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Brake checking is when a driver abruptly and intentionally applies their brakes, often without any reason, with the intent of causing the following vehicle to collide with them, or more likely, put them in fear of colliding with them.  Brake checking is both illegal and stupid and can lead to rear-end collisions, property damage, injuries, and even fatalities.

The other rise with brake checking is that it is arguably intentional in most cases, not negligent.  So your car insurance can disclaim coverage because it is an intentional act, leaving the brake checker on the hook for all of the property damages and injuries in the crash.

What Is Break Checking?

Break checking is when a driver unnecessarily slams on their brakes very suddenly with the specific intention of forcing the driver behind them to stop suddenly in response. The key element that defines break-checking is intent. If you break with the specific intent of forcing the car behind you to respond, that would be considered break-checking.

Our Baltimore car accident lawyers are all too familiar with the most dangerous intersections in Baltimore. Baltimore City is one of the most densely populated areas in Maryland so it has lots of cars on the road at the same time. Baltimore is also an old city, so many of the streets are narrow and many of the intersections are difficult and confusing. As a direct result of these factors, Baltimore City has one of the highest per-driver accident rates of any jurisdiction in Maryland.


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Most Dangerous Intersections in Glen Burnie

The Baltimore Washington suburban corridor in central Maryland has changed dramatically over the last few decades. The 30 mile stretch along I-95 connecting the two cities has become one of the most densely developed and populated areas in the entire country. This intense suburbanization has generated a massive volume of vehicle traffic and transformed the roadways in central Maryland.

Columbia in Howard County is one of the areas in the Baltimore-Washington corridor that has undergone the most dramatic change during this period. In the early 1990s, Columbia still felt like the isolated “planned community” that it was originally designed to be.

Today, however, Columbia is the second largest town in Maryland with a population of well over 100,000. The volume of vehicle traffic and the nature of the roadways in Columbia have followed a similar pattern of development. What used to be single-lane roads with stop signs have evolved into 4 or even 6-lane commercial routes clogged with traffic lights.

When a disability insurance claim is denied, it can be a frustrating and stressful experience, particularly if you’re relying on those benefits to support yourself and your family. Fortunately, there is often an opportunity to appeal the decision and potentially get the benefits you need. However, the appeals process can be complex, and there are many factors that can influence your chances of success.

Why Was the Disability Appeal Denied?

First and foremost, it’s important to understand the grounds for the denial. Disability insurance policies can be complicated, and there are often a variety of exclusions, limitations, and requirements that must be met in order to qualify for benefits. If your claim was denied because you didn’t meet one of these requirements, or because the insurer believes that your condition isn’t severe enough to qualify for benefits, your chances of success on appeal may be lower.

Over a million people who lived or worked at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were exposed to dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals in the water supply at the base. The contaminated water at Camp Lejeune lasted from 1953 to 1987. Congress passed a new federal law giving victims of Camp Lejeune water contamination the right to sue the government and get compensation.

The mass tort lawyers at Miller & Zois are currently accepting Camp Lejeune cases from victims who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune prior to 1987 and were later diagnosed with cancer or another serious health condition.

Toxic Water at Camp Lejeune

A truck accident lawsuit recently filed in Philadelphia revealed that one of the worst highway accidents in the history of Pennsylvania may have been caused by a FedEx driver wearing noise-canceling headphones behind the wheel. Wearing headphones or ear pods while driving is illegal in Maryland and most other states and the tragic case from Pennsylvania is a sharp reminder of why.

Fatal FedEx Truck Accident

In January 2020 a tour bus full of passengers was on a rural, mountainous stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike roughly 30 miles east of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, PA. The bus was going on a trip from New Jersey to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Our Frederick personal injury lawyers field a lot of calls from potential clients who have been injured in auto accidents in Frederick. A large percentage of these accidents seem to occur at a handful of notorious roads and intersections in Frederick County. In this post, we will give our own list of the worst intersections and roads in Frederick County, Maryland. This list is based on both our own anecdotal information from client calls and data from the Maryland State Highway Administration.

In determining what should rank as the “worst” intersections and roads in Frederick, we are primarily looking at the frequency and severity of auto and pedestrian accidents that occur on that road or at that intersection. However, our list also takes into account traffic volume and congestion, which often goes hand-in-hand with the number of accidents.

Auto Accidents in Frederick County

Some personal injury lawyers in Maryland have a very negative opinion of chiropractors and they usually try to steer their accident clients away from using chiropractors to treat injuries suffered in an accident. Is this view unfair?  It is.  But this negative opinion of chiropractors is largely shaped by how chiropractors are viewed by insurance claims adjusters.

Patients often see it differently. Many insist that chiropractors provide effective treatment and make them feel better. Most insurance adjusters, however, are more reluctant to pay full value for chiropractic therapy.  Adjusters argue chiros treat patients too long and charge too much.   The other problem with chiropractors in personal injury claims is that they usually don’t give injured patients a diagnosis, or any sort of long-term treatment plan with an end goal of recovery.  Too many chiropractors have the mentality of trying to get a lifelong patent.

As lawyers, it is not our job to control or direct our clients in their medical treatment choices. However, we do have an ethical obligation to advise our clients that if they chose to use a chiropractor instead of a traditional doctor, it could have a negative impact on the value of their accident case if there is not a medical doctor standing behind the chiropractors work and blessing the treatment.

Our office is in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City.  So our lawyers see a lot of pedestrian accident cases.

Walking on the street should not be a dangerous activity, right?  But, my goodness, it is. Pedestrians struck by a vehicle are far more likely to experience severe or fatal injuries than vehicle occupants. This is because — and I’m not telling you anything you did not already know —  they lack a vehicle’s physical protection. If

Pedestrian-vehicle accident statistics

The Louisiana Supreme Court this week overturned a jury’s verdict in a sidewalk slip and fall case. The court found that, as a matter of law, the defect on the sidewalk did not present an unreasonable risk of harm.

For slip and fall cases, plaintiffs’ lawyers want the story to begin in a good way. This one does: “Plaintiff was walking home from church when….” As she was walking, Plaintiff slipped and fell on a section of the sidewalk and sustained a comminuted fracture of the radius of her right arm.

The sidewalk ran into a driveway. Two sections had become, or were installed, depressed in relation to the rest of the sidewalk. So they sat a few inches lower than the remaining sidewalk. The elevation change was approximately one-and-one-quarter to one-and-one-half inch in addition to the elevation change created by the depression.