Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

An adjuster with Selective Insurance called this week to ask to meet at my office to discuss the settlement of a personal injury car accident case. She said that Selective is looking to meet with counsel as much as possible to discuss these claims.

Selective is a regionally based insurance company that does business in 22 states and is around 46th in market share in Maryland. I'm surprised they would want to dedicate the resources to a face-to-face meeting, but I do appreciate the sentiment. I mean, they will probably offer half of what the case is worth, but I bet they are a lot nicer about it in person.

State Farm used to invite us to its yearly Settlement Day where we would traipse down to their offices in Owings Mills for some food and drink for the exact same awful offers they would have given me on the phone. For reasons that escape me not in the slightest , they have stopped inviting me. Actually, I don't think they do it anymore, but I prefer the more conspiratorial version.

We put an interesting list of GEICO settlements and verdicts in Maryland and around the country on our website.

I was expecting and got a call Monday night. Laura Zois and John Bratt were in trial in Frederick County in a rear end car accident case. I got word of the verdict: $291,000 and some change. A verdict in excess of the at fault driver's State Farm policy of $100,000 and the uninsured motorist policy of $250,000.

The case was disputed on liability so my first reaction was one of joy: glad we didn't lose. But I knew the case and I really thought the jury could have awarded a lot more. Frederick County is a pretty conservative jurisdiction. We also lost a ton of motions that I think we should have won on some critical issues that I think might have made a difference.

The point, besides I guess bragging a little big about the verdict, is that even though the settlement offer was $8,200, I felt like we should have gotten more and I was a little disappointed we did not. This speaks volumes of where were are, at least in Maryland, with State Farm. We can get a verdict 35 times the settlement offer and still not view it as an epic victory. Because State Farm's offer was not even remotely in the range of reasonable.

If you leaf through jury verdicts which I do on a monthly basis, it is amazing how many car accident cases that go to trial in Maryland are defended by State Farm.

I want to trot out the trite "Boy, State Farm is dumb" narrative. In this case, I can make the argument that they should be able to size up a case and plaintiffs' counsel a little bit and tailor their arguments more closely. But I really think State Farm has a business model that it sticks to diligently: if you want our money you better come and get it. As much as personal injury lawyers and victims might wish it to be so, State Farm is no dummy. I bet they are using this boxing gloves approach because they have decided that it is the best way to maximize profits because too many plaintiffs' lawyers - who are really settlement lawyers - are going to tolerate it. I can't hate them for that.

• State Farm's Issue Preclusion Argument Wins and Loses on Appeal
• Is Calling Someone a State Farm Claims Adjuster an Insult?
• Sane State Farm Adjuster
• State Farm's Blog
• Advice on Negotiating Car Accident Claims with Each Insurance Company
• Interesting Plaintiff's Lawyer Tactics in State Farm Bad Faith Claim

I don't find any insurance companies reasonable. I really don't. My guess is that all of the decent, fair and reasonable insurance companies have long since gone Chapter 11.

But in the relative scheme of things, Amica Insurance is a fairly reasonable insurance company. You can find my analysis of Amica on our website.

I have now reviewed about 20 different car insurance companies, looking at their tendencies and their strategies in approaching the settlement or trial of motor vehicle accident claims. I need to make a page with just the list of insurance companies. In the meantime, you can find them halfway down the page on the right, here.

As I mentioned last week, I'm pretty excited about our law firm's win in Buckley v. Brethren Mutual. I think this is an important case for two reasons. First, it shows that the Maryland Court of Special Appeals respects the real intent of Maryland's statutory scheme for uninsured motorist claims.

But this case also tells us something about Brethern Insurance company. You don't see them a ton in Maryland accident cases. And I've actually always liked the company. They have been easy to deal with in the past. But what we learned from this case is that Brethern is not going to stand by their own insureds. Because Brethern played an awful trick on its own insured in this case, a trick that GEICO, Allstate, State Farm, etc. never would have pulled. You understand the gravity of this, right? They are worse than those guys. If you have to take a short walk around the block to let marinate the magnitude of this, feel free.

Continue reading "Why Our Recent Appellate Win Is Important to Maryland Auto Accident Attorneys" »

Sometimes it is easy to miss the federal court opinions that involve car crash cases because you just do not expect to see them there. Probably 1% of the car accident cases that we handle end up in federal court - although probably 20% of our truck accident cases get removed to federal court.

Anyway, you are paying me for a reason; I just found an interesting bad faith claim decided last week - Hughes v. Progressive - involving our friends at Progressive. It is a interesting case with a bad outcome that may very well show up on my students' Insurance Law exam in December.

