Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

A Nate Silver wannabe breaks down the question of whether jury size matters in these jurisdictions, where a jury's verdict does not have to be unanimous. Clearly, the greater concern is in criminal cases where it does seem a bit odd to convict someone to life in prison, as you can in Louisiana, on a 9-3 vote.

Continue reading "Does Size Really Matter?" »

I had jury duty yesterday which was unbelievably interesting. Turns out Anne Arundel County is a small town. The oral surgeon plaintiff might have done my root canal (it was definitely his office) and the defense lawyer represented the defendant in my first trial with Miller & Zois. (What happened in that case? Thanks for asking. We socked him with a $300,000 verdict in a low property damage case which I enjoyed sharing at the judge's bench yesterday.)

Shockingly, I was not chosen for the jury. I'm not sure if I was struck for cause; I'm going to try to find out. Technically, I can talk about the case since I was not on the jury, but because I'm going to share my impressions of the case - based on nothing but still - I'm going to wait until the case resolves before writing about it. So look for my post next week. It was a very interesting experience where I learned absolutely nothing but really learned a lot, if that makes any sense.

These were the five most popular posts on the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog in 2012:

• Strict Liability for Pit Bulls in Maryland: this had an astounding 168 Facebook likes and just a ton of comments.
• The Internet Hates Progressive Insurance.. But Should It?: lots of visitors here from a Washington Times link.
• Insurance Claims Adjusters Say the Silliest Things: this got a lot of interest because, well you know, insurance adjusters do say the silliest things.
• Progressive Insurance = Just File Suit: my argument that it is largely a wasted effort trying to settle with Progressive Insurance until suit is filed.
• Sneaky Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer Tricks: I think this resonated with many plaintiffs' lawyers because the games played in malpractice cases are so over-the-top. Lots of really good lawyers handle malpractice cases at some pretty low hourly rates. Arguably, some of them make up some of the difference by working the file 8,543 ways to Sunday to churn the file.

Continue reading "Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog's 2012 Best" »

I never find myself writing about marital privilege. But I do have an interest in modern technology and how it will impact pre-trial discovery and admissibility of evidence. Which takes me to the new 4th Circuit opinion U.S. v. Hamilton.

This case involves the bribery conviction of a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates who also served part-time as an administrator with the Newport News, Virginia public schools system. Basically, the guy pushed for and got a salary from Old Dominion University in exchange for getting them funding for a million dollar program called Center for Teacher Quality and Education Leadership. (FACT: 89% of all "education centers" with titles as goofy and ambiguous as this one are hopelessly corrupt.)

Anyway, a key piece of evidence in the take down of this guy is an email that he writes to his wife about how he is trying to get this salary out of the deal, which he writes from his public school computer. So the question is whether the marital privilege applies because he used his work email account.

For what I think are good reasons, communications between spouses have long been thought to implicate important privacy and confidentiality interests. This has led to a recognition of a marital privilege in both Maryland and federal law that makes communications between spouses presumptively confidential.

Continue reading "Marital Privilege and Work Emails" »

Picture We Took Yesterday in D.C.

I was in D.C. this week with my oldest son taking in a Wizards game (they are awful) and seeing the city (which is awesome). While I was out, I got a phone call from someone wanting to speak to me about my client Joe Smith (or something like that).

The guy was a landlord who had "gotten my email" about how my client was going to be paying his rent out of his settlement. He read to my paralegal the contents of my email to him. The email came from a Miller & Zois gmail account that, naturally, misspelled the name of our firm.

I guess what happened is someone was late on their rent payment and decided to pretend I was their lawyer and went though the trouble of setting up an email account and impersonating me. I should get a therapist and take this up with them in greater detail but, bizarrely, I felt sort of flattered by this.(Of all the lawyers in all of the world, you picked me, Mr. Scam Artist.)

Now, of course, the gig is up but I think the scam served its intended purpose of buying time to avoid eviction.

