Articles Posted in Car Accidents

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.

To its credit, Progressive Insurance has a reputation in Maryland for being prompt and professional when dealing with a consumer’s accident attorney. And Progressive Insurance adjusters follow up on demand letters and settlement offers as quickly as any car insurance company in Maryland.

This post will provide a comprehensive explanation of everything you need to know about lawyers’ fees and expenses in auto accident and personal injury lawsuits. We will explain exactly how much money your lawyer will take out of your accident or personal injury settlement in 2022.

To help you understand how this works, we provide examples of lawyer fees and expenses deducted from actual injury cases. Finally, we will go over what lawyers are NOT allowed to charge you for.

What will your lawyer take out of your settlement?

Glen Burnie is an underrated sized market in Maryland.  It is more of a zip code than it is a town.  But it is a big zip code – codes actually – that has a lot of dangerous interactions that cause too many injuries and deaths.

Most Hazardous Intersections in Glen Burnie

The Glen Burnie car accident lawyers at Miller & Zois handle a high volume of auto accident cases in the Baltimore area. This gives us a unique perspective on what the more dangerous roads and intersections are in the Baltimore region. In this post, we will focus on auto accidents in the Glen Burnie area of Anne Arundel County and rank the most hazardous intersections in Glen Burnie.

According to a National Highway Traffic Association (NHTSA) study, the pedestrian fatality rate increased by 53 percent between 2008 and 2019. American Automobile Association (AAA) researchers sought to figure out why. Their new report found significant trends in pedestrian fatalities. However, the researchers found that some of their data could not adequately explain the 53 percent increase. They concluded that more research must be conducted to better understand pedestrian fatalities.

Roadway type

Regarding roadway types, 70 percent of the overall increase occurred on either arterials or non-intersections. Intersection fatalities increased by 29 percent and accounted for one percent of the overall rate increase. Non-intersection pedestrian fatalities increased by 70 percent. The researchers speculated that either pedestrian behavior or inadequate pedestrian facilities might explain why pedestrian fatalities occurred in arterial and non-intersection roads.

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.

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.

Getting in a car accident is a miserable experience. Even if you don’t get hurt in the collision, you can expect weeks and possibly even months of stress and hassle. The primary source of this stress is usually the car insurance company and their adjuster. Whether it is your own insurance company or the other driver’s carrier, negotiating a settlement in a claim with an insurance adjuster can be a frustrating ordeal.

Most insurance adjusters come across as very friendly. This often causes people to let their guard down and get lulled into thinking the adjuster is there to help you. They are NOT there to help you. The adjuster is there to resolve your claim quickly and at the lowest possible cost to the company. Below are some tricky tactics that insurance adjusters often use to save money on your claim while making you feel like they are doing you a favor.

Getting You to Accept a Lowball Initial Settlement Offer

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has designated October as National Pedestrian Safety Month. The “virtual kickoff” for this first-ever Pedestrian Safety Month was held on September 29th.

USDOT Secretary Elaine Chao, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator James Owens, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Nicole Nason, and others spoke at this event. They discussed the pedestrian fatality rate and potential reduction policies. This new safety awareness campaign comes eight months after a February 2020 report found that pedestrian fatality rates increased over the last decade.

Awareness of pedestrian safety is good, and the focus is long overdue.

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

Car accident lawyers fighting for injured victims have an uphill battle to climb in many respects. Public opinion has turned on victims in 2020, and judges and juries often assume when a car accident victim walks in the door that he/she is exaggerating their injuries.

So smart Maryland accident lawyers take the benefits that the system provides for their clients. A big advantage plaintiffs’ lawyers have is that they are better able to dictate the pace of the progression of a motor vehicle accident case.

File Your Expert Designation with Your Lawsuits