Why the first number is rarely the real number
Insurance adjusters routinely open negotiations with a conservative figure, expecting a counteroffer. Accepting that first offer typically closes the claim permanently — there's generally no going back to ask for more later, even if additional injuries or costs surface afterward.
Contributory negligence: the real leverage point in Maryland
In most states, an insurer negotiates around a percentage of fault that reduces, but doesn't eliminate, a claim. Maryland is different — and so is the strategy. Because any fault that actually contributed to causing the incident can bar recovery entirely, an adjuster has a strong incentive to search for any plausible basis to argue the claimant shares some responsibility, however small. A lowball dollar figure is often secondary to this underlying fault argument.
Not every careless act counts
There's a real limit here worth knowing: Maryland case law requires that the claimant's own conduct actually contributed to causing the incident, not merely that the claimant was careless in some general sense. Evidence of speeding, for instance, doesn't establish contributory negligence on its own unless the speed actually played a role in causing the collision — a distinction worth understanding before assuming an adjuster's fault argument is as strong as it sounds.
What this means for how you communicate
Because there's no partial-recovery fallback if contributory negligence is established, a statement that could be read as acknowledging even minor fault carries disproportionately more weight in Maryland than it would in a state with a comparative fault bar. This isn't a reason to avoid honest communication — it's a reason to be precise and careful in how an incident is described, particularly to an insurance adjuster.
The baseline still applies
None of this changes the ordinary approach to a first offer: compare it against a complete, well-documented account of your actual damages before deciding whether to accept or counter, since the decision is generally final once made.