What You Need To Know Before & After a Car Accident
A car accident can be a frightening interruption to your regular life. Because you may not have been in an accident before, you may not know what to do now. In this article, we have addressed some of the most common questions we hear from our clients who have been injured in a car accident. We will also provide good advice to follow before you get into a car accident – typically regarding your insurance coverage. Whatever your questions, we hope this article answers them. Be sure to read "Our Most Important Advice" on the right side of this page.
However, if y ou have more questions, you can contact us for a free consultation. All consultations for injury cases are free at Andrews, Bongar, Starkey & Clagett. We will be happy to answer your questions even if you do not hire us.
However, we will encourage you to hire an attorney, even if not us, to handle your accident case. The insurance company representing the other side will not look out for your interests. They will work against you. Attorney’s fees for injury cases are paid out of the award you receive. You do not need to pay any money up front. Therefore, there is little risk to hiring an attorney for your accident case. At the end of this article, we will discuss more about how an attorney can help and why you should hire one.
- Can I Make a Claim For Damages?
- How Do I Pay For My Medical Bills & Lost Wages?
- What is PIP? How Do I Get It?
- Does Using PIP or My Own Health Insurance Make My Case Less Valuable?
- What is The Value of My Case? How is It Calculated?
- Do I Have To Pay Taxes On My Settlement?
- How Much Will I Get For My Car?
- Who Actually Pays For My Damages?
- What If The Negligent Driver Had No Insurance, or Had Too Little Insurance To Cover My Damages?
- I Have The Minimum Legal Policy Limits. Is That Enough?
- How Long Do I Have To Make My Claim?
- What is The Process & What Do I Have To Do?
- Will I Have To Go To Court?
- How Much Does It Cost To Hire You For My Accident Case?
- How An Attorney Can Help?
Can I Make a Claim For Damages?
You can make a claim for damages if the accident was caused by someone else, and you are harmed. The other driver must be “negligent.” Generally speaking, a driver is negligent if they do something they should not do, or fail to do something they should do, and that causes an accident. What is and is not negligent can be a complicated legal question. An attorney will be able to tell you if someone was negligent in your particular case. Keep in mind that an accident does not happen by itself. Someone usually causes it, and is therefore negligent.
Your damages consist of property damage (your car and it’s contents) and your personal injuries. You often hear people talk about their “settlement” from an accident case. Everyone refers to their “settlement,” even if they get it after a judgment in Court. The settlement is simply the amount of money paid by the insurance company to cover the damages suffered by the injured person. So your “damages” lead to your “settlement.” Property damage settlements and personal injury settlements are usually handled separately.
How Do I Pay For My Medical Bills & Lost Wages?
Unfortunately, there is no provision requiring the insurance company to pay your medical bills directly, or before your case settles. You get one lump sum at the end designed to compensate you for all that you lost, including medical bills and wages. However, there is insurance available to you through your own car insurance policy to cover your medical bills and lost wages. It is called PIP (Personal Injury Protection) and every driver in Maryland has $2,500 of it unless you waive it in writing. See the next topic for more details.
Whether you have health insurance or not, PIP will pay the first $2500 of your medical bills. It will usually pay a portion of the amount the doctor bills, just like any other health insurance company (they never give the doctor full value). Once your PIP is used up, you must find another way to pay for the medical bills, or your doctor can give you medical care on “credit”, if your attorney promises to pay them from the amount recovered by you in the accident case. Most doctors will do this, but some will not.
If you have health insurance, you should still use PIP first until it is used up. Then you can use your own health insurance for the remaining bills. Your health insurance company will have a lien on your accident case, and you will have to pay them back when your case settles or you get a verdict. This is not true with PIP. So use it first. There are many advantages to using your health insurance instead of asking the doctor for “credit.” You can discuss this with your attorney.
What is PIP? How Do I Get It?
