Insurance adjusters have one job: pay you as little as possible for your injuries. Even when their policyholder causes a serious accident in St. Louis, insurance companies use proven tactics to minimize, delay, or deny your claim. The Dixon Injury Firm’s award-winning legal team has recovered over $60 million for injury victims by fighting back against these strategies and holding insurers accountable.
The Dixon Injury Firm has taken on some of the largest insurance companies in Missouri and won—including recovering $30 million in a single wrongful death case. Attorney Chris Dixon lives in St. Louis and raises his family here, so when we fight for you, we’re fighting for our neighbors. We know every trick insurers use because we’ve seen them thousands of times. Call (314) 208-2808 today for a free consultation—you pay nothing unless we win.
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Insurance companies operate on a business model known as “deny, delay, defend.” This three-part approach has been documented in industry communications and legal proceedings across the country, including right here in Missouri.
Deny means the insurer looks for any reason to reject your claim outright. They’ll argue their policyholder wasn’t at fault, question whether your injuries are real, or claim you’re not entitled to compensation. Even when liability is clear—like a rear-end collision on Highway 40 or a slip and fall on documented ice—adjusters start from a position of denial.
Delay means dragging out the claims process as long as possible. Insurance companies know that injured victims face mounting medical bills, lost wages, and financial pressure. The longer they wait, the more desperate you become to accept whatever they offer. They’ll request endless documentation, take weeks to respond to communications, and create bureaucratic obstacles at every turn.
Defend means forcing you into litigation and spending more on lawyers than they would on fair settlements. Many insurers bet that injured victims can’t afford to fight a long legal battle. They have teams of attorneys on retainer and unlimited resources to wear you down.
The Dixon Injury Firm has fought this strategy successfully for 25+ years of combined experience. We’ve recovered over $60 million by refusing to back down when insurers use these tactics against St. Louis car accident victims, truck accident survivors, and others injured by negligence.
One of the most common tactics happens within days of your accident. An adjuster contacts you quickly—sometimes before you’ve even finished treatment—with a settlement offer. They’ll present it as generous, fair, and immediate. They’ll emphasize that you can have a check in hand within days if you just sign their release.
This is almost always a lowball offer designed to close your claim before you understand the full extent of your injuries. Many accident injuries don’t manifest immediately. Soft tissue injuries, herniated discs, and traumatic brain injuries can take days or weeks to show symptoms. By getting you to settle early, insurers avoid paying for complications, ongoing treatment, or long-term effects.
Early settlement offers rarely account for:
Once you sign a release and accept payment, you cannot reopen your claim—even if you discover serious injuries later. Missouri law treats settlements as final agreements, and insurers know this.
Never accept an insurance settlement without consulting a St. Louis personal injury lawyer first. Our team reviews settlement offers at no cost to you and can quickly tell you whether the amount is fair. Contact The Dixon Injury Firm at (314) 208-2808 for a free case evaluation before you sign anything.
Shortly after your accident, the at-fault party’s insurance company will likely contact you requesting a recorded statement. They’ll present this as a routine part of the claims process—just a quick conversation to get the facts.
This is a trap.
Insurance adjusters are trained interrogators who know how to get you to say things that hurt your claim. They’ll ask leading questions, press you on timeline details when you’re still injured and traumatized, and record every word you say. Then they’ll use your statement against you.
Common recorded statement tactics include:
You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. Missouri law does not obligate you to cooperate with the at-fault party’s insurer beyond providing basic information.
If the adjuster is from your own insurance company—for an uninsured motorist claim or first-party coverage—you typically do have a duty to cooperate. However, you still have the right to have an attorney present during any recorded statement.
Before you speak to any insurance adjuster, contact The Dixon Injury Firm. We can handle all communications with insurers, protecting you from these tactics while you focus on recovery.
Insurance adjusters routinely ask injury victims to sign medical authorization forms. They explain that they need access to your medical records to process your claim. What they don’t explain is that their authorization forms often grant access to your entire medical history—not just records related to your accident.
These overly broad authorizations let insurance companies search for anything in your medical past they can use against you:
Missouri law allows you to provide medical records related to your claim without signing away access to your entire medical history. You control what the insurance company sees, and they must justify why any particular record is relevant.
The Dixon Injury Firm carefully manages what medical information insurers receive. We provide documentation that supports your claim while protecting your privacy and preventing fishing expeditions through your medical past.
Never sign a blanket medical authorization from an insurance company. Have our team review it first—call (314) 208-2808 for guidance.
