Speaking With Insurance After A Maryland Truck Accident
The following is what you should know about speaking with insurance companies following a truck accident in Maryland. To learn more call and schedule a consultation with a Maryland truck accident lawyer today.
When To Contact Insurance After An Accident
The first person you should contact following an accident is an attorney, due to the fact that what you say can sometimes be taken out of context and used against you. For this reason, especially in cases where liability is unclear it is important to contact an experienced attorney first.
Once you have an attorney you can speak with your insurance to report the accident. Many people have what is called ‘personal injury protection‘ which is a no-fault based insurance that will pay for your medical bills and lost wages. Unfortunately, most personal injury protection plans only cover between $2,500 and $10,000 which may not be enough if you suffer a life altering injury. As a result it is important that you do contact insurance but do not make any recorded statements unless you have a lawyer.
Should You Talk To The Trucking Companies Insurance?
If you think you have a lawsuit against the trucking company or anyone in the trucking supply chain it is important you talk with an attorney first before speaking with insurance companies from the other entities involved. Anyone from the insurance company that’s not your own is not there to protect your best interests and therefore it is important you have a lawyer.
The reason for this is if you talk to the insurance the day after and say your injuries aren’t that bad or you’re doing fine, then the insurance can turn around and use those statements to lessen your damages and hurt your claim. If you settle your case shortly after the accident for a small amount, then that dismisses your claims forever against them by way of release. However if two weeks down the road or a month later if you start to feel symptoms of injuries and you didn’t properly get your claims, your injuries checked out, then you’ll be foreclosed from bringing your claim against the truck company or any person in the chain because you’ve listened to the insurance company who’s lulled you into a false sense of security about the value of your case.
How a Lawyer Can Help With Insurance Companies
The lawyer can prevent the insurance company from taking advantage of you and advise you as to how to properly evaluate their case and the number of potential defendants. An attorney can also help you get through the process and make sure that your injuries are taken care of and that the injuries and the things in the claim itself are well documented and help you build a case against the insurance company so they won’t try to give you a low ball settlement.
Other Ways An Attorney Can Help You Deal With Insurance Following a Truck Accident
The minute the accident happens, the evidence will start to expire or potentially be lost. As a result, you would want to contact witnesses as quickly as possible so that they don’t disappear or so that you can make sure that you get a statement from them as soon as possible.
In a trucking accident case, all the evidence is in the hands of the truck driver, the truck owner and anyone in the supply chain. So the quicker you can talk to an attorney to request that information and request that those pieces of evidence are preserved, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to obtain that evidence and be able to review that evidence to properly evaluate and build up your case.
If the truck drivers or trucking companies have an internal policy wherein they routinely wipe out their data or get rid of their paperwork or delivery documents every week or every 30 day, then if you don’t request that evidence within that short window of time, then that evidence might be gone forever which would make it much harder to prove your case. This does not mean it would be impossible to prove your case, but it would just make it more difficult. This is just another reason to contact an attorney as early as possible after a trucking accident—so that they can preserve the evidence that’s needed to get as many claims as possible.
