Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

Metro Verdicts Monthly provides the following data to give the median (not average) settlement and verdicts for ankle fracture injuries:

District of Columbia: $66,000

Virginia: $21,700

Maryland: $88,000

My comment? People rarely have minor ankle injuries in car accidents in my experience. So I think a lot of slip and fall ankle injuries are included in here which lowers the value from pure auto accident ankle injury claims (or malpractice claims which are more rare for ankle injuries). I don't think we have ever had an ankle injury case settled for less than $150,000 and I can think of one that settled for over a $1,000,000 (although that case had other complicated injuries so it is hard to sort out where the value was in the case).

For more analysis of this data and more data on ankle injuries verdicts nationally, check out this Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog post.

Related Posts

Valuing Injury Cases in Maryland (value of accidents in Maryland)

Valuing Cases in Virginia (general info on Virginia injury case results)

Valuing Cases in Washington D.C. (general infomation on Washington D.C. personal injury case results)

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland , Virginia , Washington DC

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A jury in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania awarded $1.88 million to a Dunmore woman in a cancer misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of her husband, who died of cancer in 2008. The jury found a urologist, a pathologist, and Wayne Memorial Hospital responsible for failing to diagnose the man with bladder cancer during several doctors’ visits complaining of urinary problems over a sixteen month period.

Cancer of the urinary bladder is the fourth most common malignancy among men, and the eighth most frequent among women. Urinary problems obviously do not necessarily mean a patient has cancer, but obviously this jury found that there was enough evidence where more should have been done when the patient presented with an inflamed and enlarged prostate.

This is a list of cancer misdiagnosis verdicts in Maryland.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice , Pennsylvania

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The Orlando Sentinel (via Overlawyered) has an interesting article taking a detailed look at statistics surrounding theme park lawsuits. This is not your garden variety media article of a legal trend. It has detailed breakdown of the lawsuits filed against theme parks, and through statistics and interviews, sets the game plan of Disney theme parks, and I think to a similar but lesser extent, its brethren when facing a lawsuit: wage elongated war, make discovery brutal for accident lawyers and their clients, and settle the cases you think you might not win - particularly those cases you might prolifically not win.

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Posted In: California , Florida , Maryland , Nevada , New Jersey

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John Bratt's Baltimore Accident Lawyer Blog has a good post on cross examining IME doctors.

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland

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Obviously, it impossible to consider a few variables - even a multitude of variables - and come to a calculation of winning a medical malpractice lawsuit in Maryland. But the Maryland Malpractice Lawyer Blog provides some analysis as to the percentage of malpractice lawsuits that are successful and the types of malpractice lawsuits that are most frequently seen.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice

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The Maryland Malpractice Lawyer Blog has a post about a doctor's lawsuit claiming that he was wrongful terminated from an OB/GYN practice. The doctor who fired him claims, among other things, that the OB/GYN doctor failed to come clean about a medical malpractice lawsuit that had been filed against him in Pennsylvania.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice , Pennsylvania

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Virginia Lawyers Weekly reports on an insane case in Virginia where an emergency room doctor in Hampton received a defense verdict.

After a night of partying, the decedent and his friend got into a dispute over whether the decedent would drive drunk from Hampton back home to Atlanta with his 4-year-old son. The best friend did what best friends usually do - he stabbed him in the thigh.

The decedent was taken to the emergency room. Plaintiff's malpractice lawsuit claimed that the emergency room doctor should have sought out detailed information about the length of the knife. The defendant was told only that the decedent was stabbed with a knife and that the length of the blade was unknown. The defendant assumed it was a small blade.

Turns out it was a very large blade and his injuries did not resolve. As the decedent was deteriorating, following a transient response to the fluid resuscitation, the defendant called in a general surgeon who arrived three hours later and told the ER doctor that the decedent was in hemorrhagic shock secondary to a stab wound and blood loss. The general surgeon instructed the emergency room physician to transfer the decedent to the ICU. Sadly, the stabbing victim died.

Plaintiff's Virginia medical malpractice lawyer contended that the defendant should have responded more aggressively to treat the injury.