If your claim involves significant damages, insurance companies may hire private investigators to conduct surveillance. They’ll follow you, photograph your activities, and video your daily routine looking for anything that contradicts your injury claims.
They’re hoping to catch you doing something—lifting groceries, playing with your kids, mowing your lawn—that they can present as evidence you’re not really injured. Even if these activities cause you significant pain or represent rare moments of attempted normalcy, insurers will use isolated footage to argue you’re exaggerating.
Even more common is social media monitoring. Insurance adjusters and their investigators routinely search Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn for posts, photos, and check-ins they can use against you. That photo of you smiling at a family gathering? They’ll claim you’re not experiencing pain and suffering. That check-in at the gym? They’ll argue your back injury isn’t serious.
Protect yourself by:
If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, pedestrian collision, or slip and fall, be especially cautious about your online presence during your claim.
Insurance companies don’t just question your injuries—they question your treatment. Even when doctors recommend specific care, adjusters will argue that treatment was unnecessary, excessive, or unrelated to the accident.
Common treatment disputes include:
Insurers employ nurses and doctors as consultants who review your medical records and provide opinions that treatment wasn’t necessary. These “independent medical examiners” are paid by insurance companies and produce opinions favorable to their clients more than 90% of the time.
Missouri law requires insurance companies to pay for reasonable and necessary medical treatment caused by their policyholder’s negligence. What’s “reasonable” and “necessary” is determined by medical standards and your treating physician’s recommendations—not by insurance company consultants who never examined you.
The Dixon Injury Firm works with your medical providers to document the necessity of every aspect of your treatment. When insurers challenge your care, we bring in medical experts who testify about appropriate treatment standards. We’ve successfully recovered compensation for treatment ranging from emergency care after truck accidents to ongoing therapy for traumatic brain injuries.
Don’t let insurance adjusters second-guess your doctors. Contact our team at (314) 208-2808 to protect your right to necessary medical care.
If you had any previous injury, illness, or medical condition, insurance companies will try to blame your current symptoms on that pre-existing condition rather than the accident.
Had back pain five years ago? They’ll claim your current herniated disc is from that old injury, not the rear-end collision last month. Previous knee surgery? They’ll argue your knee pain is from arthritis, not from being struck as a pedestrian.
This tactic is legally flawed. Missouri law follows the “eggshell plaintiff” doctrine, which holds that defendants take victims as they find them. If you had a pre-existing condition that made you more vulnerable to injury, the at-fault party is still responsible for the full extent of harm they caused—even if a healthier person would have been injured less severely.
Additionally, if an accident aggravates or worsens a pre-existing condition, the at-fault party is liable for that aggravation. You don’t have to be in perfect health before an accident to deserve compensation.
The Dixon Injury Firm works with medical experts who can distinguish between pre-existing conditions and new injuries caused by accidents. We obtain your prior medical records proactively and have doctors explain exactly how the accident caused or worsened your current condition. Our award-winning team knows how to counter this common defense tactic.
Missouri follows pure comparative fault under RSMo § 537.765, which means your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you’re found 30% responsible for an accident, you can only recover 70% of your damages.
Insurance companies exploit this law by arguing you share fault even in cases where liability seems clear. They’ll claim:
Every percentage point of fault they can assign to you reduces what they pay. If your case is worth $100,000 and they can argue you were 20% at fault instead of 0% at fault, they save $20,000.
Comparative fault is determined by evidence—police reports, witness statements, accident reconstruction, traffic camera footage, and expert testimony. The Dixon Injury Firm has 25+ years of combined experience gathering and presenting evidence that accurately establishes fault. We don’t let insurance companies shift blame to injured victims who did nothing wrong.
Insurance adjusters treat unrepresented accident victims very differently than those with attorneys. They know that people without legal representation:
Studies consistently show that injury victims who hire attorneys recover significantly more compensation than those who handle claims themselves—even after legal fees. Insurance companies know this too, which is why they rush to settle before you consult a lawyer.
The moment you hire The Dixon Injury Firm, the insurance company’s approach changes. They know we’ve recovered over $60 million for clients. They know we’re recognized as Super Lawyers® and Top 100 Trial Lawyers. They know we’ve beaten major insurance companies in court, and they know we’re not afraid to take cases to trial when they refuse fair settlements.
Attorney Chris Dixon is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, representing the top 1% of trial lawyers in America. When insurance companies see our firm representing you, they know they’re facing experienced advocates who won’t accept lowball offers.
Hiring The Dixon Injury Firm immediately protects you from insurance company tactics:
We handle all communications. You don’t speak to adjusters, don’t give recorded statements, and don’t respond to document requests. Every contact goes through our office, eliminating opportunities for insurers to trick you into damaging statements.