PIP (Personal Injury Protection) is from your own insurance policy. It pays up to $2500 worth of medical bills and lost wages regardless of who is at fault. $2500 is the minimum PIP coverage in Maryland. It is not expensive to get higher limits. We recommend you consider getting $5000 or even $10,000 worth of PIP. Please note you must bring your PIP claim within one year of your accident or it may be denied.
Does Using PIP or My Own Health Insurance
Make My Case Less Valuable?
No. The negligent driver’s insurance policy is still liable for the full value of your medical bills even if PIP or your health insurance pays for them. The same goes for lost wages. Even if you have medical or vacation leave to cover your wages, it is still a damage we will claim in your case.
What is The Value of My Case? How is It Calculated?
The value of your accident case is very hard to tell in the beginning. The value depends on your loss, which we won’t know at the beginning of the case. Damages are generally made up of medical bills, lost wages, out of pocket expenses, and pain & suffering. Pain & suffering is usually the largest category and the hardest one to calculate. Don’t be put off by how “pain and suffering” sounds. It includes your lost personal time and your inconvenience as well as your actual pain. We will not know your medical bills or your pain & suffering until you are finished medical treatment. We will not know your lost wages until you go back to work. If someone promises you dollar amounts before they know your actual damages, they are probably not being honest with you.
After you are finished with medical treatment and back to work, we can give a reasonable estimate of the value of your case. Even then, many other factors come into play. Do you have permanent damages or are you fully recovered? How did the accident happen? The worse the accident, the higher the potential value of the case. Who is the negligent driver? The proverbial little old lady driving to church on Sunday is going to have sympathy from a jury. The drunk coming home from the bar on Saturday night is not.
Probably more important than any other factor is the county in which you must sue. You can only sue in certain locations depending on where your accident happened and where the negligent driver lives. Jurors can be very conservative in some counties and more liberal in others. The same exact accident can have dramatically different outcomes depending on where the case is filed. This may not always seem fair, but it is how the system works. Juries in Maryland are usually more conservative in awarding damages than elsewhere in the country. And if you live in Southern Maryland, you live in one of the more conservative areas of the state. That will affect the value of your case.
That is why it is very important to have a competent, honest lawyer for your personal injury case. The negative stereotype of the greedy, sleazy lawyer is going to hurt the value of your case in this day and age, particularly in front of a conservative jury. Jurors are not going to be fooled, and will punish you if they think you or your attorney are not being honest. Plus an insurance company is not likely to settle with you if they believe your attorney is dishonest.
There are plenty of competent, honest lawyers who handle accident cases (and we definitely put ourselves in that category). You should be sure to choose one of them for your case.
Do I Have To Pay Taxes On My Settlement?
No. Personal injury settlements are not taxable under state or federal laws. Your settlement compensates you for medical bills and pain. That is not “income” to you under IRS definitions. The only exception to this involves money you receive for lost wages. If a jury awards you a certain sum for lost wages, then you have to pay taxes on that part of the award only. This makes sense. You normally pay taxes on your wages, so you should pay taxes on money designed to compensate you for them. You would not normally pay taxes on money given to you for medical bills or pain.
How Much Will I Get For My Car?
Unfortunately, the law does not force the insurance company to give you enough to pay off your car, or even to buy a replacement car. They have to pay you the fair market value of the car in the condition it was in at the time of the accident. This is often known as “blue book value.” However, that value has nothing to do with your loan balance, or the value of your car to you personally. You may have an old clunker that runs, and is therefore very valuable to you. But on the open market, it is only worth a couple hundred dollars.
You should go to a couple of reputable blue book sites on the internet and find out what your car is worth. Kelly Blue Book is probably the best known. Be armed with some knowledge of how much your car is worth before the insurance company starts waving checks at you. Don’t just take the first offer. You can negotiate this settlement like any other. And you have the right to sue over this issue if you need to. However, most people cannot wait the 3-6 months it takes to get a court date and have that resolved. Very few of these suits go to court for that reason.
Who Actually Pays For My Damages?
