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The Baltimore Sun has an article about a police officer who has been suspended after giving chase to a motorcyclist which resulted in an accident that killed the fleeing motorcyclist.

The Sun reports that Baltimore police are instructed to chase a vehicle only if the driver or passengers are believed to have committed a violent crime or pose a risk to public safety.

It has to be frustrating for police when motorcyclists drive by police at excessive speeds, thumbing their nose at law enforcement. The question is where to draw the line between trying to apprehend suspects and keeping reasonably safe the general public, the police officer, and, yes, even the fleeing suspect. Personally, I have no idea where that line should be drawn or whether the police officer acted appropriately in this case.

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In Prince George’s County v. Brent, the Maryland Court of Appeals answers the question that will probably never be asked again: can you sue the agent after a successful case against the master? (Sneak preview: the answer is yes.)

The case involves an accident at the Branch Avenue (Route 5) and Allentown Road (Route 337) interchange in Prince George’s County against a police officer. Of course, when the Local Government Torts Claims Act is involved, plaintiffs’ accident lawyers have to navigate through more hurdles than Bristol Palin’s path to happiness. (Did you hear she is engaged? To Levi? Really, it’s true! I read it in US Weekly.)

So, bizarrely, the Plaintiff tried the case against PG County alone and got a $230,000 verdict. But the verdict was reduced by the procedural hodgepodge of Maryland Code §5-524 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article that limits the sovereign immunity waiver to the available insurance coverage in car accident cases. So Plaintiff goes back and gets a verdict against the police officer, trying the case solely on the issue of whether the police officer was responding to an emergency.

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Earlier today, I blogged about medical malpractice after an auto accident. The take-home message was that malpractice after a car accident is foreseeable and the negligent driver is responsible for all the harms caused by the accident.

One of our clients has an interesting issue that falls under the same logic. In this case, the car was destroyed not by the accident but, at least allegedly, by the negligence of the repair shop in fixing the vehicle. GEICO, being GEICO, has denied the claim.

GEICO will lose this claim but it will not happen without a lawsuit. This is the way it is in 2010.

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Random car accident statistics:

  • Car crashes are the leading cause of teenage deaths, ages 15-20, in the United States
  • Teenagers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal car accident than any other driver (an incredible statistic that underscores the need to raise the minimum driving age in the country, inconvenient as that may be)
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Red light/green light cases are maddening to take to trial. Sometimes, an accident lawyer just knows the defendant is lying… but can’t prove it. Often, there is no solution to this problem in red light/green light or other liability dispute car and truck accident cases. There are no witnesses and all you have is the police report. But sometimes, there is proof out there that the defendant is lying because the light sequence report is mutually exclusive of the defendant’s version of how the car accident occurred.

The solution by now for Maryland accident lawyers is obvious: if you have a liability dispute where light sequencing is an issue, get a copy of the traffic sequence report from the state of Maryland.

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The problem with big rig trucks is there are just too many ways they can cause serious accidents. My husband just called me and reported the traffic is stopped on the Baltimore Beltway because a truck apparently shifted too abruptly causing the pavers it was hauling to fly out of the truck, sending them across the jersey wall and into oncoming traffic.

There are just so many different consequences that can stem from negligence in big rig tractor trailers accidents that don’t exist with passenger vehicles. Apparently, what happened here is one of those truck accident risks the general public thinks very little about: properly securing the truck’s load. Federal law clearly sets forth a trucker’s obligations in this regard under 49 CFR 392.9

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Maryland motorcycle accident deaths are down approximately 20%, from 83 deaths in 2008 to 63 deaths in 2009. While that is 63 deaths too many, it reverses the trend of increasing motorcycle deaths in Maryland in the last decade. Maryland’s move toward better motorcycle safety mirrors the rest of the country. There were approximately 500 fewer fatal motorcycle accidents nationally in 2009 than in 2008.

Why the sudden decline in fatalities? No one knows for sure. The optimists argue that motorcycle safety and easier to handle motorcycles are the reason for the decline in the death rate. The pessimists argue that economic meltdown means less discretionary income, which means less motorcycles on the street. Some have also suggested bad weather played a paradoxically positive role – less good days to ride equals less motorcycle accidents. Let’s hope the optimists are right and this new trend forebodes a shift to decreasing the overall number of motorcycle accidents.

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For years, Maryland law—specifically Insurance Code Section 19-513—expressly prohibited the stacking of insurance policies. This meant that for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, the insurer was liable to its insured for the full amount of the accident victim’s damages minus the amount paid by the liability carrier or the Defendant.

After years of criticism for this, the Maryland legislature finally changed the law. As of July 1, 2018, insurance companies who write private auto policies in Maryland are required to offer something called Enhanced Underinsured Motorist Coverage (EUIM). Insureds who chose to add EUIM to their policy will be able to “stack” coverage to ensure they receive full compensation up to their UIM limits. This means that drivers with EUIM can get a policy limit settlement and still get the full policy limits of their UIM coverage.

Here is a simplified example to demonstrate how stacking will work for drivers with the new EUIM coverage and for drivers who don’t have EUIM coverage:

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I’m going to post today the type of blog post I hate most: “There was an accident today on….” But this one is different because of the scope of the tragedy. CNN reports that ten people were killed in a single truck accident in Kentucky.

The truck apparently went across the median on Interstate 65 in Hart County and hit an 18 passenger van, reportedly a family of Mennonites traveling to a wedding in Iowa.

Just an unbelievable tragedy that underscores in a meaningful way the risks we take when we get on the road with these big rig trucks. This case is a single tragedy but, statistically, over 11 people will die in other truck accidents today.

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What insurance company in Maryland is most likely to take their car accident cases to trial? I have never asked myself that specific question but I started thinking about it after reading the most recent Metro Verdicts Monthly (Volume 22, Issue 3). From reading this issue with that question in mind and just reflecting unscientifically on the cases we have tried over the last year, I think the answer clearly is State Farm.

For whatever reason, I think State Farm has less concern about taking a bad faith verdict than other insurance companies. I have no idea why. But it also seems that at least with respect to its own insureds, who are defendants, State Farm will stand behind them by paying an excess verdict. As I understand it, keeping in mind that this is all based on hearsay and second and third hand reports, State Farm sends a “good neighbor letter” to its insured letting them know that if there is a verdict in excess of the State Farm policy limits, State Farm will pay the claim.

Why is State Farm willing to try so many cases in Maryland? I think it is a clear message to Maryland accident lawyers that if they do not take State Farm’s often pitiful offer; they had better be prepared for trial. Does this tough guy tactic work? I think in many cases it does. Many Maryland car accident lawyers are not prepared to go to trial. So even if State Farm loses on most cases that go to trial – as I believe they do – the overall message to other accident lawyers may well make it a loss worth taking for them.

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