Much has written here about the absurdly low offers that have been made by Maryland auto insurance companies to settle cases. The basic math offered by adjusters is often nonsense. They often suggest that the healthcare provider's medical bills are too high without any substantial medical or factual basis.
Sometimes they assert that the support for lost income is inexplicably insufficient. Other times its a " break" in treatment or a preexisting condition made worse by the crash. The most frequent is either all of the above or simply none of the above.
All injury lawyers hear these excuses as State Farm or Geico offer $6000.00 to settle a case with $4000.00 in medical bills knowing full well that once the lawyer is paid 1/3 and the medical bills are paid, there would be literally not a dime for the injured party.
Any discussion pointing this out yields " well that is our analysis". I often mention that the judges and juries never mete out such minimal verdicts, which falls on deaf ears.
So what do you do? FILE SUIT! Many of the insurance carriers use this change in dynamics to reassess cases and often to switch to litigation adjusters, who have more monetary authority or discretion.
I was recently stuck at a $65,000.00 offer where my client wanted $70,000.00. The client authorized me to split the difference and settle for $67,500.00.
Geico's adjuster coudn't get any more authority and we were at impasse until I filed suit and magically $67,500.00 was offered and accepted.
The cost of filing suit is nominal and the benefit routine. For far more of a discussion go to : https://www.maryland-law.com/library/the-devolution-of-maryland-personal-injury-settlement-offers.cfm
