Markel Insurance Company Injury Claims and Settlements

Today I’m going to show you exactly how Markel Insurance Company handles injury claims.

In this comprehensive guide I’ll cover:

• How much personal injury claims with Markel are worth
• How to increase the value of your negligence case with Markel
• Recent injury settlements with Markel Insurance Company
• Lots More

How high will Markel’s insurance limits be?

In negligence cases, the liability coverage limit is likely be $1,000,000 or more.

Markel insures shopping malls, hotels and other businesses. These business have general liability policies that have big coverage limits.

This isn’t unique to Markel. The same is true if another company insured these businesses.

This means that there will likely be enough insurance available to cover the fair value of your injury claim with Markel.

In one trip and fall case that I had with Markel, the adjuster refused to send me the declarations page that showed the coverage limit. However, my client’s injury was worth much less than $1,000,000.

Therefore, it wasn’t a big deal since I knew that Markel’s general liability policy limit was likely $1,000,000 or more.

Is Markel Cheap When Paying Personal Injury Claims?

Markel is average when it comes to paying personal injury claims. Unfortunately, Markel does not pay as well as insurance companies like Nationwide and The Hartford.

On the other hand, Markel is not the worst insurance company that I’ve dealt with.

Like many other insurance companies who sell general liability policies, Markel seems to give its adjusters many claims. This means that your settlement will likely be delayed.

You may need to call or email the adjuster several times in order to speak with him or her. This is frustrating but unfortunately it’s part of the personal injury claims process.

Let’s look at a couple of my personal injury settlements with Markel.

$160,000 Settlement with Markel for Injury Claim

While on vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, Lisa was staying at a hotel. At night, she exited the doors of the hotel lobby so that she could walk through the breezeway toward the beach.

While walking outdoors in the breezeway, her heel got caught in a hole that was in the tile. She fell to the floor and had bad leg pain.

Her husband reported the accident to hotel security. Within hours, Lisa took a rideshare car to an urgent care center in South Beach.

This is a photo of Lisa in urgent care:

They took an x-ray that showed that she had a lower leg bone (fibula) fracture.

You can see her fracture here:

The next day Lisa’s husband took a photo that showed the hole and its depth.

You can see the hole and its depth below:

This was great thinking on his part.

This is because you need to show that the property owner did something wrong in order to get compensation for pain and suffering (and some other damages).

Lisa searched for a personal injury lawyer near Miami Beach and found me. I gave her a free consultation to see if I could represent her.

Within hours after speaking with me, she hired me. I immediately began working on her case.

I sent an email and letter to the hotel and found out that Markel American Insurance Company insured it.

A doctor operated on Lisa’s leg

After Lisa flew back to her home state, her doctor operated on her leg. Specifically, he put a plate and screws into her fibula.

This x-ray shows the hardware in her lower leg:

The surgeon used stitches to close up the incision.

Here is a photo of the stitches:

A few months later, Lisa felt some irritation in her lower leg.

The doctor removed one of the screws. Lisa’s health insurance paid most of her medical bills.

As with most negligence cases against Markel (or any premises insurer), they did not admit fault.

You Wouldn’t Believe Markel’s First Offer

Markel’s first offer was only $37,500!

Basically, Markel was offering $27,500 from the liability coverage in its policy, and $10,000 from the medical payments coverage in the policy.

(You don’t need to prove fault to get medical payments coverage.)

Take a look:

Unfortunately, insurance companies are not on your side.

The $37,500 offer was way too low given how the accident happened and Lisa’s injury.

Markel Ultimately Pays 4 Times Its First Offer

I battled the Markel for several months. We rejected several more low offers.

I took a tough stance. The adjuster told me that there was no surveillance of the accident. I told her that this was a great liability case, meaning that it was easy to prove.

She told me that she didn’t agree.

I drafted a lawsuit and sent it to the claim adjuster for Markel Insurance.

In 2022, I got Markel to settle for $160,000. This is over four times its first offer!

$150,000 of the $160,000 settlement was from Markel’s liability coverage.

Here’s the settlement check:

$10,000 was for medical payments coverage, which I did not charge Lisa a fee on. Markel sent me a separate $10,000 check.

After my lawyer fees, costs and paying back Lisa’s health insurance plan, Lisa got over $94,900 in her pocket.

Overall, her leg is doing well. If she works a long shift, her leg swells some. But she can still work her usual shift without issue.

She is very happy with her hotel accident settlement.

$120,000 Injury Settlement with Markel (Evanston Insurance)

Tiffany was volunteering at a private school in Homestead, Miami-Dade County, Florida.  The private school was located in a strip mall. 

The mall owner hired a company to replace the tile floors outside of the school.  In broad daylight, Tiffany exited the school, and walked through the parking lot.

She said that she walked through the parking lot because the tile was removed on the mall walkway. Thus, Tiffany claimed that she only had one safe pathway that she could walk through to get to her car.  

Here is a photo that someone (who volunteered at the school) took after Tiffany fell.