We accurately value your claim. Our team has been exposed to thousands of personal injury cases throughout Missouri. We know what cases are worth based on the severity of injuries, available insurance coverage, jurisdiction, and jury verdict trends. We won’t let you settle for less than fair compensation.
We gather comprehensive evidence. We obtain police reports, medical records, employment documentation, witness statements, and expert opinions that support every element of your claim. We document your injuries through medical providers who understand how to create records that stand up to insurance scrutiny.
We negotiate from strength. Insurance companies know we’re willing to file lawsuits and take cases to trial. Our track record of courtroom victories gives us leverage during settlement negotiations. We’ve recovered $2.75 million in a premises liability case, $2 million in a commercial bus crash, and numerous seven-figure settlements because insurers know we’ll fight.
We work on contingency. You pay nothing upfront and owe nothing unless we recover compensation for you. We advance all case costs and only get paid when you get paid. This means you have the same legal resources as the insurance companies without any financial risk.
Whether you were injured in a dog bite attack, a drunk driving collision, or a workplace accident, our team knows how to counter every insurance company tactic and secure the compensation you deserve.
Don’t face insurance adjusters alone. Call (314) 208-2808 for a free consultation with our award-winning legal team.
Watch for these warning signs that an insurance company is using tactics to devalue your claim:
Quick contact and settlement pressure. If an adjuster reaches out within hours or days of your accident pushing for an immediate settlement, they’re trying to close your claim before you understand your injuries.
Friendly adjuster act. If the adjuster seems overly sympathetic and positions themselves as being “on your side” or “just trying to help,” remember they work for the insurance company and their job is to minimize what you receive.
Requests for excessive documentation. If you’re asked to provide records, forms, and authorizations that seem unrelated to your accident, the insurer is looking for information to use against you.
Settlement offers before maximum medical improvement. Any offer made before your doctor says you’ve recovered as much as you’re going to recover (MMI) is premature. The insurer is betting your injuries are worse than they know.
Unreturned calls and delayed responses. If the adjuster was communicative at first but now takes days or weeks to respond, they’re using the “delay” part of deny-delay-defend to pressure you.
Blame-shifting language. If the adjuster suggests you were partially at fault or questions your version of events, they’re setting up a comparative fault defense.
Disputes about treatment. If the insurer questions whether your medical care was necessary, they’re trying to reduce what they owe for your bills.
If you’re seeing any of these red flags, contact The Dixon Injury Firm immediately at (314) 208-2808. Our team can step in, stop the insurance company tactics, and get your claim back on track.
While the best protection is hiring an experienced St. Louis personal injury attorney, you can also take these steps immediately after an accident:
Limit communication. Provide only basic information to the at-fault party’s insurance company—name, contact information, and that an accident occurred. Do not discuss injuries, fault, or details. Politely tell them you’ll provide further information through your attorney.
Don’t give recorded statements. You have no obligation to provide a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer. If it’s your own insurance company, tell them you want your attorney present.
Don’t sign anything. Don’t sign medical authorizations, settlement releases, or any other documents without having an attorney review them first.
Preserve evidence. Take photos of your injuries, damage to your vehicle or property, and the accident scene. Save medical bills and records. Document your symptoms and how injuries affect your daily life.
Follow medical advice. Attend all appointments, follow your doctor’s treatment recommendations, and don’t miss physical therapy or other prescribed care. Gaps in treatment let insurers argue you weren’t really injured.
Control your social media. Make accounts private and don’t post about your accident, injuries, activities, or case.
Document conversations. Keep notes of every conversation with insurance adjusters—date, time, who you spoke with, and what was discussed.
These steps help protect your claim, but they’re no substitute for legal representation. The Dixon Injury Firm offers free consultations, so there’s no reason to face insurance companies alone.
Insurance companies have unlimited resources, teams of lawyers, and decades of experience minimizing claims. You need a law firm with the experience and track record to fight back effectively.
$60+ million recovered. Our award-winning team has successfully recovered over $60 million for injury victims throughout Missouri and Illinois, including a $30 million wrongful death verdict, a $12 million wrongful death settlement, and a $2.75 million premises liability recovery.
Recognized legal excellence. Attorney Chris Dixon is recognized as a Super Lawyers® honoree for 2024-2025, a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers Association, and a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum—representing the top 1% of trial lawyers in America.
We’ve beaten the biggest insurance companies. Our firm has successfully litigated against major insurers and corporations throughout Missouri. Insurance companies know our reputation, and they know we’ll take cases to trial when they refuse fair settlements.
