The Maryland Daily Record has an interesting article today on the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF). For out-of-state readers, MAIF is a unique animal: a state-run insurance company for drivers that cannot get car insurance from private insurers. Most states deal with this problem by forcing private insurance companies to…
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against a Chattanooga, Tennessee bar after a car accident killed a woman just a few days before Christmas. The case is an interesting twist on the classic dram shop case. The suit alleges that the bar gave its employees free alcohol and allowed…
A hospital did not breach a duty of care as a matter of law to a police officer who suffered injuries while responding to a traffic accident allegedly caused by a just-released colonoscopy patient, Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled, affirming the trial court below. The police officer responded to an…
Interesting data from Jury Verdict Research on the median and average values of wrongful death cases where the decedent is female. The overall average compensatory award for wrongful death of an adult female over the last eight years in the United States is $2,990,032 ($1,102,976 is the median). Age is…
The Maryland Daily Record yesterday reported on a $4 million verdict an Anne Arundel County jury awarded to the parents of a 5-year-old boy who drowned in the Crofton Country Club pool in 2006. The parents of Connor Freed sued D.R.D. Pool Service, Inc, who managed the pool for the…
According to Metro Verdicts Monthly, the median motor vehicle accident wrongful death case in Maryland is worth $505,000. This is interesting information. What does this data tell us? Not much. Why? The motor vehicle accident data has little probative value because it does not include the amount of the insurance…
Yesterday my partner, Laura G. Zois, tried a wrongful death auto accident case in Prince George’s County against Allstate. The jury awarded our client $8 million. Allstate made no offer to resolve the case. We cannot collect the entire amount not only because of Maryland’s cap on pain and suffering…
Metro Verdicts Monthly’s graph this month is wrongful death median settlements and verdicts in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. The average wrongful death settlement in Virginia and the District of Columbia is $800,000 and $575,000, respectively. Maryland lags at $500,000. Maryland verdicts usually compare favorably with Virginia. Why…