Plaintiff is broadsided by another car, driven by the defendant (insured by Progressive Insurance and later ends up being plaintiff's use plaintiff). Plaintiff files suit against the defendant in state court in Baltimore City. Plaintiff also sues GEICO for uninsured - really underinsured - motorist coverage benefits. Defendant had a $100,000 per accident policy with Progressive which, sadly, is the Cadillac of Progressive's policies.

Progressive does exactly what I always complain that Progressive does: they jerk you around, refusing to settle the case by offering its policy limits, and then finally tendering the limits after talking tough for a year. It must be in their adjuster's manual.

Progressive sent out a pay-to-play letter (learn more here) to GEICO, who did not respond within 60 days after receipt of notice as required by Maryland insurance law (§ 19-511) if it wishes to retain its subrogation rights. But, somehow, GEICO later claimed it had responded by email. The Baltimore City trial court found that the email amounted to proper notice as a matter of law under §19-511.

Plaintiff went on to try the case and got a $725,000 verdict against GEICO and the defendant. GEICO had $500,000 in coverage. So, defendant owed the balance to the plaintiff. So plaintiff and defendant hug it out and join forces. Plaintiff, as defendant's assignee or use plaintiff, filed a bad faith complaint against Progressive in Baltimore City Circuit Court. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that Progressive fought for the defendant in this case "with the vigor and energy of a 10th grader in study hall detention."

Continue reading "Bad Faith Claim Against Progressive in Federal Court Fails" »

I wrote a blog post last month with the antagonizing title "Insurance Adjusters Say the Silliest Things," discussing an article written by one insurance claims adjuster that seemingly fell into the worst stereotypes of adjusters. The post was recently picked up by an insurance claims journal (which I have since not been able to find) which I though led to a few interesting comments from other plaintiffs' lawyers and a few insurance adjusters. One, inexplicably, contends that insurance claims adjusters are people too.

Did you know State Farm has a blog? They don't call it a blog. Instead, it is a learning center that educates consumers with "articles, discussions, videos, and financial calculators to help you make informed decisions" about car insurance, what to do after an accident, and so forth.

You know how these things generally read. One recent post is on "How to Handle Parking Lot Accidents." There is not one piece of information you could not figure out on your own if you have a 6th grade education or equivalent experience. But whatever, I have a few things like that on our website, too.

But here's the funny part. You know how these corporate blogs try never to say anything even remotely controversial? One State Farm blog post said:

The fender bender you were just in appears to be minor. No one looks injured and there is minimal damage to the vehicles. First breathe a sigh of relief - then take these precautions to help prevent your small accident from becoming a big problem.

• Don't drive away.
• Do stay at the scene and move your vehicle to a safe place out of traffic even if there appears to be no damage. If the other car is parked and the owner isn't around, leave a note with your name and contact information.
• Don't assume there aren't injuries.
• Do assess yourself and your passengers. Even low-impact collisions can cause injuries, some not appearing until days after the accident.
• Don't sign any documents and avoid accepting or offering cash for repairs. You may end up paying out-of-pocket to repair damage to your car that only appears minor, or you could pay the other driver more than necessary.
• Do stay calm. Take notes and photos, and exchange information with the other driver, including your name, address, phone number, driver's license number, license plate number, insurance company, and policy number.
• Don't assume an accident is too minor to be reported.
• Do call the police or file a report on your own. This will help your insurance agent handle your claim. An accident report could also help protect you from issues that may arise later about the extent of damage to your vehicle or injuries to you and the other driver.
• Don't forget to notify your State Farm agent.
• Do discuss your options for handling potential claims.


The State Farm Pocket Agent smartphone app makes it easy to capture the essential details of an accident. Pocket Agent can help you diagram the accident scene, record witnesses' names and numbers, contact your agent, and even locate nearby repair shops.

You might not notice the injuries until DAYS after the accident? I'm not even sure I would support the theory that it happens regularly, although I suspect it does happen. I also don't think it is incredibly controversial to say that people can get hurt in low impact car accidents. People can die in relatively low impact accidents, according to science and physics. So it is not a leap of faith to suggest that sometimes, albeit rare, people get hurt in low impact vehicle accidents. (Here's one example of a 1 mile per hour accident that I tried, that I believed in - and so did a jury. But, sadly, we would never take this case in a million years in 2012.)

Here's the fun part: State Farm takes down the page. Seriously? Is State Farm EVER going to contest anything on here at trial? Is anyone ever going to be swayed by these general admissions as applied to an individual case? Yet some ninny decided that they couldn't leave this life ammunition out there.