People who get stabbed and blame their injuries on medical malpractice usually don't fare too well at trial. So the defense verdict is no surprise. I was surprised that an offer of $500,000 was rejected. Usually, in a case where the jury has an easy target to blame - the criminal who stabs the victim - it becomes difficult to pin the injuries or death on medical malpractice. But in this case, they got a $500,000 offer. I wonder whether it was the family or the malpractice lawyer that suggested rolling the dice.

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Posted In: Maryland , Virginia

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Listed here are groups of Maryland legal links that mostly involve issues of interest to malpractice and accident lawyers, but there are also a few interesting employment and family law links included as well.

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Posted In: Maryland

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Medical personnel responding to a 8 year-old's injuries by an exploding cannon at a Fourth of July celebration in Washington were negligent in his death, according to a Complaint filed by his family's malpractice lawyers. The lawsuit alleges that the responders were improperly trained and should not have canceled a previously requested medical airlift. The boy died after being struck by shrapnel from an 18-inch cannon fired by his grandfather.

These are tough cases because the laws in most jurisdictions are set up to give medical personnel responding to an emergency more discretion. I don't agree with this - like emergency room doctors, the law takes into account the exigency of the moment. In Washington, gross negligence is required to bring a claim against emergency personnel.

Related Posts:

Article on Case From Seattle Times (story on lawsuit)

Maryland Lawsuits Regarding Emergency Vehicles (immunity from liability provided in Maryland accident and medical malpractice cases)

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice , Washington

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A number of mostly medical malpractice related links from around the web today

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice , Texas

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The Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog has a post on a New York Times about how arrogant doctors are causing medical malpractice. While this is certainly true, the problem is that it is hard to create systems that stop mean people. It would be a better world if we could. But arrogance and abusive people cause medical malpractice, legal malpractice, farmer malpractice, salesman malpractice and on and on.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice

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The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled last week in a Maryland workers’ comp appeal that testimony from a vocational expert is not required in an appeal of Workers Compensation Committee award for industrial loss.

In this case, the Claimant, a fleet service clerk for American Airlines, sustained a permanent partial disability of 50% under “Other Cases” industrial loss from a back injury and related psychiatric injury and as the result an accident unloading baggage at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The employer appealed the decision to Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. An Anne Arundel jury reduced the award to 35%.

On appeal, Claimant argued that American Airlines was required to provide testimony from a vocational expert in addition to the testimony of a psychiatrist and orthopedic surgeon. Judge Lynne A. Battaglia, writing for a unanimous Maryland Court of Appeals decision, found that Maryland law, like most other states, is that expert vocational testimony is not required to determine industrial loss.

You can find the full opinion in Maldonado v. American Airlines here.

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Posted In: Maryland

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The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog has a post on a Maryland Daily Record article looking at how President-Elect Barack Obama might change the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals which includes Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

I've spend far more time thinking about how President Obama will change the country than his impact on lawyers or even my own clients. But President Obama is going to nominate judges that I am going to stand before and argue. While I do think President Bush has nominated a lot of good judges, this fact makes me a little happier to be a lawyer today. I'm not saying every plaintiffs' lawyer is going to have a better shot at success in front of judges nominated by Obama. I just think they are likely to be fair and reasonable judges.

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Posted In: Maryland , North Carolina , South Carolina , Virginia , West Virginia

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The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog offers thoughts on legal writing.

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Posted In: Maryland

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Mr. Miller:

Hi, I am a Maryland attorney and would like to get little mentoring on any differences between an unidentified motorist claim and an uninsured motorist claim. Please call or send me an email and I promise I'll be brief. Thanks so much for any help!

Dear Maryland Attorney:

There is uninsured motorist coverage under victim's, or the victim's resident relative, own car insurance policy. You will find in your client's uninsured motorist endorsement that there is coverage for a hit-and-run vehicle (you don't need an actual hit, just an unidentifed or phantom vehicle) whose operator or owner cannot be identified and which hits or causes an accident resulting in bodily injury or propety damage. See Section 20-601(c) of the Maryland Insurance Article and Section 19-509.

An accident lawyer can make a phantom vehicle case in Maryland though the testimony of the Plaintiff or, better yet, independent witnesses.

Good luck, I hope this helps. - Ron Miller

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland

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John Bratt's Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog has a good post today offering his thoughts on what they don't teach you in law school.