Continue reading "A New Scam" »

A new idea that might or might not take: A Saturday fact and opinion post:

• Fact: According to Jury Verdict Research, rear end car crashes or other obvious liability cases accounted for only 45 percent of auto cases adjudicated, with the remainder comprised of intersection collisions, lane changes, chain reaction, and parking lot scenarios. In other words, a lot of claims where there was a high probability of shared liability.
• Opinion: A big mistake insurance companies make - bless them - is contesting liability in personal injury cases where it is simply ridiculous to do so. Plaintiff's lawyer only have so many good themes. One theme that resonates with juries is the failure to take responsibility. Defense lawyers have a hard time giving up that theoretical possibility of a defense verdict. But, their failure to do so inflates juries and inflates damages.
• Fact: The Highway Loss Data Institute found that personal injuy claims were filed 28.5 times for every 1,000 Yaris 2009-2011 vehicles the industry insured. Among the vehicles with the least number of personal injury claims was the Porsche 911, with the lowest rate of 4.5 claims per 1,000 vehicles.
• Opinion: All things being equal, a big car better protects occupants than a smaller, lighter one. Big cars get inferior gas mileage to small cars. We are forcing car manufacturers to make smaller cars to save the environment, help us gain energy independence, and so forth. But achieving those goals is going to cost some human lives. I'm not saying we should lower gas mileage requirements necessarily, but we should at least be talking honest about this issue. Where have you heard a serious debate on the costs of smaller cars? My kids' piano teacher drives a smart car. I don't know how you survive a fender bender in one of those cars.
• Fact: The fatality rate for truck drivers in motor vehicle accidents is 29.8 per 100,000 workers per year. A little context... the fatality rate for a stuntman is 21.8 per 100,000 workers; for law enforcement, the death rate is 2.5 per 1,000 workers.

• Opinion: The risk to truck drivers really puts into context the risk for the rest of us, because the vast majority of wrongful death trucking accident cases that we handle involve a fatality to the passenger vehicle in the crash, not the truck driver.

• Fact: The CDC tells us that in 2010, approximately 2,700 teens between 16–19 were killed. Another 282,000 were treated and released from the ER for car accident related injuries. Another fact: Young people, ages 15-24, represent only 14% of the U.S. population but make up 30% of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males, and 28% of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.
• Opinion: Kids not being able to drive is a huge hassle for parents and a real joy kill for teenagers. But, we need to be looking at teenage deaths and decide if the pain of pushing back the driving age is worth less dead kids. (By the way I loaded the question, you know my vote.

According to Alexa, the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog is the most read personal injury lawyer blog in the country. Here is the Top 50 list. If you are a regular reader, I am really grateful. You have millions of options on the Internet, so I'm really happy you enjoy my effort to try to inform and entertain.

While I'm on stage accepting this fine award, thanking my mother and the Academy, I also want to thank Tina Taylor. I write these posts very quickly with approximately 3,000 typos and sentences that make zero sense. Tina is kind enough to proofread these for me before (or just after!) I post them.

Please keep reading and commenting!

I learned last week that I was selected by my peers to be included in The Best Lawyers in America, 19th Edition.

My rule on these lists are very clear. All of these lists that rank the best lawyers - and probably particularly the best personal injury lawyers - are so fundamentally flawed as to be useless... unless they pick me. In that case, they are the ultimate honor.