True St. Louis roots. Chris Dixon doesn’t just work in St. Louis—he lives here and raises his family here. His children attend local schools. When we represent you, we’re representing our neighbors, our friends, and our fellow St. Louisans. This community matters to us because it’s our home.
Personalized attention. You’ll work directly with your attorney, not just paralegals or support staff. We provide individualized legal strategies tailored to your specific circumstances.
No fee unless we win. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing upfront and owe nothing unless we recover compensation for you. We advance all case costs so you can fight insurance companies without financial risk.
The Dixon Injury Firm has the experience, resources, and commitment to counter every insurance company tactic and secure the maximum compensation available for your injuries. We treat your case with the seriousness it deserves because we understand that your recovery, your finances, and your future are at stake.
Contact our St. Louis office today at (314) 208-2808 for a free, no-obligation consultation. Let our award-winning team fight the insurance companies so you can focus on healing.
Almost never. First settlement offers are typically lowball amounts designed to close your claim before you understand the full extent of your injuries. Insurance adjusters know that many injuries take days or weeks to fully manifest, and they want you to settle before complications arise. Contact The Dixon Injury Firm at (314) 208-2808 before accepting any settlement offer so we can review whether it’s fair based on your injuries and damages.
No. You have no legal obligation to provide a recorded statement to the at-fault party’s insurance company. These recorded statements are used to trap you into saying things that hurt your claim. If your own insurance company requests a statement for uninsured motorist coverage or first-party benefits, you typically do have a duty to cooperate, but you have the right to have your attorney present during that statement.
Not without your authorization. Insurance companies often ask you to sign broad medical authorization forms that grant access to your entire medical history, but Missouri law only requires you to provide records related to your injury claim. Never sign a blanket medical authorization without having an attorney review it first. Our firm carefully controls what medical information insurers receive to protect your privacy while supporting your claim.
Missouri follows pure comparative fault law, meaning your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. Insurance companies aggressively argue that injury victims share fault because every percentage point they assign to you reduces what they pay. The Dixon Injury Firm gathers evidence to accurately establish fault and prevent insurers from unfairly shifting blame to you. Even if you do share some fault, you can still recover compensation under Missouri law.
Fair settlement amounts depend on the severity of your injuries, available insurance coverage, strength of liability evidence, and specific case circumstances. The Dixon Injury Firm has been exposed to thousands of personal injury cases throughout Missouri and can quickly evaluate whether an offer represents fair compensation. We offer free case evaluations, so there’s no risk in having us review any settlement proposal before you accept it.
Yes. Insurance adjusters and investigators routinely monitor social media looking for posts, photos, or check-ins they can use to argue you’re not really injured or are exaggerating your damages. Make all social media accounts private immediately after an accident, don’t post about your case or injuries, and avoid photos that could be misinterpreted. Assume anything you post online will be seen by the insurance company.
You can still recover full compensation for injuries caused by the accident. Missouri law follows the “eggshell plaintiff” doctrine, meaning defendants are liable for the full extent of harm they cause even if you had pre-existing conditions that made you more vulnerable. If the accident aggravated or worsened a pre-existing condition, the at-fault party is responsible for that aggravation. Insurance companies will try to blame pre-existing conditions, but our medical experts can distinguish between old conditions and new accident-related injuries.
Nothing upfront, and nothing unless we win. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning our fees come from the settlement or verdict we recover for you. You pay no retainer, no hourly charges, and nothing out of pocket. We advance all case costs including expert witnesses, court filing fees, and investigation expenses. You only owe us anything if we successfully recover compensation for your injuries.
If an insurance company wrongfully denies your valid claim, The Dixon Injury Firm can file a lawsuit to hold them accountable. We’ve successfully litigated against major insurance companies throughout Missouri and have recovered over $60 million for clients. Insurance companies sometimes deny claims hoping you’ll give up, but we have the resources and experience to fight denials through litigation when necessary.
Missouri’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is five years from the date of injury under RSMo § 516.120. However, wrongful death claims have a three-year deadline under RSMo § 537.100. While five years may seem like plenty of time, evidence disappears, witnesses’ memories fade, and insurance companies use delays against you. Contact The Dixon Injury Firm as soon as possible after your accident to protect your rights and preserve evidence supporting your claim.
Many personal injury law factories get as many clients in the door as possible, hoping one will be the jackpot. Not us. At The Dixon Injury Firm, we’re highly selective about our cases because we devote considerable time and attention to each client.
