Articles Posted in Car Accidents

No matter the circumstances, getting into a car accident is a frightening and sometimes traumatic experience. This fear can multiply tenfold for pregnant women concerned not only for their own health but for the health and well-being of their baby.

Our law firm has represented many mothers-to-be injured in car accidents in Maryland and Washington, D.C.  There is typically no severe injury to the mother in most car crashes, and the mother’s injuries rarely meaningfully impact the unborn baby. But there are several more severe injuries pregnant women can suffer from a car crash. 

• Miscarriage: The force of the impact and sudden movements can cause a woman to miscarry, losing the pregnancy.
• Preterm labor: The stress and trauma of the accident can induce labor, leading to a premature birth.
• Placental abruption: A sudden and severe impact can cause the placenta to separate from the uterus, cutting off the fetus’s supply of oxygen and nutrients.
• Umbilical cord compression: The rapid movements in a car accident can cause the umbilical cord to become compressed, potentially reducing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus.
• Fetal injury: The force of the impact can cause injury to the fetus, including skull fractures, brain damage, and broken bones.

A placental abruption can lead to internal bleeding, hemorrhaging, premature labor, and miscarriage. What’s even more concerning is that sometimes, there aren’t necessarily any noticeable symptoms of placental abruption immediately following the accident. It is potentially fatal to your baby and dangerous to your own health.

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In the context of auto accident insurance claims, the acronym SIU refers to “Special Investigation Unit.” All the big auto insurance companies have an SIU of some type. The primary purpose of these investigation teams is to uncover fraudulent claims activity in auto accident cases.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is a specialized division within insurance companies tasked with investigating claims that may involve fraud, misrepresentation, or other irregularities. Their primary responsibility is to protect the insurer’s interests by conducting in-depth investigations.

The role of the SIU is to identify and investigate claims that may be fraudulent or otherwise merit further examination. This can include claims that involve unusual circumstances, excessive or unrealistic damages, or inconsistencies in the documentation or evidence provided by the claimant.

In insurance and Maryland car accident law, we often use terms interchangeably without truly understanding the definitions and meanings of the term.  People call us all the time and say they have full coverage so they assume they have a great insurance policy with tons of coverage. In many, cases, they don’t.

One term that misleads is “full coverage,” a term which is often misinterpreted as indicating that someone has a large of full amount of auto insurance coverage when it actually means quite the opposite in most contexts.

Full Coverage Insurance

Most people injured in a rear-end car accident in Maryland look for fair settlement value for their case. No one wants to get ripped off by an insurance company. These companies spend a lot of time training their insurance adjusters how to rip you off. So fair settlement value is not something that will be handed over to you easily. As I explain below, I think “fair settlement value” is the wrong lens to use when approaching the settlement of a rear-end accident case. But let’s start with this premise.

The Value of a Rear-End Accident Case Depends on the Severity of Injury

Our lawyers handle serious personal injury accident claims. Although we do not charge a fee for handling property damage claims for our injured clients, we almost invariably are drawn into property damage claims, many of which involve total loss to the vehicle.

Back in the old days from 1972 to 1989, insurance companies had to provide PIP insurance with Maryland car insurance policies that provided some measure of coverage for lost wages and medical bills after a car accident regardless of fault. Then the car insurance companies wore down the Maryland legislature and PIP was no longer a requirement. The grand compromise was that car insurance companies would “offer” PIP, but that the insured could waive PIP coverage.

Please note, I’m making all of this up. I was in college at the time and I’m sure even people who were there don’t remember exactly how it happened. But I will bet you it happened just like that.

Anyway, to waive PIP in Maryland, the waiver must be both affirmative and written (although electronic signatures count as “written” in 2010). So a Maryland car insurance company must have a waiver to deny coverage after a car accident. If it has the waiver, it wins. If it does not, it loses.

Most of us have experienced some neck pain or lower back pain in our lives. As a personal injury lawyer who handles car accident cases, I see these complaints all the time. Car accidents exert extreme forces on the human body, particularly the spine. 

The neck and lower back are two areas that are commonly injured in accidents because of car crash mechanics. The vertebrae in the neck are called the cervical vertebrae and those in the lower back are called the lumbar vertebrae.

As the car comes to a sudden stop, the body lurches forward and is caught by the seat belt, causing the neck to whip quickly. This is what is commonly known as whiplash. 

Within the United States, Progressive Auto Insurance is one of the largest insurance companies, holding over 10 million policies and growing. They stand along the lines of other insurers, such as State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide Insurance, Farmers Insurance, and USAA.

Progressive offers policies to individuals for automobiles, motorcycles, boats, and even recreational vehicles. Known best by their advertising campaigns sporting a quirky saleswoman, Progressive wants to be known to consumers as just that – a “progressive” insurance company.

Progressive Claims in Maryland

Consider the following common scenario. One morning while you are driving to work, you slow down for traffic on I-95 and get rear-ended by the car behind you. Your car is a mangled mess.

At first, you feel fine physically. You even make it into your office and work a full day. You go to be still feeling fine and counting yourself lucky. Then in the middle of the night, you suddenly wake up with shooting pain in your neck and shoulder.

By morning, the pain is so bad that you can barely get out of bed let alone go to work. Your spouse takes you to the local urgent care facility. Nothing is broken, but the doctor says you may have suffered a herniated disc in the car accident. He also says you probably tore your rotator cuff. You spend the next 3 months in and out of various doctor offices undergoing escalating treatment efforts to stop the debilitating pain in your back and shoulder. You end up missing almost 4 months from work and racking up thousands in medical bills.

The State of Maryland has taken significant measures to prevent distracted driving. This includes imposing stricter penalties and promoting campaigns to discourage it.

Distracted driving

 Distracted driving is causing Marylanders to die every day.  COVID is as awful as they say.  But, in the long run, distracted driving is going to kill more Marylanders.  It is the public health crisis that gets 1/on-millionth of the attention.