Personally, I find it a little odd when car accident victims swear at the at-fault driver after an accident. I know people cause car accidents and I don’t have great expectations of those strangers.
But that is a minority view. The f-bomb is de jure at car accident scenes in Maryland (and, road rage statistics tell us, probably in every town from here to Tripoli).
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided a worker’s compensation case today involving former Redskins punter Tom Tupa. The case addresses the issue of where a comp claim arises for a player who played in Maryland at FedEx field but practiced in Virginia. Plaintiff was injured practicing before a game in Maryland, but his contract had a forum selection clause that required all comp claims to be brought in Virginia.
The court found that parties cannot contract to avoid the application of Maryland’s workers’ compensation law. It is hard to argue with this logic.
You can read the opinion here.
I do not know if it is a trend or whether I’m just noticing it more often. But I think our firm is seeing more cases than ever where the medical expert designated by the defendant is not the appropriate expert. Instead of matching the expert to the facts, they seem to just designate the usual suspects regardless of what the case is really about – trotting out shoulder guys in knee cases, orthopedic doctors in neurology cases, etc.
Here are two good questions to ask in these cases:
Head injuries are the most common cause of fatalities in car accidents. Jury Verdict research provides some interesting data on the median value of head injury cases, breaking down some of the different types of head injury claims:
Head Lacerations and Contusions: $10,016
Concussions: $22,638
The CDC reports that Maryland is 9th in the nation in the percentage of people who report they always wear a seat belt. Oregon is first, which is surprising because the study also found that seat belt use among rural drivers is much lower than usage in urban and suburban areas. So whatever Oregon is doing, we should be copying them.
Ninth is not bad. But why can’t Maryland be first? Couldn’t someone start some sort of campaign? Nothing like competition to bring about the best results. The fact that seat belts reduce car accident deaths is underscored by this study: seat belts reduce the risk of death in car accidents by 45-50%.
Wearing a seat belt may become more and more important if oil prices continue to rise. Oil prices so far have not led Americans to buy more fuel-efficient but less safe vehicles. Oil is now at $93 a barrel. If it goes to $150, as some have predicted, we will see $5 to $6 per gallon at the pump and it will cause people to buy smaller cars. If cars will get smaller, they need to build safer small cars and we need to improve our driving habits or the recent improvements in the number of car crash fatalities will diminish.
Another interesting graph from Metro Verdicts Monthly, this time on the median verdicts in leg amputation cases for Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The District of Columbia and Maryland have comparable verdicts, $2.1 million and $1.97 million, respectively. Virginia? $500,000. I expect some verdicts in Virginia to be lower because the rural areas of Virginia have conservative juries. But one-fourth of the amount?
Obviously, this data is not to be taken too seriously by accident lawyers in Maryland or in Virginia, as I discussed earlier this month. But in that post, I noted that Virginia’s verdicts in femur fracture cases are twice the Maryland average. So I cannot figure out the rhyme or reason to these comparative numbers.
I think it is fair to say that with respect to pain and suffering, you have to value a leg amputation case in Maryland on (1) the statutory cap on damages plus, (2) Plaintiff’s economic expenses. In terms of making the noneconomic damages case, it is important to consider the future costs of a prosthetic leg. Last time we tried a leg amputation accident case, we brought in a prosthetic’s expert from the client’s prosthetic manufacturer from Hanger Orthopedic in Minnesota who I thought was a very effective witness at trial.
Let me begin this post with a disclaimer. I am a Maryland accident lawyer who handles serious injury cases only. My law firm does not handle property damage or minor injury claims. But, without a doubt, property damage claims are vexing for the vast majority of people who are involved in a car accident. So let me give you my thoughts on property damage cases. You can also find more information along with my law firm’s thoughts on property damage claims on our website.
