Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

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 is 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 injures. 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.

Going back to the title of this article, the question is: how much money will you get for your injuries from the accident and, for some victims, how fast will you get it? That really is the issue in any personal injury case. Our job as Maryland accident lawyers is unambiguous: to get you as much money as possible for your injuries. One question that is critical to the analysis of how much you will recovery is not included in the statistics on accident verdicts: how hard your personal injury lawyer is willing to fight to get you the most money possible.

The average verdict in chest and breast injury cases is $279,188, according to a Jury Verdict Research study over the last 10 years. Almost half of these cases were medical malrpractice cases (41%) but the bulk of the remainder is auto, truck and motorcycle accidents. Approximately 43% of the accident cases involve either a turning vehicle or intersection collusion.

Related Posts

• How Much Money Can I Expect to Get in My Car Accident Case? (accident lawyer analysis of case values with data for different types of cases)


• How Much Money Will I Get for My Maryland Auto Accident? (information of median verdicts and why the numbers may be misleading for your case)


• Get a Free Consultation (click on the Free Consultation link or call a Maryland accident lawyer at 800-553-8083)

Are you a local municipality looking to make a few extra bucks in this economy? Anne Arundel County has the answer: Starting next month, Anne Arundel County will reportedly start charging $500 for emergency ambulance rides. Anne Arundel County officials note that county residents will not be personally responsible for any of the fee. Instead, the county will try to get the injured or sick person's insurance to foot the bill. The county will not seek collection from uninsured people using these emergency services in Anne Arundel County.

Continue reading " Anne Arundel County Charging for Ambulance Rides If You Have Insurance " »

A new Maryland worker's compenation bill introduced to the Economic Matters Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates did not make it to the floor. HB 345 would have established workers' compenation coverage in Maryland for sole proprietors under our workers' compensation law unless the sole proprietor specifically elects to be exempt from coverage (not unlike specifically waiving PIP coverage).

Sandy Waterman's Virginia Injury Attorney Blog points out that under Virginia law, Virginia injury lawyers can mention the ad damnum amount - the amount sought by Plaintiff's lawyer in the complaint.

The problem with this rule is that it uses accident lawyers' form requests which usually seek as much as the law would allow to be used to create the appearance of a greedy plaintiff. Maryland accident lawyers who play it smart do not face this problem. Maryland courts have routinely granted our accident lawyers' motion in limine to exclude the amount sought in the ad damnum clause by citing Merzbacher v. State, 346 Md. 391, 396 (Md. 1997):

...I think it could unfairly mislead the jury because we all know that she can sue for ten billion dollars too if you want to do that. There is no limit to the ad damnum clause in a civil suit and if I’m willing to admit that, to let them come in and say yes, it’s in the hundred and forty million dollar range or so forth I would feel obligated to have testimony brought before the jury as to the way the ad damnum cause is handled by lawyers now in the State of Maryland, that there is no limit to what you can sue for and that the numbers for all intents and purposes mean nothing and I think it would allow–I think it would be unfairly prejudicial for the jury to feel that this is what she is really seeking, she is really, really trying to get a hundred and forty million dollars. I think it would be unfair and prejudicial.

Some states, like West Virginia, have banned - at least in some contexts - ad damnum clauses in lawsuits because they are used unfairly by both lawyers and the media reporting on accident lawsuits.

Here is a sample motion in limine to keep out this evidence out in Maryland.

Overlawyered links to an interesting post on the Law and Magic Blog on a motion in limine to prevent the defense lawyer from attempting "to perform magic tricks and/or magic acts in the presentation of his clients' case to the jury." In response, the defendant's lawyer argues:

That the undersigned counsel opted to travel the globe to learn a special set of performance skills rather than wasting his brain cells drinking his summers away at the Jersey Shore should not be held against him," and "respondent counsel understands his role in the legal process, is respectful of same and would never dishonor the Court with cheap parlor tricks-(especially when Las Vegas quality illusions are so readily known and available to him.)

Attention all Plaintiffs' lawyers encountering this lawyer: who cares? Do you really think defense lawyer's ability to perform magic tricks is going to impact your verdict? I can think of a thousand easy mark responses to counter that the defendant's lawyer is using magic tricks. I'll go as far as to say I think plaintiffs' lawyers should want the defense lawyer to perform magic tricks.