Rear-End Concussion in the Baltimore Region: How a Low Insurance Limit Was Overcome

What happened?

Our client was rear-ended while stopped in a line of cars at a red light. The driver behind her was distracted by something inside his car and never braked.

Officers came, and their body cameras recorded the scene, but no written police report was ever completed. She went to the ER on her own later that same day.

She hired us about seven weeks later. With no police report, we got the body-camera video and the 911 call, including the other driver’s own account at the scene. His insurer accepted liability about two weeks after we got involved.

Settling fault early mattered. In Maryland, contributory negligence means a driver found even slightly at fault can be barred from recovering anything.

What injuries did our client suffer?

She had a concussion, also called a mild traumatic brain injury, plus neck and back strain, nerve pain at the back of her head, and ringing in her ears. The concussion affected her eyes, too. Light bothered her, and her eyes had trouble working together.

CT scans at the ER showed no acute injury to her head or spine. That’s common with concussions. A normal CT scan doesn’t mean the brain wasn’t hurt. It means there was no bleeding or fracture for the scan to show.

She had no prior car accidents or injury claims. A few unrelated medical visits were separated out of the claim.

Her recovery was long and not complete. At settlement, she still had memory problems, mental fatigue, and light sensitivity. Her eye doctor linked her new eyeglass prescriptions to the concussion. Her future care included neurology follow-up, eye care, and home exercises. Her file had no formal impairment rating.

What treatment did our client need?

She went to the ER the same day. Her care then ran about 17 to 18 months:

That added up to more than 60 therapy sessions with more than 10 types of providers. She had no surgery.

The delays weren’t her fault. Appointments were hard to get, a referral came late, and one provider wouldn’t see car accident patients. We helped her find a neurologist sooner.

Her personal injury protection (PIP) coverage paid first, and it ran out within about two months. PIP pays certain medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash. Her health plan paid most of the rest, until she hit its yearly cap on therapy visits.

The practical takeaway: Keep a record of every co-pay and out-of-pocket cost. Those payments can be part of your claim.

• Primary care follow-ups
• Concussion physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• Neurosurgery and neurology consults
• A neuro-eye doctor, with specialty glasses
• Neuropsychological testing, an EEG, and hearing testing

How did the injuries affect our client’s life and work?

The concussion changed her daily life in ways that are easy to miss from the outside.

She had memory lapses and got confused by numbers and words. She practiced simple mental exercises, like counting money, to rebuild those skills. Reading and screens were hard. Her family noticed she wasn’t herself, and she felt frustrated by how slow her recovery was.

She wasn’t working when the crash happened, but she’d planned to start looking for a job the next month. After the crash, she couldn’t. With no paycheck at the time, there were no lost wages to claim. She also paid out of pocket for co-pays, therapy balances, eyeglasses, and some imaging.

In Maryland, an injured person can generally seek medical expenses, lost earnings, and non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. When there’s no lost paycheck, how the injury changed someone’s days becomes the center of the claim.

What made this case difficult?

The biggest problem: the at-fault driver’s insurance was far too small for a concussion this serious. Other issues stacked on top.

No police report. Fault had to be proven from video and the 911 call.

PIP ran out fast, leaving her juggling bills and co-pays.

Broken-up treatment. Referral delays, a lost testing appointment, a provider that refused car accident patients, and a therapy visit cap all slowed her care.

A medical cause question. Two of her doctors later questioned whether her lasting symptoms had a neurological cause. An insurer or jury could use that to discount the claim.

The trial math. Because the at-fault insurer had already paid its full limit, her own insurer would get credit for that amount. A modest jury verdict could have left her with nothing more from the UIM claim, and trial would have added large costs for medical witnesses.

A low first UIM offer from her own insurer.

How did we handle it?

Locked down fault without a police report. We got the body-camera video and 911 call within weeks, and the insurer accepted liability.

Confirmed both policies early, so we knew her UIM coverage would matter.

Kept her bills under control. We explained how PIP, health insurance, and co-pays fit together, and pulled her records for her.

Sent a time-limited policy-limits demand once her treatment had matured, warning that the insurer’s own driver could face a verdict above his coverage. It offered its full limit within about three weeks.

Protected the UIM claim. In Maryland, you generally have to give your own insurer written notice of the offer before you accept it, or you can put your UIM claim at risk. We sent that notice, asked her insurer to waive its right to pursue the at-fault driver, and then sent the UIM demand.

Gave her a straight answer about trial. Jason Plotkin and Tony Balsamo met with her in person to walk through the doctors’ opinions, the UIM credit, and trial costs. She chose to resolve the case.

Pushed her insurer up. The final UIM payment was more than a third above its first offer.

The turning point was the timed demand. Getting the at-fault limit paid quickly and correctly opened the door to her own coverage. Honest advice about the trial math did the rest.

What was the result?

The case settled before any lawsuit for $160,000 from both insurers combined: the at-fault driver’s full policy limit plus a UIM settlement. She avoided the risk of a trial where a modest verdict could have added nothing.

Every case is different. Our past results are no assurance that we will reach a favorable result in any future case.

What this means if you’re in a similar situation

Check your own auto policy for UIM coverage now. How much it can add depends on the type of UIM coverage you carry.

Don’t accept the other driver’s policy limits until your own insurer has been notified.

No police report doesn’t end your case. Ask your lawyer to get body-camera video and 911 recordings quickly. They aren’t kept forever.

Watch the clock. Maryland generally gives you three years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Why does my health insurance want to be paid back from my settlement?

If your health insurance paid for crash-related care, it generally has the right to be repaid from your settlement. That’s called subrogation, and your lawyer will work with you on it. That’s why it’s important to always tell your lawyer you used health insurance, and to update them if your coverage changes.