If you have been involved in a St. Mary’s County, Md., car accident, one thing that happened after the accident was the exchange of insurance information between the drivers. One of the next things that happened — the day of the accident or surely within a couple of days after — was the notification of both insurance companies that an accident occurred. In some cases, with certain on-board vehicle technology, the insurance companies received real-time notification of the accident.

After that, the insurance companies “go into action” as quickly as they can. While most insurance companies are honest and fair-minded when dealing with claims, many others are not. Those less-than-reputable companies “go into action” quickly so that they can get injured victims to make statements that will hurt their chances of obtaining full compensation and/or get financially disparate victims to take a quick, low-ball, settlement offer. When they do that, the insurance company representatives spread a lot of misinformation.

In this article, the experienced Maryland car accident lawyers at the Law Office of Robert Castro fact check some of the disinformation put out there by some insurance company representatives. We know how to handle car accident cases in St. Mary’s County, Maryland and we recommend you consult us (or some other experienced Maryland personal injury attorney) before you take an offer from an insurance company. Call us at (301) 870-1200 or use our contact page. We are St. Mary’s County and Southern Maryland personal injury lawyers with offices in Waldorf, Maryland. Below we fact check some disinformation claims made by some insurance company representatives.

Claim: Injured victims lose control over their case when they hire Maryland car accident attorneys

Fact check: Misinformation

Here at the Law Office of Robert Castro, we are puzzled why insurance company representatives would ever say this. No client ever “loses control” over the final settlement. Any settlement offer must be presented to the client and the client has the ultimate decision-power on accepting or rejecting the offer. With respect to the other parts of the case, some injured victims hire attorneys specifically for the purpose of having the case handled by the attorneys so that they can focus on physical and mental recovery and to avoid any stress. So, for those clients, “losing control of the case” (other than decisions about settlement) is a good thing. Other clients want more involvement and those clients get the level of involvement that they want. This is insurance company misinformation.

Claim: Hiring a lawyer will delay settlement

Fact check: Misinformation

This is rated misinformation because it is what an insurance company says when its representatives think that injured victims are desperate for money. The problem is that a quick, low-ball settlement never fully compensates the victims for ALL of their injuries. Did the victim get money compensation for ALL medical bills and treatments? How about future medical bills and treatments? Did the victim get money compensation for emotional injuries? With a quick settlement, the answer to these questions is probably “no.” Hiring a lawyer helps ensure FULL compensation, so, yes, it will take more time to get all the invoices, to complete full medical treatments and evaluations, etc. This is rated as misinformation because it is true but designed to convince victims to act against their self-interest.

Claim: Hiring a lawyer will cost victims money because the lawyer will demand fees

Fact check: Misinformation

Of course lawyers expect to be paid for their work and time. The usual fee is a contingency fee of one-third of the recovery minus any costs. Insurance companies will whisper that injured victims can “save” those fees by taking a quick settlement. But, this is false. Hiring a lawyer almost always generates settlement offers that exceed the contingency fee when all things are said and done. This is because lawyers understand how to gather evidence and how to find and present as many claims as are possible under the facts. Plus, lawyers are aware that there may be more than one guilty party. Making insurance claims against other parties is one way to maximize a settlement. This claim is misinformation.

Contact Waldorf, MD Personal Injury Attorney Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland personal injury lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Personal Injury lawyers. Our address is 2670 Crain Highway, Waldorf, MD 20601.