Maryland Personal Injury, Accident, and Victim's Rights BlogWhen a minor (under 18 years of age) brings suit in Maryland for a personal injury, the lawyer will bring the suit under the “next friend”. This person is either the parent or the guardian of the minor.
Articles Posted in Personal Injury
Valuing Personal Injury Cases in Maryland
Experienced personal injury attorneys know there is no question asked more often and as difficult to answer than; What is my case worth? The answer to this question is based upon many factors which an experienced personal injury lawyer can best answer.
Our system of civil justice is terrible at valuing the loss, but rather consistently values the lawsuit. For instance, there are many cases involving horrific tragedies such as the death of a child, the loss of which can never be compensated for. Nonetheless, our judicial system attempts to assign a value to such an incomprehensible losses. Hence, the value of most lawsuits never truly compensate for the irreplaceable loss of life or limb. So how do we lawyers come up with a value for injury cases? Understanding this is an imperfect science, lets get cracking.
Most experienced personal injury lawyers will consider the below factors, as well as personal experience, to provide clients with a range of what a case may be worth. The factors that determine value of a personal injury case include:
1) Strength of liability
2) Venue
3) Severity of Injury
4) Medical Bills: past and future
5) Economic Loss: Wages and Loss of services
6) Aggravating Factors
7) Skill of Attorneys
Strength of liability: The settlement value of a case will often be greatly affected by the strength of the liability. For instance, if two auto accident plaintiffs have the same injury (broken back) the pretrial settlement offers may vary greatly based upon the strength of the liability argument.
If liability is clear (rear end collision), than the pretrial offer will be higher to take into account that there will be a verdict, and it is just a question of how much. On the other hand, if liability is disputed and the defendant has a chance of winning on liability, the pretrial settlement offer will be considerably less to reflect the real possibility that the defendant may walk away paying nothing.
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Nissan Issues Massive Recall Over Airbag Problems
Nissan recently decided to recall 204,361 vehicles from its 2007 and 2008 model years in the United States due to the possibility that a passenger side airbag could fail to deploy properly in an accident. The recall covers 2007 and 2008 Nissan Altima, Altima Coupe, 350Z, Murano and Rogue; and Infiniti G35 Sedan, G37 Coupe and EX35 built from March 12, 2007 to May 27, 2008. Please click here for the full article.
Medevac Helicopter Crash a Horrific Tragedy
All of Maryland is deeply saddened by the weekend crash of a Maryland medical evacuation helicopter over the weekend. Four people were killed in the late-night crash in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The Baltimore Sun reports the victims included the aircraft’s pilot, a crew member, a civilian medic and a patient.
Pursuing a Recovery for Personal Injuries Caused by a Drunk Driver
Each year, more than forty percent of the total number of traffic fatalities are alcohol related. In this country, nearly 17,000 thousand people are killed on an annual basis in accidents caused by drunk drivers.
Sadly, notwithstanding these horrific statistics, Maryland law does not permit a cause of action against a bar owner, restaurant, homeowner or other individual or entity responsible for negligently serving alcohol to individuals who later get behind the wheel of a car and cause serious, and oftentimes catastrophic, injury to others. See Veytsman v. New York Palace, Inc., 170 Md.App. 104, 122 n.11 (2006). Such a claim is known as tavern liability or “dram shop” liability. In fact, Maryland is one of only three states that do not permit such lawsuits. Maryland law also does not allow an injured victim to recover punitive damages in automobile accident cases, even in instances where the driver that caused the injury has consumed excessive quantities of alcohol or other mind-altering drugs. See Komornik v. Sparks, 331 Md. 720 (1993).
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Pursuing a Product Liability Theory in the Catastrophic Automobile Accident Case
Many individual automobile insurance policies do not provide adequate coverage for catastrophically injured victims. As a result, a product liability case against the manufacturer of the automobile may need to be explored. Such cases can be extremely complicated and expensive to prosecute effectively. As such, it is imperative to consult a trial attorney with significant experience handling such cases.
Preserving Evidence in Trucking Accident Cases Occurring on Maryland’s Highways
Maryland is a major transportation corridor for trucking and other interstate travel with Interstate 95 running from North/South and Interstate 70 running East/West. As such, accidents involving tractor trailers and other large motor carriers oftentimes occur on Maryland’s frequently traveled roadways. In many of these cases, the tractor trailer is equipped with a “black box” containing critical information, such as average speeds of travel, top speeds, braking information for “hard stops” or other valuable information just prior to the point of impact. It may also contain information regarding the number of hours the truck was in operation; information that can be compared with the log books the driver and trucking company are required to keep. The black box can be a gold mine of information. The information contained in the black box can be critical to proving liability not just for the negligent truck driver, but for the company that employs him or her. This information can be used to show that a trucking company should have known there were problems with a particular driver.
Woman wins $1.5 Million from Man Who Gave Her HPV.
An Iowa jury recently awarded a woman $1.5 Million Dollars in a lawsuit she filed against the man who infected her with HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that causes genital warts. Karly Rossiter filed suit against Alan Evans claiming he told her he was free of sexually transmitted diseases in order to coerce her into having unprotected sex with him, when in fact he was carrying the human papilloma virus which causes genital warts.
