Legal Question in Personal Injury in Maryland

Re: personal injury settlement

If I understood correctly, you still have yet to recover from your injuries, and are still in therapy. So it's really premature to try and place a value on the settlement of your claim. Remember that once you settle, you can't come back later and ask for more if it turns out that your injuries are more serious and long lasting than you thought they would be.

You need to wait until your doctor releases you from care and tells you he/she thinks you've made either a full recovery, or that you've made as good a recovery as medical treatment permits, but will have some lingering problems. This is known as a permanent injury, and would be a significant factor in evaluating your case for settlement purposes. Additionally, if you haven't fully recovered after a reasonable amount of therapy, a specialist exam--such as by a neurologist--or another diagnostic study--such as an MRI--may be in order.

Finally, it's been my experience in handling these kinds of cases for 27 years that insurance adjusters rarely make "fair" compensation offers to unrepresented claimants. I've had many clients in your situation who come to me after receiving an initial offer they find unsatisfactory. Almost invariably, the final outcome I was able to achieve for them resulted in a larger settlement net to them than they would have received from that initial offer--even taking my fee into account. So you're well advised to retain experienced personal injury counsel before you try to negotiate with an insurance adjuster, whose only objective is to give you as little as possible of the insurance company's money.

Re: personal injury settlement

It would be very difficult to estimate the amount of a "reasonable" settlement amount without further discussion and information, including some personal interaction.

I am sure that your friend, the adjuster, will also confirm that adjusters are very specially trained to negotiate the smallest payments possible. In order to combat that, you really need to consult with legal counsel who can identify the best way to present your case to the insurance company. Many times, a trained professional can present a case in a fashion that will elicit a substantially higher offer than would be obtained otherwise.

In all likelihood, you would do best to retain experienced counsel to assist with this part of the negotiations -- the fees will almost certainly pay for themselves in the increased amount of settlement that you'll be able to obtain.

Please feel free to give me a call if you'd like to chat as follow-up.

(I'm in the office today at extension 301-220-200 x 112) make sure to dial the extension if you call. On regular bus. days or if I'm not in teh office, use extension 212.

Re: personal injury settlement

One thing is certain, insurance adjusters "adjust" claims, that is they lower them. Without an attorney, you are unlikely to be able to present your case for an optimal recovery or to be able to counter the offer to settle. A settlement of $8,000 may be reasonable, then again it may be much too low. I recently settled an auto injury case where the claim settlement increased by $10,000 over the initial offer of the insurance company.

The fact is that most people do not beleive that an attorney can help them better settle their claim until after they have botched it up. Then they complain that the attorney wants to be paid more to correct this by taking the matter to court.

I am available to assist you with acquiring a settlement on this matter. A contingency fee agreement is required. Please feel free to contact me at (410) 799-9002.

G. Joseph Holthaus III, Esq.