Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

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.

Really odd facts. It is a good case for plaintiffs although I cannot imagine when anyone reading this will actually use the opinion. I'm surprised the Maryland Court of Appeals took the case. Read the case for the rest of the details.

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 of 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. This is their denial letter.

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

• GEICO claims (an overview on dealing with GEICO)
• Property damage claims (how to handle)

The Boston Injury Lawyer Blog has a post on the awful recipe of teenagers, night driving and cell phones/text messaging.

• Cell phone accident statistics
• Car accident statistics

USAA claims in auto accident cases are less predictable than claims that claims against the three insurance companies with the most market share (GEICO, State Farm and Allstate) in Maryland.

On our website, we recently added a page discussing our Maryland accident attorneys' experience with USAA and how we believe USAA approaches auto accident claims.

Certainly, informed plaintiffs want to know what their best case scenarios are. Plaintiffs' car accident lawsuits (and settlements) in Maryland are limited by (1) Maryland's cap on non-economic damages, or (2) as a practical matter in most passenger car accident cases, the upper limits of the available insurance coverage.

How much money does the insurance company have available to settle your claim? Unless the insurance company offers the policy limits, in which case they certify the amount of the policy, the only other way to know is to file a lawsuit. They are required to provide this information in discovery. Here is an example of a response from Erie:

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 (incredible statistic that underscores the need to raise the minimum driving age in the country, inconvenient as that may be)
• In 2008, elderly people were the cause of 18 percent of all pedestrian fatalities and 15 percent of all car accident fatalities
• In good news, there were about 33,963 fatal car accidents in 2009, compared to the 37,261 fatal car accidents in 2008, showing a decrease of about 9 percent.
• Seatbelt usage is higher among women then of men and it was lower when a person was driving alone versus when they were driving with passengers. (Another surprising car accident statistic.) Is this because a good brand of peer pressure pushes you to put on your seatbelt?)
• Seatbelts saved over 75,000 lives from 2004 to 2008
• Someone dies from auto accident injuries every 15 minutes.
• In the UK, 7 percent of drivers have either lost control or had an accident due to sneezing. (This is still negligence, by the way, no matter how you slice it.)
• In 2009, 650,000 teens under the age of 21 were involved in a car accident
• Car accidents are most likely to occur in the summer time because people are more likely to be drinking and driving
• The leading cause of car accidents is a distracted driver
• 60 percent of fatal teen car accidents are related to alcohol
• 73% of fatal car accident victims are men, making men two times more likely to die in a car accident
• 1,550 people die yearly due to drowsy driving and 71,000 are injured (I wonder how many of these are truck drivers driving long days)
• I've read this a thousand times and I still can't believe it: the middle back seat is the safest place to ride in a car
• Most car accidents occur 1.4 miles away from the home
• There are approximately 6,000,000 car accidents in the United States every year.

More Car Accident Statistics and Information

• More Car Accident Statistics
• Car Accident Claims (an overview)

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 in some cases 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.

• Sample Light Sequence Report
• Sample Request Letter for Sequence Report
• Maryland accident claims: an overview

This is a sample closing statement I gave in an auto accident case in Prince George's County where the jury awarded $8 million.

The Baltimore Sun is covering personal injury wrongful death accident trials. Super. Here is how the article begins: "A $100 million civil trial opened Thursday with attorneys contending that Baltimore police officers purposely drove erratically while transporting a suspect, leading to the man's death."

The writer is telling the readers $100 million for a reason. It lets us know...absolutely nothing. It is beyond impossible for the plaintiff to actually receive this amount of money, given the cap we have in Maryland which may limit the verdict to less than 1% of the recovery (depending on the amount of economic damages and whether there was pain and suffering before death). Even with the best possible "the tragic victim's family and next door neighbors all sat on the jury" outcome.

Using $100 million just serves to confuse readers who think there really is the potential for jackpot justice of this magnitude in every case.