A negligent driver is subject to civil penalties (meaning money). Maryland, like all states, requires everyone driving a car to have insurance that covers them if they cause an accident because they were negligent. The insurance company must provide that person a lawyer, and will pay for the damages caused in the accident according to the insurance policy. So your damages will almost always be covered by an insurance company.
What If The Negligent Driver Had No Insurance,
or Had Too Little Insurance To Cover My Damages?
Sometimes, the negligent driver has no insurance. It is illegal to drive without it, but some people do it anyway. Sometimes, the driver will have insurance, but it will not be enough to cover the damages caused by a car accident. In Maryland, the minimum amount of insurance required to drive a car is $20,000 per person, and $40,000 per accident no matter how many people are injured. That is ridiculously low.
You should be sure you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage for your own car. This is often called UM or UIM. If the person causing your accident has no insurance (uninsured) or too little insurance (undersinsured) your own policy will make up the difference up to the maximum level of insurance you buy. It is very important to have UM/UIM insurance, and to be sure it is high enough to cover you. Check your policy. And see the next topic for more on our recommendations.
If your accident is caused by a hit and run driver, UM/UIM covers you. These are called “phantom vehicle” cases and are treated as if the driver had no insurance.
I Have The Minimum Legal Policy Limits. Is That Enough?
No! As stated above, the minimum amount of insurance required to drive a car is $20,000 per person, and $40,000 per accident no matter how many people are injured. This is known as a 20/40 policy. In this day and age, with the cost of medical treatment what it is, that is not going to come close to covering you if you cause an accident resulting in even medium sized injuries, much less serious injuries.
This applies to UM/UIM insurance mentioned above. You should be sure to get enough coverage to cover you for a serious injury, if you are hit by someone with the legal state minimum coverage.
Ten or fifteen years ago, most insurers advised you to get a 100/300 policy ($100,000 of coverage per person and $300,000 per accident no matter how many people were injured). With increased medical expenses, this may not cover you today. We recommend you get at least a 250/500 policy. That is $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident. You will almost always be covered by a policy of that size.
Before you decide against paying more for insurance, you should call your car insurance company and see how much it would cost. You may be surprised at how little it is. If you are ever in a serious accident, you will be thankful you did. And while you are at it, ask them about an umbrella policy too. We are not in the business of selling insurance, but we do believe advising you to make sure you are covered is sound legal advice.
Why bother? Because if the injured person cannot get satisfaction from your insurance coverage, they get the excess amount from you personally. If you have a 20/40 policy, and cause an accident where the damages are $100,000 for one person, then you will have to pay $80,000 out of your own pocket ($100,000 damages minus $20,000 coverage). That can be financially ruinous, and you may have to file for bankruptcy.
How Long Do I Have To Make My Claim?
This is very important. You must file your case in Court before a certain date set by the “statute of limitations.” The normal statute of limitations for injury claims in Maryland is 3 years. That can be shorter or longer depending on the case. For example, you must make a claim against a government, including county and city governments, within 180 days. If the injury is to a minor child, the statute of limitations is 3 years from their 18th birthday. That can be a long time down the road. If you do not file your case by the statute of limitations, your claim will be forever lost.
You really should consult a lawyer for your car accident case sooner rather than later, but do not ever wait until the last minute. And if you want to try and settle your case, you should do so way before the statute of limitations runs out.
What is The Process & What Do I Have To Do?
The first step is to retain an attorney, as we noted at the beginning and will discuss at the end. We strongly recommend you see an attorney before talking about the accident or your injuries to the other driver’s insurance company. We will probably let you discuss property damage issues (repair of your car), but prefer you speak with us first before doing that as well. Again, if you do not hire us, hire another competent, honest attorney. At least seek advice during the free consultation we and most other lawyers offer for accident cases.
