After An Injury, Is It Okay To Give A Recorded Statement Or Should I Talk To A Lawyer First?

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What is a Recorded Statement?

So what is a recorded statement? A recorded statement is not every time you call the insurance company they have a recorded message saying "this call may be recorded for quality or training purposes" that's not a recorded statement. That's just standard bs they put on the telephone lines now.

A recorded statement is, they have to specifically ask you, "is it okay if we take a recorded statement? okay, I'm going to turn the tape recorder on, is it okay if I'm recording our phone conversation?". That's what a recorded statement is. Then they go on to ask you probably 10 or 20 minutes of questions, or it could go longer than that.

They Will Use It Against You

I always recommend to people that you don't do it. The reason is, they tell you the reason they're doing it is just to get the basic information about what happened in the crash. But listen, I'm gonna tell you something, they will use that recorded statement against you later. And more often than not, it is a phishing expedition by the insurance company to try and get you to say something you don't mean.

I see it all the time when I'm prepping clients for a deposition. You'll ask them, somebody who got hurt in an accident, they're focused on their injuries, they're worried about whether they can go to work, whether they're ever going to be physically back to where they were before. You ask them a simple question and a lot of times they'll say "oh you know what, I don't remember" or "oh maybe it was three o clock " or something like that.

They'll give an answer or they'll say that they don't remember. But then when I prepare them for their deposition, after they think about it a little bit, they change their answer and they give the right answer. I see it happen every deposition I prepare somebody for. Whether it's a major detail or a minor detail.

Do Not Give A Recorded Statement

The problem is, they're not going to give you that opportunity in a recorded statement. Now the insurance company has a recorded statement saying, "you don't remember what street you were on when the crash happened, you don't remember whether the color of the traffic lights was red or green, you don't remember whether there were no cars ahead of you, or four cars ahead of you" things like.

These are just examples. Being on the record of saying you don't remember any of those things can really hurt your case in front of a judge and a jury. They're going to review it and say "okay this is a person who has a real bad memory problem".

So we're not afraid to go to trial against them because they're not going to be able to get on the witness stand and testify. You don't you just don't ever want to give an insurance company a recorded statement without talking to a lawyer first.

They Will Do Everything To Deny The Claim

I'll sometimes present somebody for a recorded statement and I prepare them with the same level of detail as I do a deposition. Insurance companies, they will tell you they're just trying to get the information to evaluate the claim. What they are suggesting to you is, the only information they want to know what street it happened on or what time of day. But the truth is, they're evaluating you, your memory and they're going to go over your story with a fine-tooth comb. And if they find anything to hang their head on they will deny the claim.

Anything they can use to dispute the claim, if they think there's wiggle room, remember their job is to save the insurance company money and not pay you. That's what the recorded statement is all about, and that's why I tell people don't give one.