Maryland law - specifically Insurance Code Section 19-513 - prohibits the stacking of insurance policies. Accordingly, under Maryland law, if there is uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, the insurer is 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.

In other words, let's say you have a Maryland accident case where the defendant has a $100,000 liability policy and the injury victim has a $300,000 uninsured/underinsured motorist policy. If the $100,000 is paid by the liability carrier, the uninsured/underinsured motorist obligation is $200,000, not $300,000. So if the liability policy is lower than the UM/UIM limits, you are going to be capped in your recovery for the uninsured/underinsured motorist claim by the amount of the policy.

Lawyers in other jurisdictions - Pennsylvania leaps to mind - are shocked at how conservative Maryland accident law is on stacking insurance policies and lots of other issues related to the handling of car accident claims. We are a blue state with very red accident laws.

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. The reality is that 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.

Particularly in this economy, there is temptation for many real estate, criminal and domestic lawyers to dabble in accident lawsuits, particularly if it is a serious accident. But there is a reason why our firm does not dabble in areas of the law that are not related to personal injury cases. And it is not 1985 anymore, insurance companies are not giving away anything without a fight. So if you sign up to handle a Maryland accident claim, you had better be ready to handle the case through trial.

Our practice is largely based on referrals from other lawyers. Our firm looks to establish relationships with other lawyers that refer serious injury cases (accident, malpractice and product liability) to our firm with co-counsel fees consistent with Maryland Rule 1.5(e). If you have a case you don't feel you have the experience and/or resources to handle and want to co-counsel with a law firm that has tried hundreds of personal injury cases, call me at 800-553-8082 or email me to run your case by us.

I stumbled across some interesting data from Great Britain on a study attempting to correlate color of car and road accidents. The study found that the color (the article said ‘colour’, of course) of cars most involved in car accidents where there was an injury was black with 179 accidents per 10,000 vehicles. Next on the frequent flyer accident list was white at 160, followed by red with 157. Interestingly, one of the safest colors was green at 134. The average for all cars was 150.

Before you trade in your black vehicle (my family has two), keep in mind that black vehicles might be at the top of the list for a reason other than the fact that a black car is less conspicuous. I’ll bet that black vehicles are more sought out by younger, hipper drivers (yeah, that is us, sure).

There is a popular conception that lawsuits in car accident cases are filed directly against the insurance companies. It is easy to understand the source of the confusion. The insurance company that insured the driver or the vehicle is going to stand behind their insured and pay any claim up to the policy limit of the policy. The insurance company is also going to make the decision as to how much to offer as a settlement, not the actual defendant, who is usually kept in the dark on the entire process from initial settlement offer though the tactics the insurance company will take at trial.

Technically, in Maryland car accident lawsuits are generally filed against the defendant themselves. This technical distinction makes a difference at trial because the jury is not told there is insurance behind the case under Maryland’s collateral source rule. I remember trying a case against a defendant once where we got a good verdict ($298,000 award after a $25,000 offer before trial). When we met with the jurors after the trial, their big concern was whether there was insurance because they were concerned that the defendant – who was a pretty good guy – would have to pay the verdict themselves.

The exception to this is underinsured/uninsured motorist cases. In Maryland, claims are brought directly against the insurance company. To serve an insurance company defendant with a lawsuit in Maryland, you can serve the Maryland Insurance Administration. It looks like this:

Our lawyers handle serious personal injury accident claims. Although we do not charge a fee for handling property damage claims for our injured clients, we almost invariably are drawn into property damage claims, many of which involve total loss to the vehicle.

What exactly is the insurance company obligated to pay for a total vehicle loss in Maryland, i.e., when the car is totaled?

