Maryland Personal Injury 19-511 UM Insurance

In Maryland personal injury law you may encounter the situation where the defendant's insurance carrier has offered the liability policy limits as a full and final settlement. In this circumstance the UM carrier must be notified of the settlement offer (see Maryland Injury Attorney for information on this statute). That procedure is simple enough. However,the circumstances become a bit more complicated when the liability insurer makes this offer with in 60 days of the trial date. In this situation the UM carrier does not have the respond before the trial is held. As such arguably the parties risk the loss of the benefit of settlement or the plaintiff losses the opportunity to proceed against the UM carrier, if the plaintiff should choose to accept the settlement before the UM carrier responds. The solution is to postpone the trial to allow the UM carrier time to respond. I have had success with this approach and citing the case of Ohio Casualty Insurance Company v Chamberlin, 172 Md. App. 229, 914 A.2d 160 (2007), which reviewed section 19-511. In Chamberlin the Court soundly determined that the statute “was enacted to protect the innocent victim from irresponsible drivers with out insurance”. Or as in this case a driver with inadequate insurance. Furthermore, the Court stated the statute “is not intended to deprive the insured of the benefit of a settlement with the liability carrier.” Please feel free to call me if you encounter this problem.