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Posted In: Maryland

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The Severna Park Fitness Blog, published by Club One Fitness has a blog entry today on a involving a negligence claim stemming from a theft at a Baltimore area health club.

According to the Maryland Daily Record, the Plaintiff brought a lawsuit against the Maryland Athletic Club ("MAC") over a theft that occurred at the club. Just before trial earlier this month, the case settled. The case was settled by the Maryland Athletic Club just before it went to trial in Baltimore City earlier this month.

The Plaintiff's complaint sought $30,000 so it is reasonable to assume that she wanted more than $10,000 to settle the case. When someone has no injury and no significant damages but demands a meaningful recovery, that is not exactly a good thing for Maryland personal injury lawyers trying cases before juries that hear about such cases.

The Maryland Lawyer Blog also has additional comment on this Maryland Athletic Club theft lawsuit regarding adhesion contracts.

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Posted In: Maryland

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Metro Verdicts provides this month information on facial scarring settlements and verdict in Maryland and Virginia. The median facial scarring verdicts in Maryland and Virginia are $20,000 and $32,500, respectively.

These numbers seem bizarrely low. Of course, I’m not really sure about the inclusion criteria for this study. How do they define facial injuries? Are they permanent? Must they be visible? Because for what I consider facial scarring, these number seem shockingly low.

Related Posts:

What is the Value of My Personal Injury Case? (analysis of how value is determined in personal injury cases)

Value of Personal Injury Cases in Your State (state-by-state comparision)

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland , Virginia

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There are NuvaRing lawsuits pending in an MDL (cases consolidated around the country in Missouri) and in New Jersey. Even though Organon is a New Jersey defendant, it sought to remove the NuvaRing cases because Organon was not "properly joined and served" under §1441(b) because Organon was not served with a tracking assignment number as required by New Jersey law.

No tracking assignment number? Who thinks of these things? Sure, strictly construed void of any sense of fairness or context, the statute the rule would preclude removal by an in-state defendant who has not been "properly joined and served" at the time of removal. But would a judge be such a foolish hypertechnical slave to the language beyond logic, reason and the legislative intent of the statute?

Thankfully, no.

The New Jersey District court found that strict adherence to the plain language of the statute would defeat the legislative intent and, accordingly, the law should not be interpreted to produce an absurd result.

If you are interested in learning more about the lawsuits involving NuvaRing, click on the "lawsuits involving NuvaRing" link above.

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Posted In: Maryland , Missouri , New Jersey , Product Liability , Virginia , Washington DC

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My two volume treatise Insurance Settlements is now available from James Publishing. The book discusses how to position a lawyer's car accident, truck accident, medical malpractice or product liability case to the best possible settlement at every step along the way (until the state's high court affirms the judgment).

Click on the James Publishing link. If you have any comments on the book, please email me at ronmiller@millerandzois.com under the subject "Insurance Settlements Comments."

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Car Accidents , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Lawyer Blogs of Interest , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Medical Malpractice , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Nursing Home Abuse , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Truck Accidents , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming

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Our lawyers are reviewing Byetta claims after the FDA announced this week that the diabetes drug has been linked to severe pancreatic problems in dozens of patients. On Monday, the FDA warned patients taking Byetta to discontinue use if they develop symptoms of the disorder. Further the FDA said that doctor prescribing Byetta should consider other prescription options for patients with a history of pancreas problems.

Since Byetta was introduced into the United States in 2005, more than 700,000 patients have used the Byetta.

Our lawyers are now exploring potential Byetta lawsuits. If you would like to discuss your case with a Byetta lawyer, call 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consulation/case evaluation (or even to answer any question you may have). For more information on Byetta and the concerns with Byetta, click here.

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming

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Bob Zarbin and Jim MacAlister write a telling article in this month’s journal of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association about Maryland’s new bad faith law. The authors note that the avalanche of bad faith claims the insurance companies said were coming down the pike with Maryland’s new bad faith law was actually only 12 in the first quarter of the 2008 and only 12 all last year.

