The reason defendants parties do not provide meaningful discovery responses is that you are likely, in garden variety accident cases in Maryland, to get away with it. Why? Because filing a motion to compel is hard work. Here is a sample motion to compel John Bratt wrote in a case earlier this week.
This motion is set up using the "lay it out" format most judges in Maryland require.
A while back, I wrote about the issue of what the punishment should be in Maryland fatal accident cases where there are no aggravating factors (almost always alcohol) but still someone dies because someone just was not paying attention. Should this mean prison? Is the pain of killing someone enough punishment?
Clients usually feel strongly about this issue one way or the other, there is very little in between. Either they view the defendant as a killer or they see the accident as a mistake that could have happened to anyone.
A bill has been floating around the Maryland legislature for years that would give prosecutors more latitude when charging these drivers. In a swap, House Del. Luiz Simmons, a criminal defense lawyer from Montgomery County, proposes a law that would sentence someone to up to three years in prison for killing a person as the result of a “substantial deviation from the standard of care.” Standing in the way of the bill is Maryland State Senator Brian Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat, who questions whether prison should follow for drivers who negligently kill another person.
Continue reading " Tougher Maryland Laws in Fatal Accident Cases? " »
When a couple goes out to dinner or whatever, who drives? Even among progressive people, the man usually drives.
This is probably a bad idea. Here's why, according to accident statistics (source - Google statistics that seem legit):
I only made up the last one. The bottom line is in driving down the road separated by a double yellow line, I'd breathe a little easier if I knew that driver was a woman.
Accident Analysis and Prevention published a study of 800 car accidents involving teen drivers and tried to find the common treads:
Laura G. Zois