Continue reading "State Farm's Blog" »

This quote leads off an article in Property and Casualty 360:

To me, a claims man is a surgeon. That desk is an operating table. And those pencils are scalpels and bone chisels. And those papers are not just forms and statistics and claims for compensation, they're alive, they're packed with drama, with twisted hopes and crooked dreams. A claims man, Walter, is a doctor and a bloodhound...and a cop and a judge and a jury and a father confessor all in one.

In my particular line of work, it is pretty easy to take pot shots at insurance adjusters and stereotype them as disciples of Darth Vader who combine the giddy good humor of the Syrian army with a willingness to shoot their own parents in the head if that meant underpaying on a honest claim. I know these stereotypes are easy because I do it all the time on this blog and it is great fun. But, gun to my head, I think that at their core, insurance claims adjusters are no better or worse than doctors, lawyers, or Indian chiefs. Most stereotypes of professions fail.

Still the stereotypes exist. So if I've been falsely accused of vandalism recently, I'm going to take down the M-80 casings on the desk and put away my baseball bat with red paint on it because I want to make sure that any false stereotypes about me are not perpetuated or reinforced.

This quote does just the opposite. First, the arrogance is loud and clear. It has the whole "Alec Baldwin in Malice, I am the ultimate power" vibe to it. The reality, pal, is that you are not a surgeon, you are a claims adjuster.

(Look, I'm not a surgeon either but I'm not pretending to be as important as one. A lot of lawyers do. I'm a guy that tries to get his clients as much money as possible, treat his clients well, and hope that all of that equals justice and I'm a useful cog in the circle of life. Gerry Spence said a few years ago that lawyers are the most important people in world. And I think he is nuts unless your name is Thurgood Marshall or something like that.)

Continue reading "Insurance Claims Adjusters Say the Silliest Things" »

You can call it a sad but true fact if you want: the value of a personal injury case in Maryland might double (or be cut in half) based on where the case is tried. I provide here our thoughts on where each Maryland county and Baltimore City ranks on the food chain of preferability when it comes to venue in personal injury cases.

Defense lawyers want to go back to olden days when plaintiffs did not forum shop, they just filed where it was most convenient and advantageous to plaintiff. Defense lawyers are big into restoring traditions that never existed in the first place. I've never seen a stitch of evidence to suggest that venue has not been a battlefield since the Industrial Revolution. There are, of course, more opportunities where reasonable minds can differ as to the appropriate venue in 2012 because we are so much more cosmopolitan today. Just about every tort that arose 150 years ago was on some guy's farm. So while the analysis is more complex now, there have always been different communities that had different values and this has an impact on the lens with which they view personal injury claims.

Continue reading "New Maryland Court of Special Appeals Opinion on Venue" »

I just had a great talk on settlement with a State Farm claims adjuster. No, really. It is true. I am not kidding.

I made a demand. She said she asked for authority that was right about what I was asking for but the settlement authority she has is "X". The adjuster wryly pointed out that she did not own the company and suggested I take the offer back to my client and find out whether he wants to file suit or settle the case.

I'll recommend to the client that we file suit. He has a serious injury and will make an unbelievable plaintiff at trial. But I appreciate a reasonable State Farm adjuster who did not swallow the Kool-Aid and just lays it out straight.

You can read more about our impressions from our dealings with State Farm here.

These small independent claims adjusters are absolutely the worst. I just hung up with an adjuster from Love, Barnes & McKew, who does rent-an-adjuster work in "the Washington-Baltimore Corridor, Northern Virginia, Southern Maryland and Maryland's Eastern Shore." Why I send a demand package to these people is beyond me. I just hung up with the most irrational adjuster who I'm thisclose to naming, who told me that my 66 year-old client, with no prior injuries, whose car was totaled by a tractor trailer should not have gotten diagnostic testing or worn a back brace after the accident. I really can't remember a more irrational insurance adjuster in my career.

She refused to claim that this woman is faking her injuries, but pointed out that her pain levels increased about the same time she started talking about a workers' compensation claim. Now the woman retired from the National Cancer Institute years ago, but don't let that interrupt the conspiracy. Now look, I realize that citing insurance adjusters for unreasonable offers is like giving out speeding tickets at the Daytona 500. But even in a business that a certain level of insanity is the norm (for plaintiffs' lawyers, too), this is just insane.

Not for nothing, this adjuster confided in me that she had been a serious car accident. You would think this is a sign that an insurance adjuster is a sympathetic person who can feel better feel the pain of another human being. But, I'm telling you, it has the reverse effect on many of these adjuster. "My pain was so great. Yours was not." I don't want to get carried away, but it can't help but remind you of the whole "abused are more likely to are more likely to abuse" adage.