Similarly, on the medical malpractice front, Maryland malpractice insurers claimed the sky was falling one minute and the next they are declaring $74 million profit to their doctor shareholders and lowering malpractice insurance rates. The legislative process requires that the viewpoints of all stakeholders. But can we at least make sure we put the proper discounted value on “the sky is falling” on the next go around? I’m hoping the next go around includes a revised bad faith law with more teeth than mere costs and expenses.

In the same issue, Kevin Goldberg, who is with Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester in Silver Spring, Maryland, writes a great article laying out a great checklist of avenues to explore when you have a catastrophic accident and what appears to be limited coverage.

The message, as always: if you are a plaintiffs’ lawyer in Maryland handling personal injury claims, you should be member of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association.

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland

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Last week, Digitek manufacturer Actavis Totowa recalled over 65 different drugs made at their New Jersey manufacturing plant. The list of recalled drugs (in some form or another) includes such generic drugs as Bellamine, Buspirone, Carisoprodol, Oxycodone Meperidine, and Rifampin. This strengthens the conclusion that the New Jersey plant that made these drugs may be the cause of irregularities in Actavis medications.

In April 2008, Actavis recalled Digitek, a drug prescribed to treat heart failure and irregular heartbeat because it was discovered that Digitek tablets appeared to have double the thickness – and likely double the active ingredient – listed on the label. When Digitek is given in abnormally high doses it can lead to digitalis toxicity which, paradoxically, worsens the problems Digitek is intended to treat, causing nausea or lower blood pressure and other side effects from the Digitek overdose that can lead to the increased risk of stroke or a heart attack.

If you would like to speak to a Digitek recall lawyer about a potential Digitek lawsuit, call 1-800-553-8000. For more information on the Digitek overdose recall or a free consultation on your potential Digitek case, click here.

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Medical Malpractice , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming

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Zimmer's Durom Cup hip implants are likely to be the subject of a good number of lawsuits from patients with the Zimmer implants. But they will not be the only ones. Apparently, Zimmer’s own shareholders may agree that Zimmer left its hip implant on the market way too long. Last week, shareholders of Zimmer stock filed a class action in Indiana. Interestingly, the lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders who purchased stock between January 28, 2008 and July 21, 2008. This tells our Zimmer hip implant recall lawyers that these shareholders believe that Zimmer knew or should have known and issued a recall on or before January 28, 2008.

If your Zimmer Durom hip resurfacing cup was defective, call our Zimmer hip implant lawyers at 1-800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation.

More information on the Zimmer Hip Implant Recall
History of the Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implant Recall
More information on the Zimmer hip implant recall lawsuits

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming

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Jury Verdict Research(r) study reports that rotator cuff injuries reached a 7-year high in 2006 with a compensatory award median of $72,667. This is almost 50% higher than previous reported settlements and verdicts in rotator cuff injury cases.

Our lawyers have never understood while the national data in these cases was so low. Washington D.C. rotator cuff injuries have averaged well over $100,000 for rotator cuff settlements and verdicts so we have never understood why the national average was as low as it has been. In any event, for whatever reason, rotator cuff verdicts are on the rise.

Our lawyers handle rotator cuff injury cases throughout the United States. Our lawyers have handled scores of rotator cuff injuries in car and truck accidents, typically in side collision or "T-bone" accidents. Our lawyers believe that insurance companies do not give fair value in most rotator cuff injury cases and our lawyers will fight to get you the financial compensation you deserve. Call a rotator cuff lawyer to protect you at 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation and case evaulation.

Related Posts

What Is the Value of Your Personal Injury Claim? (how the value of rotator cuff and other person injury settlements are calculated)

Sample Demand Letter (sample letter demanding settlement in a personal injury case)

Handling Your Claim Without a Lawyer (tips and pratfalls)

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arkansas , California , Car Accidents , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Truck Accidents , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming

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The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog has a great blog post on a trial John Bratt had with State Farm yesterday in Anne Arundel County in an uninsured motorist case. When the offer is zero, $60,000 is not a bad recovery.

Thankfully, these days we do not have the opportunity to try a lot of personal injury jury trials where the offer is zero. But it sure is a stress free way to try a case because the client has absolutely nothing to lose.

