What Is Fair Value of A Maryland Personal Injury Claim?
The answer to this question can expend on the audience. It goes without saying that the insurance industry as a whole has a much different opinion on the topic than those injured at the hands of a negligent actor. Two things remain true about the valuation of a personal injury case. It is one of... Read more »
How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth? Are Medical Expenses Taken Into Account?
Medical expenses are one variable in the value of any case. They impact the value in a direct sense. A claims adjuster, judge, or juror, at some point will be presented with those bills. The injured person is entitled to collect the amounts paid, in Maryland, regardless of who paid them. However, just because there... Read more »
How Much Will I get for my Baltimore Personal Injury Case?
Of course the most important consideration in any personal injury award is the “in your pocket” number. After attorney fees, litigation costs, outstanding medical balances, and everything else has been accounted for: “How much do you get”? There may be a lot of lip service paid to notions like “it’s not really about the money”,... Read more »
Baltimore Personal Injury Settlements: Can My Attorney Get My Bills Reduced?
One way to increase the amount of money recovered by an injury victim is to decrease the amounts being disbursed to others. Since all disbursements in this context come from the same pot, a decrease in one is necessarily an increase in another. Maryland has a statute that requires some health insurers to reduce their... Read more »
Who Pays My Medical Bills In a Personal Injury Settlement?
Injury victims rightly assume that is the responsibility of the negligent and or at-fault party to fully compensate them for their medical bills and costs, both past and future. As Attorney Eric T. Kirk will tell you. But as between the provider, and the injured person, the injured individual is always going to be responsible for... Read more »
Can I Recover Lost Wages in My Personal injury Settlement?
When an individual is injured in an automobile accident, or injured at the hands of another through an act of negligence, the law permits that person to recovery economic and non-economic losses. As Attorney Eric T. Kirk will tell you. If the individual must lose time at work, do to their injuries, they may recover their... Read more »
How Does Property Damage Affect the Outcome of a Personal Injury Claim?
The notion that there is a correlation between the dollar amount of property damage in a motor vehicle accident and the severity of a personal injury has some logical appeal. If a car’s front end is smashed in, then the occupants would seem to be more likely smashed as well. Even defense attorneys – who... Read more »
Should I Take Pictures Of The Cars After Baltimore Motor Vehicle Accident?
The answer is an unqualified YES. Absolutely. Everyone has a cell phone with a camera now. Obviously, your healthy, safety, and well-being of you and your passengers are paramount. If you have your wits, and your bodily integrity, after a motor vehicle accident, take pictures of: the vehicles the scene any injury stop lights or signs... Read more »
Assumption of the Risk Defense Law in Baltimore Personal Injury Lawsuits
I Attorney Eric T. Kirk discussed the doctrine of contributory negligence in another chapter of this series. A similar concept sometimes asserted as a defense to a personal injury claim is ‘assumption of the risk’. Insurance companies may employ this as an argument during settlement discussion in an attempt to drive down the value of a... Read more »
Do You Have To Communicate With Your Insurance Company After Being Injured in an Auto Accident?
While some car accidents are unpreventable, others result out of someone else’s negligence or recklessness. When injured drivers are involved in the latter, they not only have the stress of dealing with injuries and car damage, but they can also be confused about the course of action they should take to hold the other driver... Read more »
Does A Computer Program Determine the Value of a Personal Injury Case?
The use of settlement software by the insurance industry is a well-kept secret, generally. Allstate, which is believed to still use a specific computer program to arrive at a settlement offer-called Colossus- has been compelled by regulatory authorities to disclose the use of the system. Indeed, they now send you a letter if they stating... Read more »
What Does The Insurance Company Consider A Minor Accident?
It happens every day. A relatively “minor” motor vehicle accident. What is minor to some, may not be minor to others. For the participants, few accidents are minor. Certainly, insurance companies will endeavor to characterize most car accidents as “minor”. When I say minor, I talking about an accident where the involved vehicles are driveable, and no... Read more »