It is easy to forget from where I am sitting, but the average auto accident claim does not involve injuries. Without an injury, it is hard, (read: virtually) impossible to get a lawyer to handle your claim. So most property damage accident victims will end up handling their own property damage claims rather than getting the assistance of an attorney. Without an attorney, consumers are behind the 8 ball if the insurance company does not play it straight and tries to take advantage of the fact that the claimant does not understand the law and their rights when making a property damage claim from a car accident.
Our accident lawyers see more rear-end car crashes than any type of car accident in our law practice. Statistics bear this out. In Maryland, rear-end accidents are the most common type of automobile accident reported. In fact, incredibly, for every 100 miles traveled within the state of Maryland there are approximately 27 rear-end accidents reported. Most are harmless and do not cause any injury. But it is still an incredible statistic.
People, fortunately, even sometimes insurance adjusters, generally presume that in a rear-end car crash, the person who strikes another from behind is automatically deemed negligent and at fault for the accident. Though a rear-end accident does not produce a high amount of injury compared to front-end collisions, the human and property damage and losses cost residents in the state of Maryland millions of dollars in medical expenses, loss of production, time, and insurance claims. Nationally, the Department of Transportation estimates that over $5 billion dollars are spent each year on recovering from rear-end accidents – another mind-numbing statistic.
As stated earlier, to determine who is at-fault for a rear-end accident, it is typically assumed that the vehicle that strikes from the rear is at fault. The cause is usually that the rear vehicle is following the lead vehicle too closely. Therefore, when sudden braking or other actions are required, the driver operating the closely following rear vehicle cannot correct their actions and avoid the accident. Maryland law echoes that populist sentiment in Andrade v. Housein, in which the Maryland Court of Special Appeals found that in rear-end collisions, the rebuttable presumption is that the rear-ending driver is at fault for the accident. This presumption can be rebutted, but the rear-ended car has a leg up in the battle for evidence.
What is justice in a fatal car accident in Maryland? Your view of this usually depends on which side of the fence you find yourself. If you love someone who has been killed in a car accident, justice usually demands jail. The logic is unassailable: a very special person has been killed. How can you walk around free, paying a ticket and letting your insurance company pay for the loss after killing someone I love? Justice dictates punishment.
If you or someone you care about negligently killed someone in an accident, you see it very differently. Accidents happen. You know you will live with it for the rest of your life. But lots of people make mistakes and cause accidents, and you “drew the wrong cards” when your accident proved fatal.
Certainly, it is fair to say that there are two categories of drivers: drunk and not drunk. If you killed someone while drinking and driving, it is hard to argue you should not be punished. The harder issue is the person who chooses not to pay attention behind the wheel and causes a fatal accident. It is their fault; it is their responsibility. But they are not criminals, at least in the usual sense of the word. What do we do with them? Having represented a lot of families who have lost a loved one, I can tell you where 85% of these people sit: real, substantive punishment.
As we have written before, slip and fall cases in Maryland on snow and ice are going the way of the Betamax and the VHS. The Maryland Court of Appeals has so broadly set forth how it defines the assumption of the risk in slip and fall snow and ice cases that Maryland lawyers will have a tough time getting these cases past summary judgment.
Why, then, are slip and fall lawyers in Maryland constantly telling us that we are wrong and they got a settlement in a snow and ice slip and fall? There is no question you can still get a settlement for a snow and ice slip and fall case in Maryland if the injuries are serious. But our law firm does not take cases because we think we might be able to get a settlement. When we get into a case, our lawyers are in for the long haul. We will not make a demand, threaten to file suit, and then drop the case. If our lawyers did this, we think we would lose credibility in all of our other accident cases with the insurance company.
I know there are clients out there reading this blog post looking for information about slip and fall settlements in Maryland on snow and ice. If you are looking for a lawyer who will work to get you a settlement in your case, I think you will eventually find one and that lawyer may very well be able to get you a settlement, particularly if the adjuster is not familiar with the latest Maryland law on slip and fall snow and ice claims. But our law firm cannot help you with your case.
