Copyright © 2024 Gelb & Gelb, P.C. All rights reserved.
No matter how long you have been driving, it is common to be overwhelmed immediately after a car accident. Your adrenaline is pumping, and you may be suffering from serious injury. When this happens, it is good to have a set of rules to abide by. Below, we discuss the biggest mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents. A failure to avoid these mistakes may substantially reduce the value of your claim. Missteps can complicate your insurance claims and legal proceedings and even impact your health and financial well-being. From the moment immediately preceding the accident to the weeks and months following, many of the decisions you make and steps you take influence the value of your case. With an experienced Maryland car accident lawyer, you can avoid these mistakes.
While we do not list every mistake to avoid in Maryland car accidents here, we discuss in detail below the most common mistakes coupled with the most costly mistakes. By hiring a Maryland accident attorney, you can expect effective legal advice to avoid these mistakes and protect your legal right to compensation. If we determine you do not have a viable claim during our free case evaluation, we will have saved you months of stress navigating a legal process that ultimately would be fruitless. We have handled car accident cases in Maryland for over 70 years. With this experience, we understand precisely what a case is worth.
Calling the police will always be advantageous in a Maryland car accident case where you are not at fault. Unfortunately, they do not always come. However, calling them and telling them you were in an accident is always a net positive. Not calling the police is one of the biggest mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents. If they do arrive at the scene, they will facilitate a calm exchange of information among drivers who may otherwise be angry and uncooperative. While at the scene, the police generally produce two documents in Maryland. The first is an exchange of information page. This may include information such as name, address, vehicle information, and insurance information of all parties involved in the accident. This is tremendously useful to get your case started.
The second document they may produce is the police report. The police report contains all the information in the information exchange form, plus a narrative of events and whether any parties were charged with a crime or violation. It is critical to note that the narrative of events is inadmissible at trial. It is hearsay. Although, the information they collect and use to come to that conclusion is admissible. Nevertheless, insurance companies still rely on the narrative produced by the officer on the scene during a settlement negotiation. Thus, it does have some value despite being inadmissible hearsay.
In certain instances, we will request the body camera footage or the dash camera footage from the police officer. We do this in limited circumstances to obtain critical evidence. For all the foregoing reasons, not calling the police is among the biggest mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents.
Failing to document the accident scene is also among the largest mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents. Below, we discuss the minimum steps to take immediately following your accident while you are still on the scene. This creates a record of evidence for trial, proves you were at the scene, and aids in your recovery process. This includes taking comprehensive photographs of all vehicles involved from various angles, capturing the conditions of the road, any visible damages, and relevant street signs or traffic signals. Of course, if the police do not go to the scene, collecting information on the other driver is critically important. You should get their name and address on their driver’s license. Also, get their vehicle’s make, model, and year of their car, tag number, and insurance information.
If you do not get their insurance information at the scene, we may still be able to obtain this crucial information, but it may delay the legal process.
If you neglect medical attention, you are making one of the biggest mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents. Neglecting medical help does two things we want to avoid. First, you are hurting your recovery process. Immediate medical attention is critical to alleviate pain and potentially mitigate your injuries. Additionally, it creates a medical record for your legal case. If you delay medical attention, it may appear to a jury at trial, or even a settlement negotiator for the insurance company, that you are not as badly hurt as you claim. Even if you are actually that hurt, one may argue that if you were really in that much pain, you would have visited the doctor sooner.
This is an argument juries often believe. Accordingly, the sooner you seek medical attention, the better it is for the value of your car accident case. Call our office today, and we will get you to the doctor today to get medical attention for your injuries.
You should never do this; it is a critical mistake to avoid in Maryland car accidents. Often, when we see someone else who is hurt, it is our instinct to say that we are sorry. You may say that even if it is not your fault as a gut reaction. However, you may not even understand whether you are at fault. Before you admit fault, contact an experienced Maryland car accident law firm, explain the facts of your case in detail, and learn whether you are actually at fault before admitting fault at the scene.
Accepting a quick settlement may be tempting, especially if you do not have to pay a legal fee. Still, it is perhaps the biggest mistake to avoid in Maryland car accidents. Studies have shown that retaining a personal injury lawyer will recover, on average, four times more compensation, even after legal fees. There are several reasons why this happens. Among them is accepting a quick settlement. Allow the skilled accident lawyers and negotiators at Gelb & Gelb to evaluate your case and negotiate on your behalf. We know what your case is worth, and it is often far better than the insurance companies do. In many cases, we explain the law to them in ways they did not grasp before and significantly increase the value they place on your case. We do all this with the threat of litigation, a powerful motivator not necessarily available to a person without legal counsel.
Navigating communications with insurance companies can be tricky. Their goal is often to minimize payouts, and they excel at setting up claimants to contradict themselves. Thus, it is critical to speak with an attorney. Upon retainer, we immediately send a letter of representation to the insurance companies. This bars them from being able to contact you for anything without our express permission. This allows you to easily avoid a common mistake in Maryland car accidents.
Contact the accident attorneys at Gelb & Gelb today to learn the mistakes to avoid in Maryland car accidents.
Call today for a free case evaluation at (202) 331-7227.
Copyright © 2024 Gelb & Gelb, P.C. All rights reserved.