Here are some personal injury stories/blog posts to check out as you wind down your week:

• Is Brett Farve's penis discoverable? An in-depth look.
• Overlawyered links to the old Drug and Device Law Blog post on a lawsuit that got kicked that sought to keep a drug on the market. I can't find the case - the cite they gave is wrong and I can't find it on-line- but maybe the drug company decided to withdraw the drug because it was doing more harm than good to most patients yet, for some, it was doing great things. This happens all of the time. The blog post starts: "We couldn’t make this stuff up, folks." Really, you couldn't make up the fact that people who might be suffering might turn, perhaps misguidedly, to a lawsuit to try to keep the one thing that is making them better (saving their lives?) on the market? This extremely well written blog is filled with good humor and compassion - especially for drug companies, who are people, too. But, it is exempt from compassion for people who have suffered or lost a loved one and file a lawsuit. If they would exhibit some sense of self-awareness about this, I, for one, would be grateful. Also, please stop invoking your fantasy of Rule 11 at every turn. Yeah, plaintiff brought a novel and arguably dumb lawsuit. You know what else was novel at the time? Brown v. Board of Education. And how about a Rule 11 for insane defenses asserted by drug companies?
• Max Kennerly talks about the economics of being a plaintiff's lawyer, especially for those who have become one because the job market has made them a solo practitioner.
• Penn State has Title IX problems? When it rains, it pours. Particularly when so many of us love to jump into a pile.
• Sure sign of the Apocalypse - How many Facebook likes you get can be admissible at trial. While we are on the subject, have you "liked" Miller & Zois on Facebook? You really should join the 1,816 strong Miller & Zois Facebook Nation (or something like that).

If you like this blog and read it regularly, please take the time to nominate my blog for this "stupid honor that I should not care about but do because I'm a weak person" ABA thing.

Every Maryland appellate opinion in July was either a criminal case or a case involving attorneys behaving badly. Bad times for this blog. So tomorrow, we'll tackle a new 3rd Circuit Opinion on informed consent and how the ruling might be different in Maryland.

(How did the letter "Z" become associated with snoring? Find out here.)

I get emails from people marketing legal directories and whatnot all day but I particularly enjoyed the hubris of this one:

Hi Ron,

Your name was passed to me as a potential candidate for a Lead Counsel position on our Personal Injury panel in the Salisbury area. We are currently seeking a qualified attorney who can take additional casework. We do need to verify your qualifications in order to see if you are eligible for this position. This is a four attorney panel and we are only looking to work with one additional attorney. We currently have several candidates in review for the position. If this is something you would like to be considered for; I would need the preliminary info below returned within 24 hours.

How long have you been practicing Personal Injury?

Are you in good standing with your State Bar?

Have you had any client related disciplinary action taken against you?

When is your next available time to have a phone appointment to discuss this position further? Please list a time and date.

Note: Only emails with an appointment time listed will be considered.

Regards,

Colin Richardson
Director of Lead Counsel

Phone: 800-397-3743 ext. 7027
Fax: 800-220-4546
Website: www.lawinfo.com
E-mail: crichardson@lawinfo.com
Need more Clients? www.lawinfolegalmarketing.com

So he sends a cold call email (he left a message, too) agreeing to interview me for the "position" but will only consider me if I quickly follow his explicit instructions and have great credentials (like, you know, being in good standing with the bar). I love the strategy although I have to wonder how effective it is with prospects who have a third grade education.

Continue reading "Annals of Bold Legal Marketing" »

Personal injury lawyers hate talking about their contingency fee agreements with their clients. Me too. But, it is an interesting and important topic, and one that is of great importance to people who are seriously injured and will be hiring at attorney. This post explains how our law firm operates and gives a few thoughts on contingency fee agreements in personal injury cases.

Our contingency fee agreement with our clients in every person injury case is exactly the same. Our firm gets one-third of the recovery if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed. If a lawsuit is filed, or there is an agreement to arbitrate the case, our fee increases to 40%. We have fronted all client expenses in every case we have handled in the last 10 years. If we are not willing to put up our own money, we would not be willing to take the case.

He is a copy of our fee agreement. If you are a client of ours, this is the agreement you executed. We have made very few modifications of this agreement over the years. None of the changes we have made were material.

This is our agreement in every single personal injury case in our office. We have turned down at least two cases (that I know of; I'm sure there have been more) that have culminated in a seven figure recovery because we did not agree to reduce our contingency fee.