Continue reading "Love, Barnes & McKew: Just File Suit" »

I got a lot of interesting comments from a lot of difference perspectives on the "Progressive let a uninsured motorist wrongful death case go to trial so they must be evil" case. Some of the comments don't even call me any names, which was cool. You can find them here.

By the way, I keep making a "raise your offer or I'm going to sick the Internet on you" to every Progressive adjuster I'm dealing with on settlement. Some laugh, some don't but I think it is hysterical every time.

Here is the email I got from Progressive's PR people today:

In response to your story involving Progressive Insurance, please see the below updated statement on behalf of Progressive:

For the past week, Progressive has been in active settlement discussions with the family of Kaitlynn Fisher. Though there was considerable public interest in this case and we know many of you saw mentions of it on social media and news outlets, we also believed it was inappropriate to share further details while those discussions were ongoing. As of this morning, an agreement has been reached with the Fisher family to settle the claim. Prior to that, we were cautious with our responses, but now that the agreement has been reached, we’d like to further clarify Progressive’s role in the trial.

Ms. Fisher held a policy with Progressive that included Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage, which protects drivers in the event they’re struck by an at-fault driver who’s either uninsured or doesn’t have enough coverage.

Under Maryland law, in order to receive the benefits of an underinsured driver claim, the other driver must be at fault. Sometimes this can be proven without the need for a trial, but in Ms. Fisher’s case, there were credible conflicting eyewitness accounts as to who was at fault.

A trial was necessary so that a jury could review all of the evidence and come to a decision. In those circumstances, under Maryland law, the insurance company providing the Underinsured Motorist coverage is considered a defendant. As a defendant in this case, Progressive participated in the trial procedures on our own behalf while Nationwide represented the other driver.

On Thursday, August 9, a jury determined that the other driver was at fault in the accident involving Ms. Fisher. In accordance with that decision, Progressive worked with the Fisher family and their legal representative to resolve the claim.

This was a tragic accident and our sympathies go out to the Fisher family.
Statement posted here: http://www.progressive.com/understanding-insurance/entries/2012/8/16/update_on_the_kaitl.aspx
--------------------------------------------------
[name deleted] | Account Manager
Allison+Partners for Progressive
71 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor | New York, NY 10003
Direct: [deleted]
Mobile: [deleted]
[more personal information deleted]

Continue reading "Progressive Takes Another Shot at Public Relations" »

The Internet is hammering Progressive Insurance for defending an uninsured motorist wrongful death case. Just hammering. It's wild. And I'm really enjoying it. Should I? Progressive has committed many crimes against humanity . But in this case that has caused the Internet to explode, Progressive is being framed for a crime it did not commit, at least on the facts on which Progressive is being hung by the mob.

(Update: Progressive's PR people sent me an email explaining themselves further.)

Before I defend them, let's talk about why I don't like Progressive. (Here is a summary of the pain of dealing with them.) Because I don't. I feel a little bad saying that because I really do like some of their adjusters, many of which are really nice people. But it is an awful company to deal with on car accident claims. They generally write pathetically small policies that are unlikely to meaningfully compensate anyone who is seriously injured. They write a lot of $30,000/$60,000 polices which are the minimum in Maryland - the exact reason they are able to brag about their pricing. Yes, practically no coverage at all is pretty cheap.

Just as annoying, Progressive gives awful settlement offers until you file suit, because they can always pony up their piddly little policies at the last minute and avoid exposure. (I complain about this here.) Because they can always pony up their piddly little policies at the last minute and avoid exposure. Thankfully, Progressive has a small in-house counsel's office in Maryland hich means once a lawsuit is filed, they dramatically change their tune. I've had Progressive claims adjusters tell me to file suit so they can increase their offer.

Anyway, the thing that is causing this hubbub is a case where a beautiful young woman - a Progressive insured - is tragically killed in a car accident in Baltimore. Nationwide Insurance, the at-fault carrier, at some point tenders their policy limits. Progressive refuses to waive it subrogation rights (explained here) against the at-fault driver. So it claimed that it was not obligated to pay because the young woman was at-fault for the accident. Her brother wrote a really well written piece, underscoring his anger and frustration with Progressive, and then the Internet did what the Internet does.

Was this a good faith belief? Certainly, I have my doubts. Progressive most likely only had a $100,000 policy. So it had nothing to lose in rolling the dice and trying the case. This is the kind of garbage they do all of the time (which is why Maryland needs a first party bad faith law with real teeth). We have had plenty of verdicts against insurance companies in uninsured motorist cases because they were not motivated to settle because they knew no matter what the jury awarded, they would only have to pay the policy limits.