Tiffany claimed that she tripped on yellow caution tape that she could not see before she fell.  Tiffany said that the caution tape was on one of the barricades and connected to something else. 

Unfortunately, she did not have a photo showing the caution tape connected to another object. This made her case tougher.

After Tiffany fell, one of the people who worked at the school took two photos.  She sent those photos to Tiffany.  The photos had two issues.

First, the photos don’t show anything wrong where the construction work was going on.  One photo shows that some of the removed flooring was stacked in the grass.  And another photo shows that a barricade was in the parking lot. 

Second, the photos are poor quality.  If you have an accident, please take good quality photos of whatever it is that you trip on.  And don’t only take two photos.  You should, at a minimum, have 10 photos or so of the area where you tripped and fell.

After Tiffany fell, she was in pain and on the ground. Someone called 911.  Paramedics took her to the hospital. At the hospital, she was told that she broke her foot. 

Tiffany Had Foot Surgery

There, a doctor performed surgery on her foot.  Tiffany stayed at the hospital for a couple of days. 

Unfortunately, Tiffany did not have Medicaid or any health insurance. Thus, the hospital charges were around $45,000 for her hospital stay and surgery. And she owed the entire amount.

After she was released from the hospital, Tiffany searched for a Miami trip and fall attorney.  She called my office.  I gave her a free consultation and Tiffany hired me right after we spoke.

Shortly after we spoke, I drove to meet her at the mall.  Tiffany’s leg was in a cast.

And we had a problem:

The accident scene had changed.  The new tile was already on the floor.

Nevertheless, Tiffany showed me the exact route that she took when exited the school door before she fell.

I requested that the mall owner tell me who their insurance company was.  In Florida, a business is required to tell you the name of their insurance company if you get injured there.

But first, I had to find out who owned the mall.  The mall did not have a property management company that had an office at the mall.

To find out who owned the mall, I searched the county appraiser’s office.  Since Homestead is located in Miami-Dade County, I went to the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s search page:

Next, I put in the address for the property where the accident happened.

In my case, the address was 211 Homestead so I typed in “211 Homestead”.

This tells you who owns the property. Next, I sent a letter to the property owner requesting their insurance information.

Your letter should also ask them to preserve all surveillance video for a long period of time before the fall. Sometimes I ask the property owner to preserve surveillance video for 24 hours before the accident.

Markel Insurance Said Tiffany Was Warned Not to Walk There

Markel (Evanston Insurance Company) insured the mall. After the accident, they hired an investigator to find out what happened. Markel said that the construction worker said that he warned Tiffany not to walk through the construction site.

The insurance company said that she could have walked around the construction site. In most fall down cases, each side usually has a different version of the events.

Here, the insurance company argued that the mall and its tile removal company did nothing wrong. Additionally, Markel argued that this accident happened in daylight. They said that they should not be liable for Tiffany tripping on yellow caution tape, which is highly visible.

Markel made a first offer of $55,000. Here is there email where they made the offer.

In May 2020, we settled her trip and fall case (without a lawsuit) with Markel for $120,000.

Here is the settlement check:

This chart shows the comparison between their first offer and the settlement amount:

Like most trip and fall injury claims with surgery, most of the settlement was for pain and suffering.

I estimate that about 72% of the settlement was for pain and suffering.

Tiffany’s medical bills were over $100,000.

However, I got the hospital to reduce her bill to $25,000.

I handled this case on a contingency fee. This means that I got paid a percentage of the settlement amount.

After my lawyer fees, costs and paying Tiffany’s final medical bills, she got about $45,879 in her pocket. (This doesn’t include the interest on her loan that we had to pay back.)

If Tiffany had health insurance, she likely would have got more money in her pocket.

This is the case in most trip and fall injury claims.

The $120,000 trip and fall injury claim settlement is about 3.5 times the final out of pocket medical bills.

Should you sign Markel’s release of claims if you settle?

No. If you reach a personal injury settlement with Markel, they will require you to sign a document that is called a release.

Markel’s release of claims may prevent you from being allowed to use your health insurance in the future. It also contains a confidentiality clause that may make your settlement taxable.

The better option is to send Markel your own settlement release. I did this in my $160,000 settlement with Markel.

But it was still a battle.

The adjuster refused to use my settlement release at first.

She then sent me Markel’s settlement release. I asked her what the problem with my settlement release was.

We told her that insurance companies like GEICO, Progressive, and USAA routinely accept my settlement release. It’s the truth.

I then got Markel to accept my settlement release, which did not contain a confidentiality clause. This was great for my client.

Hire Me for Your Claim Against Markel in Florida

If you were badly injured in Florida, and you think someone else is at fault, I want to represent you. I want to fight to get you the compensation that you’re entitled to.

Click here to get a Free Consultation. This is the quickest way for me to tell you if I can represent you.

Or call us now at (888) 594-3577.  You can call me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

My law firm also speaks Spanish. We invite you to learn more about us.