"personal injury protection"

Published on: March 23, 2018

WHY SHOULD I USE MY INSURANCE WHEN I WASN’T AT FAULT?

P1010814-300x225 Insurance is an interesting thing. You pay regularly (monthly, or semi-annually) to protect your family when they get hurt, and to protect other people that you may accidentally hurt. However, many of our clients are steadfast in their efforts to avoid using their own car insurance at any cost, fearing an increase in their insurance rates. What’s the point of having insurance if you don’t use it when you need it?

We understand the gut reaction—if I wasn’t at fault, why should my insurance pay? There are three situations where you should go through your insurance policy. Most importantly, you should know that your insurance company is not allowed to raise your premiums when you take advantage of these policies.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

Published on: March 5, 2018

WHERE DOES THE MONEY FROM MY CAR ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT GO?

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Total-Loss-11-26-11 When an auto case settles, or after the judge or jury give a verdict in your favor, the insurance company will send your lawyers a check. Your lawyers will ask your permission to sign your name to the check, and they will deposit it in an escrow account. The escrow account is one of the safest, most regulated parts of lawyering. Lawyers can lose their ability to practice law if they don’t handle the escrow account exactly right. It is a near-sacred duty to the client.

After that, the lawyer will need to disburse the money to everyone who is entitled to part of it. You can see a sample settlement and disbursement form here: Settlement & Disbursement (03-05-18). In general, the money goes three places: to you, to your lawyer, and to the other people (usually medical providers or health insurance companies) who are still owed money. Let’s run through a sample distribution.

Let’s say your case settles for $300,000.00. The amount of money your lawyers get is determined by your contract with them—by the retainer agreement (sample here: Retainer (Form-Auto)(03-04-18)) you signed. Most lawyers have the same fee agreement for settled cases—they get 1/3 (or 33.33%) of the total gross settlement. (If you are active military or a veteran, let us know—as part of our appreciation, we cut our fee percentage!) In our example, 1/3 of $300,000 is $100,000. Sounds like a lot, and it is. The question to ask yourself is, without your lawyers, would you have received as good of a verdict? If you hire cut-rate lawyers, would you still do as well?

Published on: April 28, 2014

Value of Your Maryland Auto Accident Case, Part 7: Health Insurance and Medical Reductions

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Payment of your medical bills is an important issue in a Maryland automobile collision case. There are a few possibilities:

You pay out-of-pocket
You pay with health insurance, Medicare or Medical Assistance
You pay with PIP (personal injury protection)
You don’t pay, and the bills are still outstanding
Some combination of these

The reason payment of medical bills is important is that you will get one dollar in your pocket for every dollar already paid, after taking into account case fees and attorney expenses.

Also, there is a rule in Maryland called collateral source. This means that the negligent driver’s insurance company cannot avoid paying your medical bills at settlement simply because those bills have already been paid by PIP, health insurance, or any other source. If the bills are reasonable and caused by the accident, a negligent driver is typically going to have to pay for them. There are good policy reasons behind this–the negligent driver should be punished, and should not receive the benefit of your preparation. If you pay health insurance premiums, and that reduces your medical expenses, it would be unfair for the defendant to reap the advantages.

Published on: April 24, 2014

Value of Your Maryland Auto Accident Case, Part 6: Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Personal injury protection (PIP) is insurance that comes from the car you are in when you are hurt. It is sometimes referred to as no fault, and if you have PIP coverage it will provide benefits regardless of whether you caused the accident, or the accident was caused by someone else. It is also quick–in most cases, you can start to recover money from a PIP policy within 30 days after you submit the documents to the insurance company. Those documents might include an application, lost wage statements from your supervisor, medical records and medical bills.

PIP App (04-23-14).png

How do I know if I have PIP?

In most cases, if you are driving your own car, and you have insurance coverage, your insurance company will provide you with PIP benefits.

Published on: March 18, 2013

Collateral Source: Double-Recovery for Car Accidents

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Car Accident (2 people)(11-22-11).jpg Maryland has a rule called collateral source. This is an important part of making sure auto accident victims get full value for their claims. It is the reason that accident victims can recover for medical expenses and lost wages through their personal injury protection (PIP) insurance (see our webpage here, and a recent blog post here) and, at the same, recover for those losses from the negligent driver’s insurance company.

Here’s why it matters: let’s assume a car accident results in a hospital visit, some x-rays, and a couple of weeks of physical therapy. The total medical bills are $2,000, and the lost wages are $250. If the auto accident victim has $2,500 in PIP insurance, all of those medical expenses would be paid, and 85% of the lost wages would be reimbursed ($212.50). Then, the auto accident victim could recover full losses from the negligent driver’s insurance company, getting $2,250 for the medical expenses and lost wages, and some other amount for noneconomic damages (pain, suffering, inconvenience, etc…).

Let’s say the total settlement was a very modest $5,000. With PIP, the victim would recover a total of $3,545.83 after payment of all attorneys’ fees (at 33.33%) and medical expenses (and including the lost wages paid through PIP). Without PIP, the victim would only recover $1,333.33, more than $2,000 difference.

Published on: March 16, 2013

Talk to your insurance adjuster, raise your PIP

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Crash (2 vehicles).jpg We recommend that all of our clients get as much Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance as they can–it’s inexpensive, and it makes a huge difference in your Maryland auto accident case.

PIP is a type of no-fault insurance. In exchange for a small premium, it pays medical expenses and a portion of lost wages for the driver, passenger and pedestrians who are in an accident. Because of Maryland’s collateral source rule, auto accident victims can recover for these medical expenses and lost wages twice–once through their own automobile insurance, and once from the negligent driver’s insurance.

Most Maryland insurance policies are set for the default $2,500. That means the most any one person can recover is $2,500 for incurred lost wages and medical expenses. In exchange for slightly (barely perceptible) reduced premiums, drivers can waive PIP (there are very specific rules about the form of the waiver, and improper waivers are ineffective).