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland

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The new Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog has a post on medical doctors in Florida not having medical malpractice insurance. This is considered to be a concern because patients do not have protection if their doctor commits medical malpractice. Of course, in states like Texas, where caps on economic damages discourage 95% of meritorious claims, it seems ironic that the state is putting risks on patients that are almost universally decried as risky to patients. It is a bad thing for doctors to risk medical malpractice victims' ability to recover but okay if the state does the very same thing?

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Posted In: Florida , Maryland , Medical Malpractice , Texas

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Lawyers representing Digitek overdose victims have filed nine lawsuits in New Jersey against Actavis Totowa LLL and its parent company Actavis Group, alleging a manufacturing defect in Digitek, namely that some Digitek tablets have contained twice the active ingredient of the drug. Digitek recall lawsuits have also been filed in West Virginia and California.

Our Digitek recall lawyers are reviewing these Digitek overdose cases in all 50 states expecting that a consolidated class action lawsuit will be appropriate (as opposed to this scatting of individual cases). If you want to discuss your case with one of our Digitek lawyers call us at 800-553-8082 for a free consultation or click here for a free Internet consultation.

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Posted In: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Product Liability , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , Washington DC , West Virginia , Wisconsin

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In Brockington v. Grimstead, 176 Md. App. 327 (2007), the Maryland Court of Special Appeals considers a bizarre set of facts involving juror deliberations. The underlying action is a Maryland medical malpractice case in Baltimore tried before now retired Judge Thomas E. Noel for failure to diagnose cancer. The jury awarded $4,414,195, including $ 3,000,000 for non-economic damages, or $1,959,195 once the award was reduced consistent with the cap on non-economic damages.

The issue on appeal involved the judge’s decision to include alternates in the jury room. Judge Noel, over strenuous objection from the plaintiff’s medical malpractice lawyer, but with approval from the doctor’s lawyer, seated for deliberations six regular jurors and two alternates who were instructed to remain silent during deliberations. Later, when two ostensibly pro-defendant jurors backed off the jury, the defendant’s malpractice lawyer flip flopped and withdrew his consent to the substitution, an objection he apparently repeated about 5 million times over the course of the deliberations.

The issue was whether the defendant’s malpractice lawyer waived his right to complain when he agreed to let the alternate jurors sit in on the deliberations. The Plaintiff argued that the substitution of an alternate juror for a regular juror is forbidden once the regular jurors have retired to deliberate. In other words, defendant’s malpractice lawyer cannot un-ring the bell by withdrawing his consent when the logical conclusion of his agreement did not go his way. Plaintiff’s attorney further contended that because there was consent to the alternate process, the trial court's rulings should be evaluated for abuse of discretion, not the obvious legal error.

The Maryland Court of Appeals will be hearing the appeal of this case later this year. I find it difficult to believe that this lawyer did not waive his right to complaint when he consented to this procedure that admittedly violated the Maryland Rules. We will see what the Court of Appeals does with it.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice

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The Legal Medicine Blog (Dan Frith and Lauren Ellerman of the Frith Law Firm in Roanoke, VA) have a good blog post today on a pressing issue for nursing home lawyers and their clients: whether mandatory arbitration clauses should be enforced in nursing home cases.

In recent years, nursing homes not only in Maryland and Virginia but around the country have been requiring patients to sign mandatory arbitration clauses before admitting patients. Of course, this stacks the deck against the patient because, among other reasons, it limits discovery into just how awful the nursing home is to its patients generally and the plaintiff in particular.

Many people never see this clause because they rarely read the small print. If they do, think think of the Hobson's choice given to these patients and their families. They can either hope for the best (don’t we always do that walking through the door?) and just waive the right to receive a fair shot at receiving compensation for the negligence of the nursing home or they can go look for a nursing home that does not have an arbitration clause. But, realistically, the decision to choose the nursing home is already made before they get to the arbitration clause.

Hopefully, help is on the way. Congress is looking at this issue. Rep. Linda Sánchez from California has offered a bill that would void any mandatory arbitration agreement executed by a nursing home resident. Not so coincidentally, Rep. Sánchez father recently went to a nursing home.

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Posted In: California , Maryland , Nursing Home Abuse , Virginia

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Our Maryland injury lawyers are just that: injury lawyers. We do not handle criminal, business, consumer law, domestic or divorce cases. Our Maryland injury lawyers focus exclusively on injury law: car accident, truck accident, medical malpractice, and product defect claims.