In a nutshell, the process is: (1) you get medical care and get well; (2) we get all the documentation we need (police report, medical records & bills, proof of lost income); (3) when you are released from your doctor’s care, we send a demand to the insurance company; and (4) we negotiate for a fair settlement. If that is not possible, we file suit and your case will be litigated. It may still settle before trial, or it may go to trial and a judgment will be rendered by the jury.
In the beginning, your will have two jobs (1) you must follow doctor’s orders and get well soon, and (2) you must keep us informed about your progress and medical treatment. That is it. We will gather the medical records, the medical bills, and your lost wage information. We will get the police report, and hire someone to investigate the accident if we think we need to. We will put together the demand and negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company.
If we cannot settle your case, then we will have to file suit and litigate your case. You will have to do more work then. You will have to help us answer written questions about you (called interrogatories) and gather additional documents (like tax returns). You will probably have to sit for a deposition. We will be there to protect you during it. Then you may have to be a witness at your trial. All of this takes work on your part that is unavoidable. In fact, the outcome of your case will depend on how helpful you are during this stage.
Will I Have To Go To Court?
That depends on the settlement offered by the insurance company. Most of our clients receive a reasonable settlement offer prior to trial. But sometimes the insurance company is not willing to be reasonable and a trial is necessary. There may also be a signficant dispute as to who caused the accident and how. Or, there may be a dispute about the amount of medical treatment you received. Many things can cause a case to go to trial, and it is impossible to predict whether or not your case will.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire You For My Accident Case?
Nothing. We take our fee from the amount you get in settlement or recover in trial. This is known as a “contingency fee.” Our fee is contingent on your recovery. We put up the money for all of the costs in your case as well, and get reimbursed out of your recovery.
How An Attorney Can Help?
We definitely recommend you retain an attorney to help you with your car accident case. Of course, we hope you will choose us. But if not, retain another competent, honest attorney to handle your case. The insurance company has deep pockets and heavy resources they will use against you. They will act in their own best interests, and their interests are to pay you as little as possible. This is true no matter how nice they are treating you now.
For better or for worse, our legal system is an adversarial system. That means the two parties are on opposite sides of the fence, and must battle it out to get to the truth. That means the insurance company is on the opposite side of the fence from you. You need someone on your side to assist in getting a fair settlement for your injury.
We firmly believe that the insurance company will never give you as much for your case if you do not have an attorney. We have been handling personal injury cases for over 30 years. We have the experience to guide you through the process and get a fair settlement for your case. If your case needs to go to trial, we are experienced litigators. There can be a lot at stake in a personal injury case, so it pays to have a professional on your side.
As we discussed before, we offer a free consultation for your accident case. If you want one, please call us at your convenience, or use the form on this site to contact us and we will call you. Feel free to do whatever is most convenient for you.
We hope this article has been helpful and answered your questions. Whether you choose us or another attorney, we wish you a quick recovery from your injuries.
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Our Most Important Advice
The information on this site is general legal information and should not be considered legal advice which pertains to your specific situation. Effective legal advice depends on understanding the unique facts of your particular situation, and applying the law to these facts. Please don’t think that reading this information makes you a lawyer. This information is no substitute for hiring an attorney.
The act of reading or using this information does not constitute an attorney-client relationship between yourself and this firm. The only way to form that relationship is to meet with an attorney and sign a retainer agreement. Until then, no attorney-client relationship exists.
We hope the information on this site helps you understand your legal problem. We ultimately hope you will hire our firm to represent you. If you do not, we strongly encourage you to seek another lawyer for advice in any legal issue you encounter. If you represent yourself in any serious legal matter, you are playing with fire. And you could easily make your situation much worse. At the very least, seek a meeting with a lawyer for a consultation. Most attorneys charge a small consultation fee for meeting with them to discuss your legal problem and seek advice. That is money well spent.
We practice in Maryland, and this information is based on Maryland law. The free legal information on this site strictly pertains to Maryland. If you are not in Maryland, stop now. Your state’s law is probably different. See a lawyer familiar with your state’s law.
