HOUSEHOLD SERVICE AND ATTENDANT CARE FORMS: FILL THEM AS YOU GO!

As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, insurance companies are becoming increasingly investigative when it comes to auto accident claims. They attempt to find any minute misrepresentation and use it to dismiss a whole case. This has been the prevalent since the decision came down in Bahri v. IDS.

In Bahri, it’s important to remember that the Court decided that a whole first party case could be dismissed because of a misrepresentation in one aspect of the claim. Specifically in the case, the Plaintiff submitted inaccurate household service forms. Therefore, insurance companies naturally attempt to find misrepresentations in both household service and attendant care forms.

On the other hand, keeping up with these forms can be difficult. Often times, an injured person has enough to think about in the day, and their service provider is so busy, that they do not have the time to fill out the forms daily. It is extremely important, however, to make time to fill them out as you go. With the current legal landscape, the forms should be as accurate as possible. Even if your service provider records the services on his or her phone and later converts that to the submission forms, that is much better than waiting till the end of the month and trying to recall what you did every day.

The reason why it’s so important is because insurance companies are increasing surveillance on claimants. They may even have an investigator follow a claimant for a full day. Therefore, if they are able to find an inconsistency on your form, they may have a way to rid your whole claim. When in doubt, do not fill out a form for that day. Especially when it comes to household services, losing $20 for that day is better than losing your entire claim. Therefore, as the title says, fill the forms out as you go!