To the uninitiated, Maryland car accident and other personal injury cases have some unusual and unexpected twists. Expectations that you,, despite being an innocent, injured victim. will be proactive in many ways can be disconcerting.
Find a doctor, a car repair shop, a rental car and myriad other tasks await you, Locating the at-fault driver's liability insurer and persuading them to pay the fair value of your property damage and the full period of your rental is far harder than it should be.
All good reasons to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer to maximize your recovery and simplify your life.
In the end whether you represent yourself or hire a lawyer, you won't get paid until you sign a release.
So what is a release? In its simplest form it is a contract embodying terms ( typically financial) of agreement between parties terminating a disagreement or claim. In a car or truck crash, releases typically reflect a payment from a liability insurer to an injured party compensating them for injuries and/or economic consequences because of an accident.
Insurers won't issue a settlement check until such time as a release protecting their at-fault insured and the insurance company is executed.
So what is in a release?
While larger cases often contemplate more complex terms, all releases recite the compensation amount from the liability insurer to the injured party and exculpate the insurer and its insured from any future liability The injured party explicitly gives up any and all lawsuits or claims stemming from the crash or incident described in the release.
All releases require the injured party to sign acknowledging the fact that once they are paid the amount designated in the release, they no longer can pursue the at-fault driver and his insurer for any additional compensation for the crash that gave rise to the claim.
Often releases make clear that no additional inducements have been made beyond the specified payment.
Many releases in larger cases include provisions that the injured party won't disparage the at-fault party or use social media to do so.
Other releases often note that the insurer and its insured are not responsible for any medical bills or liens once the settlement payment is made.
Many companies require releases in which the at-fault company formally denies liability, despite their making payment.
The bottom line is that understanding the substance of the release is a good idea although effectuating changes in standard form release provisions is virtually impossible.
