Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

I had the opportunity last night to read an article written by Prince George's County, Maryland Circuit Court Judge Thomas P. Smith entitled "Alice in Discovery Land (A Practical Guide to Recurrent Discovery Problems)" that appeared years ago in Maryland Litigator, a periodical which I believe no longer exists. There are a lot of interesting points to made by Judge Smith. Reading his article reminds me that an article like this allows a lawyer to be included in the thoughts of judge in the same way a focus group provides a lens for a personal injury lawyer to a potential jury. Both are engaged in thought processes that a lawyer thinks he or she can decipher, but it is often more difficult than they realize. Because a lawyer cannot hire a focus group of judges every time you file an important motion, they next best thing an attorney can do is read whatever you can find by practicing judges on discovery issues to get a better insight into their thinking.

I found of particular interest Judge Smith's thoughts on "Independent" Medical Exams ("IME"). "Of all the oxymorons in the world," Judge Smith writes, "an Independent Medical Examination occupies first place by thousands of leagues. These is nothing independent about the process; it is hardly undertaken for any medical purpose and all to often resembles an inquisition rather than an examination." This sounds obvious to the plaintiff's personal injury lawyer but it is good to here this sentiment from a well respected judge.

The article addresses a number of issues that we have debated with defense lawyers of late: location of the exam, the general conditions of the exam, including who can be present, whether the exam can be videotaped, and issues related to dealing with what we call "frequent flyer" defense experts.

The Florida Department of Transportation recently did a study on motor vehicle crashes in Florida, with a particular focus on fatal truck accidents. The study found that trucks were involved in approximately 39% of all fatal truck accidents. In heavy truck accidents, 50 percent of fatalities occurred, not surprisingly, in vehicles that rolled over. Twelve percent of fatal truck accident in the study were head on collisions. Trailer rear and side underrides accounted for 28% of the fatal impacts among occupants in vehicles colliding with trucks. One interesting aspect of the study that is bound to generate interest is the study's finding that of truck drivers involved in truck accidents that caused death, a one-quarter of the truck drivers were between the ages of 41 and 50. These are experience drivers who might have been considered the least likely drivers to cause a motor vehicle fatality. Another interested finding is that age, alcohol, and speed are less likely to be causal factors in a truck accident fatality than in other types of motor vehicle fatality.

Click here for the full 500 page report.

On Evan Schaeffer's Illinois Trial Practice Weblog of March 28, 2005, he links to a great article on photographing vehicles after an accident by Jack Murray entitled "Ten Tips for Photographing Vehicles for Litigation." The article offers some great tips such as locating the secondary VIN (vehicle identification number) to verify vehicle identification in the event the primary VIN is inaccessible, the type of filters to use, and when to use a flash (which is a bit counter intuitive). This article should, as Evan suggested, be photocopied and reviewed before taking photographs after an accident. In a truck accident case, it would be wise to also consider photographing:

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals this morning issued its opinion in Maslow v. Vanguri. In this case, the court found that Plaintiff's pursuit of an appeal after an adverse judgment forfeited the doctor's insurance company's obligation to pay her $250,000 that it owed to her as the result of a "high low" settlement agreement that was reaching by the attorneys during a medical malpractice trial.

The genesis for this case was a medical malpractice action in Baltimore County where the plaintiff contented that surgery was performed - a vagotmy and antrectomy, which is a surgical procedure intended to reduce the frequency of stomach ulcers. On the 5th day of what was apparently a hard fought medical malpractice trial, a "high/low" agreement was reached where the parties and their malpractice attorneys agreed that, regardless of the jury's verdict, the Plaintiff would receive a minimum $250,000 recovery but a $1,000,000 maximum. The parties put on the record and agreed in writing to the "high low" agreement, which included a clause that the Plaintiff and the doctor would waive any right of appeal.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice High Low Agreement Vacated" »

A recent Jury Verdict Research nationwide study looked at truck accidents from 1996 to 2005 found that the truck accident victim prevailed and received damages in 60 percent of truck accident lawsuits. The average compensation award of these verdicts was $90,000. Not surprisingly, Plaintiffs were more likely to prevail in and receive compensation in head-on truck crashes. In these cases, Plaintiff's prevailed 71% of the time and received an average jury award of $532,034. The average value of a fatal truck accident case was just over $1 million. For truck accident cases that involved a disc injury, usually a herniated disc, the average award was $122,532. Three percent of the jury awards were in excess of $5,000,000. It is interesting that the average back strain injury in a truck accident was worth $17,667. While I do not know what the average back strain is nationally in car accident cases, it is certainly less than $17,667. It seems as though the same injury in a truck accident case is worth more than the same injury from an automobile accident.

Last week, I wrote about Metro Jury Verdicts and Jury Verdict Research and their reports of specific cases and the data that they provide to attorneys. Our office received today West's Jury Verdicts which is very similar to Metro Verdicts Monthly. This monthly publication from West provides details of jury verdicts, settlement, and arbitration awards in Maryland courts. I like the design, it is easier on the eyes and it provides far more facts that Metro Verdicts. The one thing missing that I really liked in Metro Verdicts is the demand and the offer are not included. Still, it is an interesting read and the West Publication appears to be reporting on cases that were not in Metro Verdicts (and vice versa).