Maryland Personal Injury Offsets to Underinsured Coverage by Workers Compensation Benefits Received.

In a Maryland personal injury case, there is a some what complicated situation that exist when multiple policies of insurance are all at play in the plaintiff's recovery. An interesting case was recently decided in the matter of Blackburn v Erie involving under insured coverage and workers compemsation insurance. This situation involves a fairly complicated mess of who gets what from the insurance coverage and who is entitled to what as off sets to avoid a wind fall recovery to the plaintiff. The first part of the equation is easy. When the under insured coverage is greater then the liability coverage the under insured coverage must pay the deficient. Of course this assumes a policy limits offer. It becomes more interesting and perhaps more complex when you throw in a workers compensation policy. You encounter this situation when a worker is injured in car accident for example. In this case when the workers compensation carrier has paid benefits the under insured carrier wants an off set to their coverage equal to the benefit received by the plaintiff. As such no wind fall by coverage duplication. Normally this argument arises when the workers compensation carrier has reduced their lien by some figure. In this case the under insured carrier says well then reduce what we owe to plaintiff by the amount of the reduction in the workers compensation lien. And guess what the courts in Maryland agree with the under insured motorist on this point.

Underinsured personal injury issues in Maryland accident cases

In Maryland every driver is required to carry automobile liability insurance. However the law only requires a 20/40 policy. As such you can end up with a situation where your personal injury claim exceeds the value of the defendant's liability policy. Assuming you do not have adequate under insured motorist coverage yourself, then what are the prudent steps to follow to verify there is no other source of coverage for your personal injuries after the defendant insurer offers policy limits. I recommend you secure an affidavit from the defendant. This can be a bit tricky since you will need to communicate through the defendant's insurance company. However it is necessary in the serious accident cases. The affidavit should attest to no agency, and no insurance from business, household or any and all other sources. In the event you have reason to believe the defendant has personal assets, sometimes unlikely when there is only a 20/40 policy, however, not impossible, then I suggest an asset check. The asset checks are fairly limited in my opinion, but can find real property, which often times have value. If you have any questions on this issue please feel free to call me. I am a Maryland personal injury lawyer.