Articles Posted in Car Accidents

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Many of our Maryland accident lawyers’ clients were injured in a car accident while on the job. This means the plaintiff has three accident claims under Maryland law: PIP, third party liability, and workers’ compensation.

Generally, a Maryland accident lawyer wants to present the PIP claim before the workers’ compensation claim in Maryland. Other states differ on the right of subrogation of PIP insurance. But Maryland law is clear that the PIP carrier has no right of subrogation against any third-party recovery, according to Maryland Code, Insurance Article §19-507(d). In other words, if the PIP claim is made first, the injury victim does not have to pay back the PIP benefits the victim receives (most attorneys don’t charge for PIP claims). In contrast, the workers’ compensation carrier has subrogation rights (after attorneys’ fees) out of the third-party recovery for the workers’ compensation benefits that it paid to the victim under Maryland Code, Labor and Employment Article §9-902(e) and §9-902 (f).

If a Maryland accident lawyer decides—either out of laziness or just getting it wrong—to put the workers’ compensation claim first, the lawyer might be barred from making a PIP claim. Under Maryland accident law, the PIP carrier receives a setoff for workers’ compensation benefits that the accident victim has received under Maryland Code Insurance Article §19-513(e).

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The Insurance Research Council found that rising gas prices in the last few years have increased the number of serious auto accident injuries. The reason is that when drivers switch to smaller vehicles as a result of higher prices at the pump, more accident injuries ensue.

The institute took 9,000 accident claims from 2007, broke them down according to vehicle weight, and found that people driving compacts, sports cars and other smaller cars submitted injury claims that were 14 percent larger, on average, than those of people driving SUVs and other larger vehicles. A hidden cost of small car accidents, according to the study: more people lose work time because of injury than in large-vehicle accidents.

The large vehicle gas guzzler versus small vehicle great gas mileage choice is a false choice in terms of technology: carmakers can build large cars that get good gas mileage. The problem with larger cars that get good gas mileage is that they accelerate much more slowly than consumers will tolerate.

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In MAIF v. Baxter, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that Maryland law does not require a car insurer to provide uninsured motorist coverage to an uninsured stranger/pedestrian who is struck by a car driven by a person excluded under the insurer’s policy. Basically, the court found that the Maryland Legislature only required that UM coverage be extended to an “insured.”

The case of MAIF v. Baxter is a legal dispute that involved the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF or Maryland Auto Insurance, as it is called in 2023) and a former employee named Baxter. The case centered around the issue of workers’ compensation and the extent to which employees are entitled to benefits when they are injured on the job.

Facts of the MAIF v. Baxter

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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 are 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 injuries. 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.

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Jury Verdict Research released fresh data (2001-2008) last week that showed that the median compensatory award for motor vehicle accident lawsuits in Maryland is $11,925. Accident plaintiffs receive compensation in 71 percent of cases that go to trial.

Another interesting tidbit is that rear-end collisions made up 37 percent of the total number of accident verdicts in Maryland. Intersection collisions accounted for 13 percent of Maryland accidents that went to trial. Turning collisions accounted for 9 percent and chain reaction collisions and pedestrian suits each accounted for 5 percent of the total Maryland accident lawsuits that went to verdict.

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The recession has created another problem for Maryland accident victims: more uninsured motorist accident lawsuits. A new study indicates that one in six drivers in the U.S. might be driving without insurance by 2010. Uninsured drivers had been declining because of sharper enforcement efforts. (In Maryland, the hammer is the FR-19 which Maryland sends out every time you leave your current insurance company.) In fact, the estimated percentage of uninsured motorists in the United States decreased to 13.8% in 2007 from 14.9% in 2003, but it’s expected to sharply increase because of the recession.

A recent study estimated the number of uninsured motorists by using a ratio of insurance claims made by people injured by uninsured drivers to claims by people injured by insured drivers. I’m not sure about the accuracy and I doubt there is an entirely linear relationship, but the theory is that an increase of 1 percent in the unemployment rate causes a nearly three-quarters of a percent increase in the uninsured motorist rate.

That sounds incredibly high, but I don’t know. In Maryland, we have never really gotten a handle on the number of Maryland uninsured drivers. A study from 1977 – sorry it is all I have – suggested the uninsured motorist rate in Maryland was 2.8%. I cannot imagine it was that low, either.

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Most car accidents occur with injuries. Maryland accident lawyers typically do not get involved in such cases, leaving accident victims to deal with handling the property damage claim and getting a rental car themselves.

Convincing the insurance company to provide a rental car is a hassle in some Maryland accident case, even if you have a lawyer much less without. This article on getting a rental car from the insurance company after an accident provides a few thoughts for those of you who are traveling solo without a Maryland accident lawyer.

Remember that one good way to take this issue out of play even further is to purchase rental reimbursement coverage. It costs very little – only $12 a year under most auto insurance policies – but it is an investment worth making.

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The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog talks about a trial where the jury awarded all the Plaintiff’s medical bills but awarded nothing for the client’s pain and suffering.

This was not the type of case we would appeal because while our lawyers were not thrilled with the verdict, the client was extremely happy with the result being more than 8 times the offer.

maryland accident verdictsBut if our lawyers had appealed this verdict, I think we would have failed. In Patras v. Syphax, 166 Md. App. 67 (2005), the Maryland Court of Special Appeals heard an appeal in a rear-end auto accident in Montgomery County on Georgia Avenue (which is familiar to many of us). The case involved the Plaintiff’s request for a new trial because of a claimed inconsistency in the jury’s verdict.

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The Baltimore Sun has an interesting story on balancing compassion and victim’s rights in fatal car accidents in Maryland.

These are tough issues. What should be the criminal penalties for those who negligently (distinguished from drunk for our purposes here) kill others in fatal car accidents? Should criminal courts admit “I’m sorry” evidence from the driver accused of killing another in a motor vehicle?