Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

The burden is on the personal injury plaintiff's attorney in Maryland in an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim to prove that the negligent car, truck or motorcycle was uninsured or underinsured. The attorney's inability to establish lack of insurance is fatal to an uninsured motorist claim. Some jurisdictions, such as Texas, realizing how difficult it is to prove that an automobile is not insured, shifts the burden of proof to the insurance company. See Tex. Ins. Code. Ann. art. 5.06--1(7).

While not as accident victim friendly as Texas, there is a bill pending in the Maryland General Assembly that would make the Maryland personal injury attorney's difficult job of proving a negative a great deal easier. House Bill 1162 would enable Maryland attorneys representing personal injury victims bringing uninsured motorist claims to prove that the negligent driver was uninsured by one of two methods:

1. Submission of a certified copy of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) record (or similar record from another state) indicating the absence of insurance coverage on the date of the auto accident, or
   
2. Offering:
   1. a document submitted by "the insurer that has been identified as the insurer of the motor vehicle" by the MVA or similar agency of another state;
   2. a writing signed by the owner or driver of the car; and
   3. a police report from the accident investigator.

If the attorney could make such a showing under this bill, the burden of proof would shift to the insurance company to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that either the car or the driver had insurance coverage.

The bill passed unanimously passed the Maryland House of Delegates (134-0) and also passed the Maryland State Senate but the bill was vetoed by Governor Robert Ehrlich. Supporters are trying to get the votes necessary to override the veto, a task they were unable to accomplish last year. Why Governor Ehrlich opposes the bill is anyone guess. The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) opposes the bill, almost certainly at the Governor's express or implied request, but the rest of the insurance industry apparently understands the logic of the bill and has not opposed it. But Governor Ehrlich appears willing to stand on a virtual island on this issue.