Before I explain why we do it this way, let me go the other way and set forth the argument why we shouldn't have a set fee for all of our clients. Contingency fees in personal injury cases are designed to a large measure to compensate attorneys for the risk in time and money they must incur. So, theoretically, in a world of perfect information, you should calibrate the contingency fee with the risk/reward and set the attorneys' fees accordingly. [This is the short version; you can find the long version here.]

Continue reading "Our Attorneys' Fees: 33.3%/40%" »

A few weeks ago, I was pushing Nicholas Allard as my choice for the new dean at the University of Baltimore Law School.

Well, he got hired. But not by us. At this time, I would like to withdraw my endorsement.

In the spirit of sour grapes, I want to say that I did not want this guy anyway. Seriously. After I wrote that blog post, I Googled him and found that he has basically been applying to be the new dean at every law school from here to Timbuktu. I thought he saw a unique opportunity in Baltimore. Instead, he was just a guy who wanted to be a law school dean somewhere. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But, the girl at the bar who really wants to go home with anyone is not quite as appealing as the one who sees something special in you.

I learned about this from a comment to my original post.

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Tanning beds cause cancer. Cancer kills. Tanning beds also make you look old before your time.

Of course, this matters little to the Maryland Senate who crushed the bill in committee. Which committee? The Finance Committee. Because, you know, that makes sense.

The bill, sponsored by Montgomery County Democrat Jamie Raskin, would have prohibited anyone under 18 from using an electric tanning bed, eliminating a provision in Maryland law that allows minors to tan if they have parental permission.

The World Health Organization's cancer division last summer listed tanning beds as definitive cancer-causers. I'm willing to take their word for it, along with numerous studies that concluded the risk of melanoma jumps by 75 percent in people who used tanning beds in their teens and 20s. Melanoma is lethal; 69,000 U.S. cases were diagnosed last year, and about 8,650 people died.

Listen, Katy Perry notwithstanding, it's dumb to let your child go into a tanning bed. This we know. So what is the problem? According to the Indoor Tanning Association, 8% of the customers are either 18 years old or younger. On an average day, over 1 million Americans engage in indoor tanning. Do the math. See where the lobbyists are coming from on this?

Continue reading "Tanning Beds Kill Kids; Maryland Legislature Cool With That" »

There are five finalists for the dean of University of Baltimore School of Law that will be visiting campus beginning March 26. I will review these candidates for you and make my selection. To be fair, I have never met or even heard of any of these people. I've limited my education to a three minute Google search of the candidates.

• Nicholas Allard: A lawyer at political heavyweight, Patton Boggs, Allard is a former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and former legal counsel to U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. While I'm not pretending I've ever heard of him, this is the celebrity pick. Moynihan was one of the few politicians in the last 50 years who was deeply respected by the left and the right and Kennedy was Kennedy. That's the big time. He is knee deep in pedigree, attending Princeton, Oxford, and Yale which, in a bizarre coincidence, are the same schools my children will be attending in 13 years (although they are certainly not going to law school). Here's my concern: is there a risk that hiring Allard is like hiring Michael Jordan to play baseball? Dean Closius came here with a history of turning around a law school. Allard would come with a history of being great at lots of things other than running a law school.

Continue reading "University of Baltimore Law School Dean Candidates" »

I'll take "Gimmick Blog Post Titles That Will Defy the Odds and Be Worth Reading, I'm Serious, Just Give Me a Chance" for $400 please, Alex.

Tied for first at the top of Knick players who have had 20 points and 7 assists with 6 consecutive games is Jeremy Lin. As little as three weeks ago, if you were taking odds, you would have bet the Knicks would cut him so that they did not have to guarantee his salary for the season. The odds of going from there to this are roughly the same as Barack Obama calling you today and telling you he is dropping Eric Holder and he desperately needs you to be the U.S. Attorney General. Seriously, the last time I enjoyed a sports story this much was when Mark "The Bird" Fidrych burst onto the scene in 1976. And that was only because I was 7 years-old. Jeremy Lin is actually a better story.

