Suppose you are injured in a car accident in Baltimore, the other driver is quick to admit fault, and offers to write you a check to cover your damages. What do you do? Though it might be tempting to take the check, could saying yes to a quick fix make you lose much more than you gain?
While damages will vary on a case-by-case basis, they almost always amount to more than an insurance company is willing to offer you in a settlement or an at-fault driver offers at the scene. Accepting checks from at-fault parties is inadvisable, as this person may give you a void check or false information. With no police report or insurance claim, there will be no way to contact the driver and receive your compensation. Our lawyers will only advise you to accept settlements after calculating your damages so you know your true deserved recovery and do not end up with an unfair payout that doesn’t cover your losses.
Call the car accident lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291 for a free case assessment.
Risks of Accepting Checks from at-Fault Drivers or Insurance Companies After Accidents
It’s important to remember who is in your corner after a Maryland car accident. That’s certainly not the other driver or their insurance company, as initial payouts might be much lower than your total damages. Insurance companies generally only care about one thing – their bottom lines, while our attorneys can prioritize your recovery, even if that means filing a lawsuit and going to court.
Checks from at-Fault Drivers
After a fender-bender or other accident without major property damage, an at-fault driver might offer to write you a check or give you cash to cover some damages instead of going through insurance. This is inadvisable for several reasons, namely that you will not know the extent of property damage or the severity of your injuries immediately after the crash. Furthermore, this could lead to insufficient documentation of the collision, as there might not be a corresponding police report or insurance claim regarding the accident. If you accept any money from the at-fault driver at the scene and realize your injuries are far more serious and require more compensation, filing a lawsuit could become more difficult.
Always call the police after accidents ending in property damage or injury. Offering to write a check instead of involving the police could be a tactic to avoid liable for your potentially much greater damages, so don’t accept.
Payouts from Insurance Companies
Car insurance company claims adjusters (the employees in charge of settling at-fault car accident claims) are looking out for their own best interests, not those of claimants. Keep this in mind during all communications with insurance companies following a car accident, and let our lawyers handle correspondence during your case.
When insurance claims adjusters call to make settlement offers, payouts are typically low and don’t compare to what victims may recover through lawsuits. This is especially true if the other driver was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, distracted, using a handheld mobile device (an action that’s illegal in Maryland), or otherwise being negligent behind the wheel. Generally speaking, it’s not in a victim’s best interest to accept a quick settlement offer from an insurance company before speaking with our Baltimore accident attorneys and confirming how much their claim is worth.
We can make an honest and accurate valuation of your claim after reviewing all economic and non-economic damages since the accident. This includes your property damage, medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Insurance companies typically don’t compensate victims for their non-economic damages, so accepting a quick payout could leave those harms uncovered.
If you accept a settlement from an at-fault driver’s insurance company, you may be unable to seek further damages in a lawsuit if you realize your losses are greater, which our attorneys can help avoid when handling your case.
Estimating Your Deserved Damages from an at-Fault Driver After an Accident
Odds are that a check from the faulty driver won’t come close to the damages you could recover after a bad accident. An insurance company check may come closer, but it still may not compensate you fully for your damages – especially if you suffered temporary or permanent disability. It takes a personal injury claim to delve into these losses and attempt to put a dollar amount to the various damages you’ve suffered in a car accident. On top of intangible losses, you need fair and just funds to compensate you for temporary or permanent disability.
Economic Damages
Economic damages typically include costs of lost wages and capacity to earn income, medical treatments, therapies, surgeries, equipment, home or vehicle modifications, in-home care, and hospital stays. Even if an accident has left you unable to care for your kids in the same capacity, our attorneys may seek damages for newly incurred childcare costs on your behalf.
Medical expenses from car wrecks can be financially debilitating for victims. In addition to needing urgent trauma care for serious injuries, victims may need life-long rehabilitation and other treatments that continue to cost them for years to come. When estimating your economic damages, we can work with medical experts to anticipate upcoming treatment costs and consider how the injury will continue affecting your earning capacity and missed income.
Non-Economic Damages
A quick settlement likely will not take into account your intangible damages, whether it comes from the at-fault driver’s insurance or in settlement negotiations after you file a lawsuit. Non-economic damages attempt to compensate victims for the emotional distress, mental anguish, and psychological trauma they have experienced due to negligence. We can help you consider how your injuries and required treatment have affected your overall quality of life, working with mental health experts who can evaluate you and testify about their impressions in court.
How Long Will it Take to Get a Check from the at-Fault Driver After an Accident?
Recovering compensation from the at-fault driver for your recent accident through a lawsuit may take time. However, our lawyers will strive to file your case soon and negotiate a prompt settlement or go to court to get your deserved damages.
Collecting evidence for car accident lawsuits and preparing civil complaints to file in court can take time, so it’s important to start this process as soon as possible after a wreck. Negotiations typically commence after lawsuits are filed, and this may take up the bulk of your case if it doesn’t go to court.
Remaining patient during settlement negotiations is important so that you do not accept a proposal that leaves many damages uncovered. Our attorneys can continue leveraging evidence and arguing our position until a fair agreement is reached, which could take several weeks or months, depending on the case. If defendants intentionally stall negotiations, our car accident lawyers can respond by indicating we are ready to go to trial, which might result in a more favorable lump sum proposal from the at-fault driver.
With lump sum settlements or jury awards, victims get one check from the defendant to cover the full amount they must pay. With structured settlements, victims get parts of their compensation over time, and our lawyers can prepare you for whatever compensation method applies to your case.
Call Our Car Accident Attorneys for Help with Your Case
Call the Maryland car accident lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291 for a free case review today.