Continue reading "The Internet Hates Progressive Insurance.. But Should It?" »

I sent State Farm a demand package on March 29th. Now, admittedly, I don't have State Farm "good neighbor" posters in my room, but I'll give credit where credit is due: State Farm turns demand letters into offers pretty quickly. I'll tell clients to expect an offer with 60 days, but I'm underpromising and overdelivering - I expect to get an offer much sooner.

Well, it is now almost five months later and we have gotten nothing but the run around. So, I got a supervisor on the phone today. He pretty much admits the original adjuster is a problem child. To the supervisor's credit, he read the file in a few hours and called me to argue about it. Usual stuff, he had degenerative changes prior to the accident (setting aside that he never had any problems or needed, ah, surgery which he needed after the accident). I'm cool with that; I don't mind the "your case sucks" banter. The game is the game.

Continue reading "Is Calling Someone a State Farm Claims Adjuster an Insult?" »

The purpose of uninsured motorist coverage - which most of us blindly have because our state requires it - is for protection in the event that we get hit by a driver with no insurance or not enough insurance to provide compensation for our injuries. Most uninsured motorist policies compensate the victim for any amount, within the policy limits, that would have been recoverable from the at fault driver as money damages resulting from a car collision.

What happens when your client is on a motorcycle that is not listed on your insurance policy? Does your uninsured motorist coverage kick in? This issue is usually framed by breaking down the language of the uninsured motorist agreement that considers a motorcycle to be an excluded vehicle. But the analysis does not end there. Some states - Maryland is a prime example that I will get to in a second - are willing to rewrite the terms of an insurance policy to meet public policy objectives. This is done either by judicial fiat or by the state's uninsured motorist statutory scheme.

So outside of Maryland, Plaintiffs' lawyer in these cases argue that the state uninsured motorist laws provides protection that extends not just to the vehicle but to the person. Accordingly, this argument goes, UM coverage is broadly construed to cover all motor vehicle accidents. The insurance companies, argue, on the other hand, that its insured should not be able to have their cake and eat it too by doing someone inherently unsafe while not paying for the coverage. There is merit to both arguments.

Continue reading "Is Your Client's Motorcycle Accident Covered by Her Uninsured Motorist Policy?" »

Dr. Louis Halikman is orthopedic doctor that many insurance companies in Maryland - most notably State Farm - frequently use to defend car accident cases. "Frequently" is probably charitable; by his own admission he makes somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000 a month providing expert services for insurance companies.

Am I a big fan of Dr. Halikman? No. It is not that I don't think he is a good doctor. He's a smart man with good credentials, which is why insurance companies are lined up at his door. Moreover, being well paid by one side or the other does not necessarily mean the doctor is in bed with that party. But it is my opinion that he either has a philosophical anti-plaintiff animus or, more likely, his opinions are colored by the fact that insurance companies have paid for his services on the level they have for the last 25 years.

In my last trial with him, last summer, he pretty much claimed that our client was as injured as badly as she was because she was overweight, putting more force on her ankle when she fell. It was such a mean spirited and cheap shot. He also claimed she would have healed faster if she had gotten bariatric surgery to take off weigh. He didn't give much concern to the mortality risks of the procedure that he wanted to impose on our client. (The jury saw it for what it was and awarded over a half a million dollars.)

Continue reading "Dr. Louis Halikman and Mercy Hospital" »

We sent Progressive Insurance a demand letter in a case where the client had some pretty serious injuries, including 50 staples in her head to close a scalp laceration. Progressive faxed us a letter stating it cannot conclude its investigation until we obtain different bills from the medical providers that are on certain health claim forms, because Progressive wants the individual CPT codes for every visit. CPT codes are numbers assigned to every task or service a doctor may provide to a patient.

Are CPT codes necessary for Progressive Insurance to determine whether medical care rendered was fair, reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the car accident? I think the best way to frame the question is to ask whether a jury can render a verdict without CPT codes. The answer, of course, in that I have never in my life heard testimony that included CPT codes at trial.

Continue reading "Progressive Insurance = File Suit" »

The Governor signed yesterday a bill that allows auto insurance companies in cases where the at-fault driver has insufficient insurance coverage to consent to settlements against the at fault driver without (1) limiting their right to raise any issue relating to liability or damages in an action against the insurer; and (2) admitting as to any issue raised in an action against the insurer.

The Maryland General Assembly made history with the bill: nobody is mad. Insurance companies are ecstatic and trial lawyers are largely indifferent.

You can read about the genesis of this bill here.