There are a lot of Jeremy Lins out there in our business - great personal injury lawyers that are obscure and handling Yorkshire Terrier dog bite cases. Their first problem is the lack of opportunity. Trial lawyers can only do so much with the facts that they have. If you don't have good cases, you are going to struggle to get consistently great verdicts even if are channeling your inner Gerry Spence.

(The same is true for defense lawyers. I've tried cases against lawyers considered to the best in Maryland that I thought they were either awful or I caught them on a bad day. I've also tried cases against lawyers I thought were brilliant that I know have a very hard time chasing down $120 an hour auto tort insurance clients. It is even harder for defense lawyers in some ways because they don't get paid and recognized for good results like personal injury lawyers do... unless they really know how to spin their successes.)

They key when you are in this spot is to Jeremy Lin it. (Yes, I'm using his name as a verb, too.) You have to do the best you can with what you have. Shortly after we started our practice, we tried a case in Baltimore County where a woman was in line at the drive-thru at the bank and got in a rear end accident. The uncontested testimony was that the at-fault driver was going one mile an hour. Laura and I tried the case together. We threw everything and the kitchen sink at it and we got a $125,000 verdict. We had had better verdicts but this was our signature verdict at the time. LawyersWeeklyUSA did a cover story on it. We got some attention, more lawyers started referring us cases, in we built from there.

(Looking back, almost 10 year later, I look at all differently. Man, I wish I could not see so many shades of gray. First, I'm a little embarrassed we even took the case. How pathetic is it, on some level, to take 1 mph bumper tap case, anyway? And we are really bragging about getting $125,000? My law firm would never take that case in 2012. Yes, I believed the plaintiff was hurt from the car accident and still do. It was one of those rare, fluke things that happen. Still, we turn down cases all the time where I think the person may have gotten badly hurt from the accident but we don't think we can prove it. Also, the unspoken implication was that we were such great lawyers we could turn a garbage car accident or other personal injury case into a case just because we were the attorneys. It is a false premise although a lot of lawyers who are full of themselves would swear otherwise.)

Continue reading "Personal Injury Attorneys and Jeremy Lin" »

Clearly, the new Republican tradition is to pay homage to Ronald Reagan whenever you have a segue to do so - and even when there's not. Everyone has forgotten Iran-Contra and those Marines in Lebanon and focused on the fact that he presided over 8 years of relative peace and prosperity and his contribution to our victory in the Cold War. At a debate back for the RNC Chairmanship, Grover Norquist asked the candidates, "Who is your favorite Republican president?" Every one of the six candidates picked Reagan. Poor Lincoln. Even Democrats look back on Reagan and point out - maybe correctly, I don't know - that Reagan is not conservative enough to win the Republican nomination in 2012.

I found on my Google +1 (come join me there, and Miller & Zois too) a post from someone who worked for Reagan, that looks at what he actually said about tort reform. Apparently, all of his years of public life, Reagan gave only one tort reform speech in his political career in which he specifically said the issue is one for individual states. He never followed up on this speech.

Continue reading "Was Ronald Reagan for Tort Reform?" »

USAA's release for minors includes this language:

I/We do hereby state that said minor is completely recovered from any and all injuries sustained as a result of said accident and promise to bind myself/ourselves jointly and severally, my/our heirs, administrators and executors repay to the said ________________________ his/her heirs, successors and assigns any sum of money, except the sum above mentioned that he/she/they may hereafter be compelled to pay because of the said accident.

USAA is trying to put itself in the best position that it can to prevent minor plaintiffs from later disavowing the settlement. But it is silly to suggest that having the child's parents affirm that the child has completely recovered is of any help. You could even argue it makes the problem worse: the parent(s) did not even know the child was so severely injured.

Continue reading "USAA Release for Minors" »