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There is an interesting case report in Metro Verdicts Monthly this week from a car accident lawsuit in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.

Plaintiff was a dog groomer on her way to work when the Defendant took a left turn in front of her. Plaintiff contended that she suffered a torn rotator cuff, among other injuries to her neck, back, and shoulder. Defendant’s accident lawyers (USAA and State Farm) claimed Plaintiff was contributorily negligent because she was speeding. The insurance company lawyers also brought an orthopedic doctor to testify that the Plaintiff’s rotator cuff injury was more consistent with her work as a dog groomer than from the car accident.

The last demand from the Plaintiff’s accident lawyer was $65,000 and the last offer from USAA and State Farm was $55,000. You would think at this point, they would find some number in between and settle. But they didn’t. The Queen Anne’s County jury, however, did it for them, awarding a verdict of $57,912.

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The Baltimore Sun has an article on a fatal accident in Howard County, Maryland at Route 32 and River Road near the Carroll County border. The article underscores what is pretty easy to see on its face if you drive by that intersection a few times: everyone in the area viewed a fatality at this intersection as a “when a fatal accident happens” situation.

Twenty years ago, there was no traffic light just a few miles west of this intersection at Route 32 and Route 99. That intersection was a classic death trap that was waiting for the accidents that occurred there all the time. Eventually, a light was added.

Everyone hates additional traffic lights, particularly on long stretches of road like Route 32. But the choice between human life and another minute in traffic is an easy call. We don’t always frame the issue like this in the moment because we live in the moment. We have to get from Point A to Point B. But the death of a mother and her child sure changes the importance of that one minute more in traffic.

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The Insurance Research Council found that rising gas prices in the last few years have increased the number of serious auto accident injuries. The reason is that when drivers switch to smaller vehicles as a result of higher prices at the pump, more accident injuries ensue.

The institute took 9,000 accident claims from 2007, broke them down according to vehicle weight, and found that people driving compacts, sports cars and other smaller cars submitted injury claims that were 14 percent larger, on average, than those of people driving SUVs and other larger vehicles. A hidden cost of small car accidents, according to the study: more people lose work time because of injury than in large-vehicle accidents.

The large vehicle gas guzzler versus small vehicle great gas mileage choice is a false choice in terms of technology: carmakers can build large cars that get good gas mileage. The problem with larger cars that get good gas mileage is that they accelerate much more slowly than consumers will tolerate.

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In MAIF v. Baxter, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that Maryland law does not require a car insurer to provide uninsured motorist coverage to an uninsured stranger/pedestrian who is struck by a car driven by a person excluded under the insurer’s policy. Basically, the court found that the Maryland Legislature only required that UM coverage be extended to an “insured.”

The case of MAIF v. Baxter is a legal dispute that involved the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF or Maryland Auto Insurance, as it is called in 2023) and a former employee named Baxter. The case centered around the issue of workers’ compensation and the extent to which employees are entitled to benefits when they are injured on the job.

Facts of the MAIF v. Baxter

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What is the value of my ear injury lawsuit? That is a tough question to answer in the abstract because there are so many types of injuries. One common ear injury in auto accidents is a burst eardrum caused by a car accident or a slip and fall that causes a direct blow to the side of the head that can burst the eardrum. But the ear is a pretty complicated little tool and a lot of things can go wrong, particularly with the flying debris you get in a serious car accident and the damage that can be done just because of the pressure of the airbag explosion. In medical malpractice cases, there are scores of error that can occur during care and treatment of the ear. Taking all of this together, Jury Verdict Research has concluded that the median jury verdict for ear injuries is $50,000. JVR reported the same exact number in 2003. But in that study, 5% of ear injury cases resulted in verdicts over $5 million. The message: it is impossible to lump together all ear injuries to guess at verdict ranges. The question of value of the ear injury case depends on the scope and extent of the ear injury.

Ear-Injury-Lawsuit-Verdicts

Ear Injury Verdicts and Settlements

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WBAL has a very informational yet unintentionally funny piece on its website about the relationship between car insurance rates and your credit history.

BALTIMORE — The WBAL TV 11 News I-Team has discovered that your credit can play a huge role in what you pay for auto insurance and there’s little you can do about it.

It’s been long known that where you live, your marital status and age can impact what you pay for auto insurance, I-Team reporter Deborah Weiner said. But an insurance agent from a well-known company who asked to remain anonymous risked her job to share her outrage with 11 News about credit scores impacting insurance rates.

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One thing I’ve learned over the years is that juries hate motorcycles. The image of a crotch rocket driving past at 100 mph is lodged deep in the mind of most of us. I found some very old data today suggesting another juror antipathy: bicyclists. An article in Bicycling almost 20 years ago reported that 67% of car-injured motorcyclists recover an award through litigation, but only 45% of bicyclists recover. (Nelson Pena, Double Standard: Why Injured Cyclists Usually Lose in Court, Bicycling, Dec. 1991)

The motorcycle thing drives our lawyers crazy is when we know our client is a motorcyclist who did the right thing and the defense lawyer is just using the bias against motorcyclists in a way that completely ignores the actual facts. But I’m amazed this same bias also exists to bike riders.

 

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Howard County is trying to do its part to prevent auto accidents in Maryland: an executive order has been issued that prohibits Howard County employees from sending or reading texts or e-mails while driving.

“The research and statistics are there: distracted driving causes accidents,” County Executive Ken Ulman said in a statement. His order cites the statistic that driver inattention causes approximately 80% of car accidents in Maryland. Ulman announced the order Thursday while attending a meeting of the Maryland Highway Safety Foundation.

Maryland does not have a ban against text messaging or emailing while driving. Why? Opponents of such a bill argue that it would lead to a ban on all distractions – not only car radios and GPS devices, but speedometers, dashboard lights, anything and everything that can divert attention and cause car accidents. Opponents of the text messaging ban also argue that there is no telling how many accidents are actually caused by texting while driving and the law is impossible to enforce.

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I don’t know. I really don’t know. That answer is followed by a laundry list of lawyerly explanations: no two cases are the same, each are judged on their merits, blah blah blah. This incredibly trite response is also true. Any accident lawyer who thinks they can accurately evaluate your case without reviewing all of your medical records and bills and understanding the severity of the accident and the injuries is completely kidding themselves—or you.

That said, there are a few things you can look at to better understand the value of your Maryland accident claim. First, there is an understanding of how insurance companies value cases. Second, there is data available on how juries decide similar cases.

Again, going back to the cliché, each case is absolutely different. But if you don’t know whether your case is worth $5,000,000 or $5,000 there are two resources for you. The first is our article on How Insurance Companies Value Personal Injury Cases, which includes a list of injuries and verdict amounts for those types of injuries. The second is on the Maryland Auto Accident Lawyer website which breaks down the nuance of how Maryland auto accident cases are valued. In other words, it discusses how much money you might get for your accident claim.

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