Back in January, I wrote about Allstate’s ongoing war with the state of Florida (and Missouri) in which it arrogantly racked up more than $4 million in fines for refusing to turn over documents they received orders to produce and which the insurance commission requested in Florida. On Friday, Allstate…
Last week, I received a call from an insurance company (Progressive) asking how many occupants were in our clients’ vehicle in a car accident case our lawyers are handling. Sadly, it appears someone saw our clients get in what was a serious accident, noted the vehicle information, and then pretended…
One question that has remained unanswered is whether Maryland’s new bad faith law is retroactive. On Dec. 17, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled that the Maryland legislature intended Maryland’s new first-party bad faith law to be retroactive. In Schwaber v. Hartford, a case involving insurance coverage…
In March, I wrote a blog post discussing whether it makes sense for to videotape medical exams by the defendant’s lawyer’s doctor. Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff who is required to submit to an “independent medical examination” (hereinafter the more honest “defense medical exam”) may…
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Allstate Insurance Co. will now fairly compensate thousands of Washington drivers for out-of-pocket medical expenses in a class action settlement. In 2005, a driver sued Allstate for arbitrarily limiting PIP payments for car accident victims. Allstate used Colossus to determine the average pay rate for…
The journal Spine has published an article questioning implanted hardware use in spinal fusion surgeries for back problems. The Spine study found that the implantation of hardware does not improve results. The authors also determined that the hardware carries a higher risk of complications, including infections which can occur more…
More and more personal injury lawyers in Maryland accident cases are doing battle over the ‘independent’ medical examination. Attorneys argue over everything from who should conduct the examination, how far the plaintiff should have a drive for the examination, to more substantive issues such as the examining doctor’s financial records.…
Today, for the first time in ten years, State Farm’s Baltimore office conducted a “Settlement Day” hosting eight Maryland law firms at their offices to settle State Farm auto and truck accident cases. The day was a success for our office; we settled 70% of the cases up for discussion.…