Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

In the late 90s, Europeans figured out that thousands of fatal truck accidents occur every year as the result of head-on collisions between cars and large trucks. The EU did something about it and required European truck builders (Volvo, Renault, Scania, and Mercedes-Benz) to develop a front underride bar connected to the bumper and the chassis to prevent the underride effect in truck accidents. Our country, regrettably, has done nothing to impose the same requirements here in the United States.

You can learn more about the problem of underride truck accidents here.

In the late 90s, Europeans figured out that thousands of fatal truck accidents occur every year as the result of head-on collisions between cars and large trucks. The EU did something about it and required European truck builders (Volvo, Renault, Scania, and Mercedes-Benz) to develop a front underride bar connected to the bumper and the chassis to prevent the underride effect in truck accidents. Our country, regrettably, has done nothing to impose the same requirements here in the United States.

You can learn more about the problem of underride truck accidents here.

Certainly, State Farm is major player in auto accident insurance market share in Maryland, getting barely nudged out of the top spot by GEICO. According, Maryland accident lawyers see plenty of State Farm... over and over again. State Farm is not a bad company. They have quality accident lawyer in Maryland and good adjusters. In fact, the only issue our Maryland accident lawyers differ with State Farm over typically is the value of individual accident cases. The problem is, of course, is that value is the key ingredient in Maryland accident cases.

Our Maryland car accident lawyers lift up the veil behind State Farm in Maryland and explain some important details worth knowing in attempting to achieve a settlement with State Farm in the Baltimore-Washington area. Click on the preceding link for our attorneys' analysis of State Farm.

If you have a claim with State Farm and would like the assistance of what we believe to the best car accident law firm in Maryland, call 800-553-8082 or click here for a free Internet consultation.

Accident lawyers are coming up with new and creative schemes. Unfortunately, sometimes this schemes involve ambulance chasing.

According to a Jury Verdict Research study released this month, the average jury award for finger and hand injuries is $629,382. This data for fractures, crush injuries, and nerve damage to fingers and hands is based on a review of jury verdicts in the United States over the last 10 years.

This average finger and hand injury verdict is a little bit misleading because the verdict included a $20,000,000 verdict and other verdicts which completely distort the average verdict. The median verdict for hand and finger lawsuit verdicts, which, by definition, eliminates both high verdicts and the low verdicts, was $73,250.

About a third of these injuries were in car, truck and motorcycle accidents.

• What is your hand injury worth?
• Get a free case evaluation

What is the difference between a New York accident lawyer and a Maryland accident lawyer? The answer: day and night. A new Jury Verdict Research report found that the average personal injury verdict in New York is $2,932,602. The median award is $300.000. Putting this is context, the median personal injury accident verdict in Maryland is approximately $13,000 (as little as $11,000 for car, truck and motorcycle accident cases).

Putting this in context, a New York accident case is not worth more than 15 times the value of the same car accident in Maryland. Under New York's threshold rule, cases that do not involve permanent injuries often do not make it to the courthouse steps. (See John Hochfelder blog post). This leads to less personal injury lawsuits in New York for smaller accident cases - of which there are many in Maryland that do go to trial - which increases the overall award in New York because whiplash type cases are not figured into the math.

But, even with that caveat, the difference in the verdict is still striking.

• Average Settlement in New York Personal Injury Cases (older data summarizing value of New York personal injury cases)
• How the Value of Personal Injury Claims Is Calculated? (how lawyers, insurance companies and, ultimately, juries determine value)
• Is There a Formula to Computer Value of Personal Injury Claims? (more on settlement value of claims)
• How to Maximize the Value of Your Case (thoughts on getting the most of of your personal injury claim)

Maryland accident lawyers will find of interest the my cross examination of the defendant driver in a Baltimore City truck accident case tried last month in which the Plaintiff received a verdict of over $1 million. The case has since settled. You can find it here.

This truck driver cross examination underscores that truck accident lawyers need to know the applicable trucking regulations inside and out. As you will see if you read the cross-examination, this red light/green light truck accident case was arguably won based on an obscure trucking regulation. If you are a Maryland accident lawyer and you think, "Gee, car, truck, it is all pretty much the same thing," you are going to miss a ton of angles that could make or break your accident case.

Maryland accident lawyers do not complain much about not having punitive damages for accident lawsuits in Maryland. Why? I think it is just because we are so used to it, no one really imagines a punitive damages world. Yesterday, the Maryland Malpractice Lawyer Blog underscored the power of punitive damages in reporting on a South Carolina medical malpractice claim.

Today, LawyersUSA reports on a drowning accident verdict in Montgomery, Alabama. The jury found $766,000 in compensatory damages for the drowning death of a 19-year-old football player against an Alabama hotel. But the jury also awarded $3 million in punitive damages. The jury clearly wanted to send the hotel a message for what it obviously considered extreme negligence. It is unfortunate that Maryland juries are not afforded the same opportunity to send a message in accident cases in Maryland.

On Thursday, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided a workers' compensation case in Montgomery County, Maryland in Montgomery County v. Willis. This case involves an interpretation of the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act with respect to when an injured worker can appeal a decision from the Workers' Compensation Commission denying a request to have the Commission refer the case to the Insurance Fraud Division in the Maryland Insurance Administration, pursuant to Maryland Labor & Employment. Code Ann. § 9-310.2.

The facts of the case deal with an old friend of the Maryland accident lawyer: the subsequent injury. The Claimant was a police officer with the Montgomery County Police Department when she injured her knee at work on July 20, 2001. The Claimant then had another knee injury off the job. The Claimant played it straight and told her employer about both injuries. She got the idea for a workers' compensation claim from her supervisor and her employer did not contest the claim.

So far, so good. But five years later, the Montgomery County Self-Insured Fund who provided the workers' comp insurance for the Montgomery County Police, claimed it was not aware of the subsequent injury and requested a hearing for a referral to the Maryland Insurance Fraud Division.

A Maryland Workers' Compensation Commissioner, R. Karl Aumann, found no fraud. Montgomery County Self-Insured Fund filed a Circuit Court appeal. Montgomery County Judge Robert A. Greenberg found that Commissioner Aumann's order was not subject to appeal.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals found that when an employer seeks a fraud review of workers’ compensation benefits based on its belief that an employee wrongfully obtained those benefits, the Commission’s determination is subject to full review in Circuit Court. Accordingly, the Court of Special Appeals reversed and remanded the case to Montgomery County Circuit Court.

I'll bet you $10 the Circuit Court affirms the Workers' Compensation Commissioner in this case.

Every Maryland Workers' Compensation lawyer should read this case, which you can find here.