Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

Metro Verdicts Monthly's graph in this month’s issue is median settlements and verdicts in cervical (neck) herniated disc cases in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. The median cervical herniated disc case in Maryland is $40,000. The Washington D.C. and Virginia medians are $50,000 and $36,000, respectively.

I always qualify providing this data with a “for what it is worth.” In the case of cervical herniated disc injuries, it is a “for what it is worth” squared. If a person says they are an actor, there are a lot of different degrees of being an actor. She may be Meryl Streep or her signature role may be “Crazed Killer #12” in a 5 second cameo appearance in a B movie. Herniated disc injuries are the same thing. Some people are walking around with cervical herniated discs that they cannot feel; for other, their lives are virtually destroyed by the injury.

The other problem is I do not think plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers properly value herniated disc injuries and, consistent with my post on Monday, lawyers settle these cases too quickly. This is particularly true with cervical herniated disc cases as opposed to lumbar (back) disc injuries, because some herniated disc injuries are relatively benign. But the fact that there are some smaller herniated disc cases should not alter the value of the serious injury cervical herniated disc injuries.