Articles Posted in Maryland Accident Law

Our accident lawyers see more rear-end car crashes than any type of car accident in our law practice. Statistics bear this out. In Maryland, rear-end accidents are the most common type of automobile accident reported. In fact, incredibly, for every 100 miles traveled within the state of Maryland there are approximately 27 rear-end accidents reported. Most are harmless and do not cause any injury. But it is still an incredible statistic.

People, fortunately, even sometimes insurance adjusters, generally presume that in a rear-end car crash, the person who strikes another from behind is automatically deemed negligent and at fault for the accident. Though a rear-end accident does not produce a high amount of injury compared to front-end collisions, the human and property damage and losses cost residents in the state of Maryland millions of dollars in medical expenses, loss of production, time, and insurance claims. Nationally, the Department of Transportation estimates that over $5 billion dollars are spent each year on recovering from rear-end accidents – another mind-numbing statistic.

As stated earlier, to determine who is at-fault for a rear-end accident, it is typically assumed that the vehicle that strikes from the rear is at fault. The cause is usually that the rear vehicle is following the lead vehicle too closely. Therefore, when sudden braking or other actions are required, the driver operating the closely following rear vehicle cannot correct their actions and avoid the accident. Maryland law echoes that populist sentiment in Andrade v. Housein, in which the Maryland Court of Special Appeals found that in rear-end collisions, the rebuttable presumption is that the rear-ending driver is at fault for the accident. This presumption can be rebutted, but the rear-ended car has a leg up in the battle for evidence.

What is justice in a fatal car accident in Maryland? Your view of this usually depends on which side of the fence you find yourself. If you love someone who has been killed in a car accident, justice usually demands jail. The logic is unassailable: a very special person has been killed. How can you walk around free, paying a ticket and letting your insurance company pay for the loss after killing someone I love? Justice dictates punishment.

If you or someone you care about negligently killed someone in an accident, you see it very differently. Accidents happen. You know you will live with it for the rest of your life. But lots of people make mistakes and cause accidents, and you “drew the wrong cards” when your accident proved fatal.

Certainly, it is fair to say that there are two categories of drivers: drunk and not drunk. If you killed someone while drinking and driving, it is hard to argue you should not be punished. The harder issue is the person who chooses not to pay attention behind the wheel and causes a fatal accident. It is their fault; it is their responsibility. But they are not criminals, at least in the usual sense of the word. What do we do with them? Having represented a lot of families who have lost a loved one, I can tell you where 85% of these people sit: real, substantive punishment.

As we have written before, slip and fall cases in Maryland on snow and ice are going the way of the Betamax and the VHS. The Maryland Court of Appeals has so broadly set forth how it defines the assumption of the risk in slip and fall snow and ice cases that Maryland lawyers will have a tough time getting these cases past summary judgment.

Why, then, are slip and fall lawyers in Maryland constantly telling us that we are wrong and they got a settlement in a snow and ice slip and fall? There is no question you can still get a settlement for a snow and ice slip and fall case in Maryland if the injuries are serious. But our law firm does not take cases because we think we might be able to get a settlement. When we get into a case, our lawyers are in for the long haul. We will not make a demand, threaten to file suit, and then drop the case. If our lawyers did this, we think we would lose credibility in all of our other accident cases with the insurance company.

I know there are clients out there reading this blog post looking for information about slip and fall settlements in Maryland on snow and ice. If you are looking for a lawyer who will work to get you a settlement in your case, I think you will eventually find one and that lawyer may very well be able to get you a settlement, particularly if the adjuster is not familiar with the latest Maryland law on slip and fall snow and ice claims. But our law firm cannot help you with your case.

One big issue for clients in car and truck accidents – particularly in cases where the injuries are extremely serious or fatal – is whether the at-fault driver is convicted of the traffic offense(s) for which the driver was cited. In wrongful death car accident cases, the clients are usually interested in one more thing: a manslaughter charge.

Accident victims and their families care about this for two fundamental reasons: (1) the desire for some measure of justice and, (2) because they believe it impacts their civil case. But, in most cases, a criminal conviction for conduct relating to a car or truck accident is inadmissible to establish liability in the civil lawsuit stemming from the wrong committed in the accident.

The logic of this escapes me. Maryland courts reason that there is a difference in the parties, objects, issues, procedures, and results in civil and criminal proceeds. But all of these things actually make it harder to get a conviction in a criminal case than a finding of primary negligence (setting aside contributory negligence) in a civil case. I think the real logic is quite practical: most of the time this situation arises in auto accident cases and our courts want defendants to just pay a fine without an admission of guilt in a civil action.

The underlying premise of uninsured motorist coverage insurance in Maryland, as it is in most states, is to put the car accident victim in the same position they would find themselves in had the at-fault driver had liability coverage equal to the coverage to that of the accident victim. I’m oversimplifying a bit because you can have UM coverage in some instances that is less than your liability coverage. But, in the vast majority of cases, your liability coverage mirrors your uninsured motorist coverage.

So in a pure uninsured motorist case where the other driver either cannot be identified (hit-and-run or phantom vehicle are the most prominent examples) or has no insurance, your own insurance company essentially steps in the shoes of the defendant, assuming the at-fault driver’s liability for the accident but also his damages.

This is a simple concept, but for Maryland accident victims, it is conceptually difficult to get your mind around. Why is my insurance company defending the guy who hurt me? Why is my own insurance company now essentially my adversary?

USA Today has an article on how states are increasingly requiring rear-seat passengers to wear seat belts. This is the classic “brother’s keeper” v. individual rights issue. I fall into the former category on this subject as most Maryland accident lawyers do because they have seen what a projectile a person can become when launched from a back seat because they were not wearing their rear safety belt.

But what I found interesting about the USA today graph is the extent to which states don’t fall in line on this issue as you think they would. When I think of the West with a capital “W” I think of rugged individualism and a desire for self-determinism on these kinds of things. But the opposite is true: the wild west seems to almost uniformly accept the idea that rear seat belts should be law. Why is this? I have no idea.

What I do know is that Maryland law needs to be changed to require all rear-seat passengers to wear seat belts. At the risk of having every naysayer scream “slippery slope,” please remember we are requiring it for front-seat passengers, we require helmets on motorcycles, and this law would make just as much sense.

I have never been the victim of a hit-and-run accident. But I have represented numerous clients who have been injured as the result of a hit-and-run accident. It is particularly frustrating for injury victims involved in hit-and-run accidents because, absent physical evidence or eyewitness, the hit-and-run driver gets off and never faces even a modicum of justice.

Fortunately, in Maryland, there is a mechanism of recovery for accidents that are caused by drivers who leave the scene of an accident. Uninsured motorist insurance – which is available for all insurance policies written in Maryland – also covers claims made for victims involved in accidents where negligent or drunk drivers leave the scene of the accident. In other words, Maryland law essentially finds that a hit-and-run driver whose identity is never uncovered is uninsured for the purposes of making a claim.

From the perspective of a car accident lawyer, hit-and-run uninsured motorist claims hinge on the credibility of the injured witness. Rarely are there witnesses to report what happened other than the injury victim on the victim’s passengers. If the injury victim is believable, the Plaintiff will generally win the case. If the victim lacks credibility or is untruthful on the stand, it is almost impossible to win the case.

We received a letter from the Baltimore City police department indicating that they are now EMAILING police reports. Baltimore accident lawyers must still send a written letter and a check requesting the report but in the letter you may request the report to be emailed back instead of mailed.

This is one huge step forward in bringing the logics of collecting records in Baltimore accident cases in 2010.