Certainly, there are Maryland injury lawyers who handle a multitude of other kinds of cases and are still qualified to handle injury claims. Some of the best injury lawyers I know handle other types of case beyond personal injury. But there is an awful lot to know for our five lawyers that focus exclusively on Maryland injury law. So we believe our clients are served best by our lawyers maintaining an exclusive focus on personal injury cases.

I’m writing this on our Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog it is worth reminding readers that while our law practice is based in Maryland, we do handle very serious injury and death cases not only in Maryland but throughout the United States. If you have been injured in an accident or by medical malpractice in Maryland or anywhere in the country, call our injury lawyers at 800-553-8082 or click here for a free Internet consultation at no obligation to you.

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Posted In: Maryland

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The husband of a Washington, D.C. pedestrian who was killed by a bus last year, settled his claim for $2.3 with Washington Metro. The Plaintiff's wife had the “walk” signal while crossing the street. A wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Washington Metro was set for trial in October.

The District of Columbia could do what Maryland, Virginia and many other jurisdictions do and cap damages when claims are brought against it or related entities. But the District chooses to do the right thing by requiring itself to be fully accountable for its own negligence.

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Maryland , Virginia , Washington DC

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Our medical malpractice lawyers received an interesting motion to compel from a doctor in an OB/GYN case in Maryland a few weeks ago. Defendant's medical malpractice lawyer is asking the court to compel a 2 hour interview from Plaintiff with Defendant's vocational rehabilitation expert, arguing that that because Plaintiff's vocational rehabilitation expert interviewed the Plaintiff, the Defendant is being put at a disadvantage by not being able to ask his own questions.

But Plaintiff has already been deposed. If the Defendant's medical malpractice lawyer wanted to learn more about the Plaintiff's disability - he had virtually no questions or her disability, by the way - why didn't he ask those questions in deposition?

You can find our attorneys'response to the Defendant's motion here in the event that you are ever faced with a similar issue.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice

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If you are selling medical malpractice insurance in Maryland, Maryland Insurance Code § 19-114 (2008) requires that you offer at a minimum, medical malpractice policies with deductibles of $25,000, $50,000, and $100,000.

We have a medical malpractice lawsuit pending against a doctor in Maryland who recently was found liable at trial in another case. The doctor has a high malpractice deductible and it was reported that no offer was made in the case.

I think our case is a great deal stronger than the one this doctor just lost, both on liability and on damages because, unlike his last case, we can put on the board damages that exceed the doctor’s policy limits of $1,000,000. That has to be a strong incentive for the doctor to encourage settlement because he has personal exposure to an excess verdict. Still, I would not be surprised if we end up trying the case because the doctor does not approve a settlement because he does not want to pay the deductible again.

Still, I think the idea of allowing doctors to carry high deductibles is a good thing even if it does make settling medical malpractice cases in Maryland more difficult. It allows good doctors that do not anticipate legitimate malpractice exposure to increase their risk in such a way that reduces their medical malpractice premiums while still providing protection for themselves and their patients.

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Posted In: Maryland , Medical Malpractice

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Maryland Department of the Environment fined eight landlords nearly $240,000 total for violating lead paint laws, including a $65,000 fine to one landlord for failing to comply with lead paint standards.

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Posted In: Maryland

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In Smigelski v. Potomac Insurance Co., the Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed a Montgomery County trial court's judgment in favor of an insurer, finding that under the terms of a workers' compensation policy that excluded coverage outside of Virginia a Virginia resident is not entitled to workers' compensation for injuries sustained while performing work in Maryland.

Claimant, a Virginia resident, was injured installing a roof in Maryland. The Maryland Court of Appeals held that the workers' compensation insurance policy, by its own terms, excluded coverage in states other than Virginia for activities requiring the employer to procure workers' compensation insurance for work outside of Virginia. The Maryland high court also found that because Claimant was an illegal alien, who cannot bring claims under Virginia workers compensation law, there was no basis to extend coverage. In other words, because Claimant could not bring a claim in Virginia, he cannot bring a workers compensation claim in Maryland.

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Posted In: Maryland , Virginia

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Welcome to our blog covering injury law and policy throughout the United States.

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