If you live in Los Angeles, chances are you’ve been involved in a car accident, or know someone who has. In a car-dependent city like LA, car accidents just come with the territory, and insurance companies who refuse to pay for your injuries, are all too common.

Fortunately, “there is a way to turn the tables when insurance companies refuse to pay.” According to Ben Charchian, whose Big Ben Lawyers billboards you may have seen around town, “car insurance companies routinely take advantage of people who don’t know any better by refusing injury claims or trying to settle for pennies on the dollar.” If this happens, Charchian says, “you may be able to force the insurance company to pay you a whole lot more.”

Under the Bad Faith laws in California, insurance companies have a duty to protect their negligent drivers by settling your valid injury claim and not subjecting their negligent drivers to lawsuits. Per Charchian, “if a car insurance company unreasonably refuses to pay your injury claim, or makes you a low-ball offer, you can then file a lawsuit and demand that the negligent driver’s insurance company pay you the full value of your injuries.” Per Charchian, “this is huge leverage because all too often the person who caused your injury does not have enough insurance to fully pay for your injury. So when an insurance company refuses to pay full value for your injuries, when they make you a lowball offer, they risk being held personally responsible to pay above and beyond their negligent driver’s insurance policy.

In one very recent case, “I won my client $100,000 more than the negligent driver’s $250,000 insurance policy (for a total settlement of $350,000) because the negligent driver’s insurance company refused to pay the $250,000 policy when I asked”