Maryland Insurance Regulation COMAR 31.15.12.04, titled “Cash Settlement” is on point. It requires that:

If an insurer elects to make a cash settlement for the total loss of a motor vehicle pursuant to Regulation .03 of this chapter, the insurer's minimum offer, subject to applicable deductions, shall be:

A. The total of:

(1) The retail value for a substantially similar motor vehicle from a nationally
recognized valuation manual or from a computerized data base that produces
statistically valid fair market values for a substantially similar vehicle as defined
in Regulation .02B(7) of this regulation; and

(2) Regardless of whether the claimant retains salvage rights, the applicable
taxes and transfer fees pursuant to COMAR 11.11.05; or

B. The total of:

(1) A quotation for a substantially similar motor vehicle obtained by or on behalf
of the insurer from a qualified dealer at a location reasonably convenient to the
claimant; and

(2) Regardless of whether the claimant retains salvage rights, the applicable
taxes and transfer fees pursuant to COMAR 11.11.05.

Unlike personal injury claims where insurance companies are remarkably prone to unreasonable positions as to value, most insurance companies play the value of a totaled car or truck pretty straight and pay the bluebook and associated costs. Do they all?

• Negotiating settlement value on a totaled vehicle or other property damage claim


• How to get into a rental car


• What is the value of your case?

Obviously, the larger problem on our highways is speeding truckers. But truck accident lawyers should keep in mind that there can be a negligence component to driving too slow. Most states have laws that require truck to travel fast enough so that they don't impede or block the normal and reasonable flow of traffic. Because of the nature of the cargo and/or the truck driver's lack of comfort/qualifications to drive the truck, some trucks drive unsafely low speeds. Many truck accidents and car accidents are caused by a speed deferential

I heard a radio advertisement this morning for OnStar vehicle security service. Specifically, the advertisement was for the service in Chevy vehicles but many GM vehicles have the service available (for an additional cost), as well. The advertisement was all about the Automatic Crash Response feature and how it could “help save your life” in an accident.

We all know the OnStar representatives will tell the police where you are and whether or not there is airbag deployment. But did you know OnStar also provides the police with maximum velocity at impact; direction of impact; whether or not there were multiple impacts; and/or vehicle rollover. Fantastic, right? From the perspective of a accident lawyer? I just wonder if OnStar always gets this stuff correct. How reliable is the technology?

Is this a reason not to get OnStar? Of course not. OnStar could save your life in an accident. Safety is more important than potentially screwing up a personal injury auto accident case.

There are two fundamental things we need to do to reduce auto accident injuries. First, we have to decrease the number of accidents. Driver inattention is a tough problem to fix, but real gains can be made with drunk drivers and drivers using their cell phones or text messaging.

The second is reducing the severity of injuries after an accident occurs. This means safe cars, trucks and motorcycles that can withstand an impact and occupants wearing seat belts. With respect to the latter, John Day's Day on Torts reports that seat belt use in 2009 stood at 84 percent, a gain from 83 percent use in 2008.

Most of our country's fatal car, truck and motorcycle accidents occur on rural roads, according to statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fifty-six percent of 37,261 traffic deaths occurred on rural roads during 2008. Researchers say that the higher death rate on rural roads stems from a combination of faster driving speeds, poorer road engineering, behavioral influences and slower delivery of acute medical care.

I would think you would have to add more single lane, curvy roads where vehicles are traveling at excessive speeds.

My client breaks his wrist in an accident. At-fault driver flees the scene. The police report makes all of this clear. So we bring an uninsured motorist claim.

This is the email I get from one of my paralegals:

John from State Farm called re: [client].... Driver Elrod had said there was "no contact." State Farm will send denial letter.

Of course, there was contact and property damage to go with it (not that contact is required, anyway, under Maryland uninsured motorist law if the negligence causes an accident). In fact, most of the property damage to the vehicle was from the collision with the at-fault driver.

Thankfully, there are pictures of all of this. But it is incredible to me that State Farm, in an uninsured motorist case, is willing to rely upon the word of a guy who flees the scene of a car accident.

You can see a depiction of the accident scene here. For information for lawyers handling claims against State Farm in Maryland, click here.