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Major Injury, but Minor Property Damage in Automobile Collision?
It’s a familiar, but fallacious argument. A favorite of defense counsel and insurance companies in automobile accident cases: “There was a minor impact, therefore there can only be minor injury, if any injury at all.” Defense lawyers often try to introduce into evidence distorted, grainy or out of focus photographs of minimal property damage without providing any expert testimony about the causal relationship between the amount of property damage and the victim’s injuries. The purpose of this tactic is to disprove by false implication what has been proven by medical evidence; to rebut the testimony of a licensed physician that has reached an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the victim’s injuries were caused by the accident in question. There is no mention of the sudden and very high energy forces that are transmitted through the vehicle in the milliseconds after the impact. No mention of the fact that most modern cars are built to withstand a 10-15 mile per hour rear impact without suffering significant property damage, particularly if you’re dealing with an SUV or truck.
Expanding Potential Personal Injury Recoveries in Maryland With Negligent Entrustment Theory
Under Maryland law, an individual or company that entrusts a motor vehicle to another person with knowledge that such person has a propensity for negligent or reckless driving may be held liable for injuries subsequently caused by that person in a motor vehicle collision. For example, a parent that has given a vehicle to a child as a birthday gift (or even if the parent has simply permitted the use of a family vehicle) with knowledge that the child has reckless driving habits may be held liable for personal injuries caused by the child in a motor vehicle collision. The child’s youth, maturity and inexperience behind the wheel may be relevant factors to consider in the appropriate case. Typically, in order to recover under a theory of negligent entrustment it must be shown that the supplier of the vehicle knew or should have known that the driver would operate the vehicle in a manner that posed an unreasonable risk of harm to others.
Maryland Injury Law-When is an Employer Responsible When a Negligent Employee Causes an Accident?
Experienced Maryland plaintiff’s personal injury lawyers know to sue the employer when its employee commits an act of negligence causing personal injury. Often times the injured victim can recover damages from the employer if the tortuous act was committed by an employee acting within the scope of the employment relationship. In Maryland, this is called the doctrine of respondeat superior.
The doctrine of respondeat superior, in Maryland, allows an employer to be held vicariously liable for the tortuous conduct of its employee when that employee was acting within the scope of the employment relationship. With regard to the negligent use of motor vehicles in a respondeat superior claim, the State of Maryland recognizes that a master can be held liable for the negligent operation of a servant’s motor vehicle if the master expressly or impliedly consents to the use of the automobile, and……had the right to control the servant in its operation, or else the use of the automobile was of such vital importance in furthering the master’s business that his control over it might reasonably be inferred. Thus, the doctrine of respondeat superior may be properly invoked if the master has expressly or impliedly, authorized the [servant] to use his personal vehicle in the execution of his duties, and the employee is in fact engaged in such endeavors at the time of the accident.
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Maryland Personal Injury Settlements Involving Minors
Personal injury settlements involving minors in Maryland are strictly governed by the legislature to protect the minor. Under Title 13, Section 402 of the Estates and Trusts Article, Annotated Code of Maryland “it is public policy of the state that any substantial sum of money paid to a minor because of a claim, action, or judgment in tort should be preserved for the benefit of the minor.”
Presenting Medical Evidence in Maryland Courts Without the Support of Expert Testimony
In Maryland, it is possible to admit medical bills and records at trial without calling a doctor or other health care provider to testify. Section 10-104 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article of the Maryland Code sets forth the requirements for introducing medical bills and records without the support of witness testimony at trial. This provision can save a client the added expense of having to pay a doctor to testify at trial or in a deposition. In some cases, the cost of such testimony can be considerable. In many personal injury lawsuits or automobile accident cases, particularly in Maryland’s District Courts, it may be more cost-effective to introduce medical bills pursuant to section 10-104. Doing so may actually increase a client’s net recovery because it reduces certain litigation expenses.
Proving the Value of Personal Property in Maryland
In personal injury cases, damage to personal property may be a component of an injured victim’s overall damages. How do you prove this component of your case? In Maryland, it is well-established that an owner of personal property may express an opinion as to the value of that property without qualification as an expert. See Maryland Casualty Co. v. Therm-O-Disc, Inc. 137 F.3d 780,786 (1998). The experienced personal injury trial lawyer should be well-armed with this authority whenever proving his or her client’s total economic damages in a personal injury case. The experienced trial lawyer will not let defense counsel convince the court that an expert is needed to opine as to the value of personal property. Maryland law contains no such requirement.
Increasing Damages Awards in Maryland Personal Injury Cases
There are several strategies that the best and most successful Maryland trial lawyers do to increase their chances of obtaining significantly higher damages awards at trial. Intense preparation is, naturally, first and foremost among that list. Too many inexperienced personal injury lawyers leave the damages component as an afterthought, focusing all their energy on proving the liability component — i.e., proving who was at fault, who was negligent, who breached a duty owed to the injured victim, and who was at fault for causing the injury. To be sure, proving liability is absolutely critical to prosecuting a personal injury case. Without proving liability, there is no recovery at all. But it is a shame to win a hard fought jury verdict in favor of your client, only to have the jury return a damages award that is too low and does not account for the full extent of pain and suffering that a client has endured, which by the time you get to trial, is usually measured in years.