer, you want to report the accident. And then an insurance company or a store representative or somebody wants to make a recorded statement. It's usually somebody with an insurance company or a claims investigator who works for the insurance company. So in order to do that, they say, "okay I'm turning on the tape recorder"
Dear Mr. so-and-so it's such and such State my name is blah blah Dear Mr. so and so do I have your permission to record this conversation? "Yes", and then they ask you a bunch of questions. That's a recorded statement. Now, sometimes people get confused when I tell them beware recorded statements, because all business and insurance lines say, when you're waiting for somebody to pick up the phone, "this line might be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes".
That's not a recorded statement. They have to ask your permission and say "okay, make a little announcement, turn on the recorder, make sure that it was recorded with your permission". Then even at the end they ask it again. Was this did you tell the truth and was this all recorded with your permission?
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Why They Want A Recorded Statement?
I bring up the topic because I had a guy with a very serious injury case who called me who did give a recorded statement. Why are they so hot to get a recorded statement? I'll tell you why.
There are many things. I talked to thousands, probably a thousand injured people a year. Some percentage of which actually become clients, and some just have old cases or a pending case and they just have a question or it's a case that is expired or is unwinnable. The insurance companies will tell you that the reason they want a recorded statement is they want to hear from you exactly what happened.
It plays into human nature. Anytime anyone gets hurt or has an accident, most people want to tell their story. They have a desire inside them to be heard and tell their story. And sometimes it's because they want people to understand it wasn't their fault or they want sympathy. The problem is, that it's not just you and your best friend talking about how the accident happened.
They literally want to spring a trap on you. They want you to say or do something. They want you to say something during that recorded statement that doesn't make sense. They want you to catch you right after the accident so that your memory is hazy and you speak very imprecisely and you give them a lot of I don't know I don't know I don't know. Now, that happens to me all the time when people call me after an accident. They'll say "oh I don't really know", "oh I don't really remember".
They Can Impeach You With A Recorded Statement
If you can't remember anything about how you fell, what made you fall and the conditions and where it was, we'll never have a case. So I know that as you sit there, the shock of it is still there, but I need you to slow down. We're going to go step by step through it and really help you remember and help you focus in on the details I know. Because "I don't remember" or "I don't know" works in just a casual conversation but not in court and not to an insurance company. Once they have you saying "I don't remember", "I don't know", "I don't know where it happened", "I don't know exactly when", "I don't remember what street", "I don't remember what direction I was going". Once they have you in a recorded statement, they can impeach you with that.
They can make it look like anything more precise you say later, isn't coming out of your mouth, that's coming out of your lawyer's mouth. Or that you're making it up in order to win your case. I don't do that at my office. I don't know any lawyers who do that. There might be a couple of possible exceptions of law firms. When I was a younger attorney, who I strongly suspected that that's what they did.
Giving A Recorded Statement Without A Lawyer
My point is, giving a recorded statement without a lawyer is usually a really really bad idea. Once they have that reported statement, they don't have to send it to me unless they agree to do it. Anytime I present a client for a statement, I always tell them I want a copy of it immediately. Not six months from now, not "oh we lost the recording". I want a recording and your transcription of it. If they won't give me a copy or agree to give me a copy, then I don't present my client for the recorded statement.
When I present somebody for a recorded statement, I prep them. I explain all this to him that this isn't a polite conversation with your best friend. They are trying to save an insurance company money by hurting you, by making sure you don't get any money or they cut off your medical care. They're not your friend, so they can be rude to you during the statement or they can be nice as pie. Don't give a recorded statement. Don't give a recorded statement without representation. They're going to trap you, they're going to hurt your case. Nine out of ten times it hurts your case to do it without being represented.
It Does Not Mean The Case Is Over
It doesn't necessarily mean if you gave a recorded statement that your case is over. A lot of times the adjusters are not very good at asking questions. Which is why they have a template that a lawyer wrote so that they get the "AHA! gotcha questions". But a lot of times it's not fatal to the case, so don't think your case is over just because you gave a recorded statement prior. But definitely let your lawyer know, so that your lawyer can attempt to get it before your case goes into suit or before you give a deposition.
But at the end of the day, you have to keep in mind they're not there to help you. They're there to beat your case, tell their boss that they beat a case and get a promotion or a raise or a bonus. For the corporation, the insurance company, the claims company, that's how they make profits. That's one of the reasons why I'm a lawyer. They screw injured people out of money and they laugh about it. They think it's funny, they know what they're doing and they laugh about it.
I hope that info is valuable to you.
