Maryland Senate Bill 468 Relief For Injury Victims
The Waiting Might Get Shorter in Maryland
As we have mentioned before, there are some very specific and important advantages that insurance companies have over their policyholders. They have money, and they have time. These are things that many of us possess to a certain degree, but most of us certainly don’t have insurance company time and money.
For instance, if any of us get injured in a car accident, it usually goes without saying that we could use that insurance money as soon as possible. There is rent or the mortgage payment to worry about. There are utilities, groceries, and any number costs that we all accumulate in day to day life. The last thing anyone needs is a delay in getting that insurance settlement.
Unfortunately, those delays happen more often most of us would like, and they often happen on purpose. Insurance companies rarely simply receive a bill and then send a check. They haggle, they deny, they make a list of what they will and will not pay for, and then they offer you what they think is reasonable rather than what is fair.
Rarely do these payments cover all of the expenses that injury victims incur, and often the victim is left with the option of either taking less money than they should, or having to go to court. This is when the “waiting” aspect comes in, and this wait never works to the advantage of the injured. In fact, it is usually quite the opposite.
The Sixth Amendment does grant us a right to a speedy and public trial, but you should bear in mind that the Constitution was written in the late 18th century. “Speedy” is certainly a relative term. Back then, it took anywhere from six weeks to six months to get a letter from one state to another. What was considered quick back then is certainly not the case now.
Getting your date in court can be a time consuming process, especially so if the case involves a jury trial. The defendant or plaintiff has to request a jury, which the other side might not like, so they might have to make a long argument as to why there shouldn’t be a jury trial. Then the court has to set a date for jury selection. The plaintiffs have to present their witnesses (who are all cross-examined by the defense,) and the defense has to present their witnesses, and then the jury has to deliberate and come to a conclusion, which could go either way or no way at all, which means that the whole thing could have to start over.
To be sure, a jury trial is a crucial element to our judicial system. A man has a right to a jury of his peers for things like murder, robbery or other serious crimes. But in quite a few injury cases, the idea of going through a jury trial when the damages are relatively insubstantial is unnecessary and time consuming, which is exactly what insurance companies like about jury trials.
You see, insurance companies don’t have to worry about medical bills and property damage costs nearly as much as the injury victim does. To State Farm or Nationwide or Allstate or USAA, the medical bills are abstract concerns that only take the form of a number on a ledger. But to the injury victim who can’t work because of his injuries, these numbers have serious consequences. Insurance companies are certainly mindful of that, and they realize that the longer an injury victim has to wait, the more attractive that initial low settlement offer will seem. In fact, insurance companies sometimes take this opportunity to offer a settlement that was even lower than the initial one, in the hopes that the dire financial situation of the victim will force the victim to take whatever is offered.
This year, the Maryland Senate passed a bill that might help rectify this situation.
Senate Bill 468 was introduced on February 4th of this year, and was passed on March 24th. The purpose of the bill was to raise the amount of money involved in which someone involved in a lawsuit can demand a jury trial. Prior to this bill, the ceiling for non-jury trials was $10,000. This bill raised the amount to $20,000.
Considering how many car accident cases involve damages that are over $10,000, insurance companies take every opportunity to drag out the proceedings with a jury trial in order to fatigue victims into accepting less than they should. With a $20,000 ceiling, the option of waiting out policy holders who desperately need their insurance money would no longer be an option.
But while the Senate passed the bill, the House still needs to act in order to put it before the Governor, and as of right now they have yet to do so. We would urge them to act as soon as possible.
If you or a loved one has been injured through no negligence of your own in a car accident in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C., contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.
To learn more about our personal injury accident lawyers, please read about Andrew Bederman, Roger Greenberg, or Jason Fernandez, or watch our accident videos on YouTUBE.
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